As he drives up to the side of his house, the man notices that his wife's car is not in driveway. Getting out of his car, he runs his fingers through his longish brown hair and walks to the mailbox to retrieve their mail from the box on the street.
After picking up the mail, he heads for the house and walks to up the steps to his porch. Throwing his keys on the table, while rifling through junk mail, he notices a plain manila envelope with a postmark of Washington, D.C. Curious, as he doesn't know anyone in the D.C. area, he walks down the hall to the kitchen, throws the junk mail in the trash, and puts the D.C. envelope on the table. Grabbing a beer from the refrigerator, he sits at the kitchen table and looks at the envelope before opening it.
In the envelope is a smaller envelope looking like it contains an invitation, maybe to a wedding or party. Even more curious, he opens the smaller envelope.
A blue plaid announcement and a hand-written note slip from the smaller white envelope. A picture of a dark-haired baby on a light blue blanket graces the top of the announcement - the baby's bright blue eyes looking straight at the camera for the picture. Under the baby's portrait, an announcement:
ANDREW RAYMOND DEEKS
BORN APRIL 7 AT 6:28 P.M.
9 LBS, 2 OZ. – 22 INCHES
HAPPY PARENTS
KENSI & MARTY
The hand-written note is lying on the table. It reads: "Mr. Mitchell – I hope this note and announcement find that you and your family are doing well. More pictures will be forthcoming as both parents and their co-workers cannot seem to resist taking my godson's picture. Cute little devil that he is! Of course, the pictures will be routed through our D.C. office to avoid any complications. Best Wishes – H. Lang"
Looking back the baby's picture, Charlie notices that there's an additional hand-written note on the back of the announcement.
"I know, I know, I owe you a phone call. However, I figured that, even though you're not too bright, the picture was pretty self-explanatory regarding the THING situation. Drew is named after Kensi's Dad and an old childhood friend of mine. We are all doing great – although it was touch and go there for awhile during the 14 hour labor. The prospect of more children in our future was discussed LOUDLY in the last hour or so of that magical time at the hospital. More pictures are coming soon – take care of yourself and your family – Marty"
"P.S. Wikipedia says "Hi"
Hearing a car door slam and two sets of footsteps making their way into the house, Charlie puts the picture announcement back on the kitchen table.
"Daddy, Daddy – where are you?" his dark blonde daughter bounds into the house followed by her mother.
"In the kitchen", he replies.
"We went to beach today, we found some seashells, we watched crabs on the sand – they walk funny", she states all in one breath as only a small child can.
Jumping into his lap, she sees the picture on the table and asks, "Who's that?"
"A friend's new baby", he replies turning the picture towards his wife who just followed their daughter into the kitchen with groceries in her arms.
His wife puts down the groceries and moves toward the table. After looking at the announcement and reading Marty's note, she laughs.
"And he kept saying that there was no THING", she states and they both start laughing much to their daughter's confusion.
THE END