A Tale of Two Andreas
Every day is the same. Andrea wakes up alone, eats breakfast alone, puts on her United States Postal Service uniform and heads to work alone. She clocks in and walks the halls making sure that everyone is on task. She used to be one of them, part of the delivery team, first as a sorter and then a carrier, but these days she finds it difficult to remember what it even feels like to be part of a team.
She carries her clipboard as a barrier between her and the others. Afraid to let any of them know that she is just as human as they are. As she rounds the corner towards the Dead Letter Office she holds on particularly tight to her clipboard. Oliver and his team of postal detectives reminds her too much of what she's lost. She takes a deep breath and enters quickly. She sees them there, smiling and working together and it's just too much to bear, so she makes demands and threats, throws up her hands and gets out of there. She'd rather have them think she's angry than sad.
After morning rounds, she goes to lunch at the Mailbox Grille alone, but watches as the others sit talking and laughing at the booth across the way. She finishes her meal, stands up and walks out, unnoticed. She walks back to the U.S.P.S. alone.
She spends her afternoons at meetings with other people who don't particularly want to be there. Then she clocks out and goes home alone.
Every night is the same. Andrea climbs into bed, looks over at the picture on her night stand, smiles and closes her eyes. As she drifts to sleep she is always transported back to 1999. That was the year that she was Ms. Special Delivery. She was considered a goddess in the postal acropolis. That was also the year that she met Brian.
Brian had worked for United States Postal Service since he was 17. He was a kind young man, always going above and beyond to make sure that everything was delivered on time. A bit of a stickler for the rules, but willing to bend them when necessary.
Andrea crossed paths with Brian in the halls of the post office every day for months. She'd smile, he'd smile, but both were afraid to make the first move.
The day that she found out that she won Miss Postal Delivery, Brian decided it was time to face the scary and ask her to dinner. She excitedly accepted his invitation and the two became inseparable. An engagement came shortly after and they were married the following June.
When they returned to work after their honeymoon they were partnered up with two new young postal workers and were tasked with running the division of Lost and Mangled Mail. It was the best year of Andrea's life. She was on top of the world. Everything was perfect.
They planned to buy a home and start a family, but plans don't always go as we hope. Brian was diagnosed with cancer and died just 6 months after their wedding.
Her perfect world with her perfect husband and her perfect job all fell apart.
Every morning is the same. Andrea wakes up alone.