Again

Flash Fiction

Again

Just as I finished my letter to my friend, Barbara, I heard the mailman stop. My apartment’s back yard was connected to another yard, so I could always hear vehicles going by that house when I was in my kitchen. Plus, our mailman’s truck had a squeak, I usually knew if it was him.

Grabbing an envelope I ran, scribbling the address on as I went. The mail-truck would be at our house in minutes. I got outside and ran to the mailbox just as the mailman turned the corner. Then I tripped.

I didn’t even see the stone it was so small. But I was running, and writing an address on an envelope. So, it could have been huge, I still wouldn’t have seen it.

I went face down, hard! The letter and envelope in my hands were the only thing that saved me. I landed face first on my own arms, scattering pages, and the envelope and pen.

The mailperson ran over. “Are you alright?” came a voice that sounded like I’d known it forever. “I saw you fall!”

I looked up, embarrassment jumping into my brain, but then I saw James Silk. I’d had a crush on Silk all through high school, though we’d literally never even spoken. He was a grade above me. I hadn’t seen him for at least six years.

“Are you alright?” he asked, obviously concerned as he helped me up, and then, “Angela Wilkins?”

“How do you know me?’ I asked, still shaking a bit from the fall.

“I had a crush on you for years… at Franklin High.”

“You had a crush on me?” I blurted out, “I had a crush on you!”

“You’re kidding, are you kidding?” he asked.

And that’s how we met again, fifty-two years ago…