Chapter 18

Chasing the Letter

"Man, what a night. I feel like I got hit by a truck," Helga groaned, as she got out of bed. "At least it's the weekend. Nothing to do all day but do…nothing."

Suddenly, the events from the previous day came flooding back to her.

"Oh, yeah. I got slammed into a wall. I guess that's why I feel like I got hit by a truck. Good thing my beloved saved me, or I'd probably be in a hospital by now. I wonder if Wolfgang had to go to a hospital… Oh, well. I couldn't care one way or the other."

She walked to her closet and opened the door, prepared to do her 'morning ritual'. She turned on the light and saw pink stationary littering the floor.

"Oh, criminy! My love letter! I forgot all about it!" she exclaimed. "Oh, well, guess there's nothing I can do about it now. I hope he doesn't find out that I wrote it. I believe that I would die if that happened. But he won't figure it out, even with the letter. He's too dense."

She started to think about the letter, reading it over in her head.

"Yesterday was so amazing. First Arnold walks me to school, then we get to work on the project together, then Arnold saves me, then he walks me home, then the letter…wait a minute!" she exclaimed, realizing something she hadn't thought of before. "Saving me? Letter? Oh, no. I didn't…I did," she said, thinking of the last sentence that she wrote, 'P.P.P.P.P.P.P.S. Thanks for saving me today'.

"Oh…my…" she gasped, before plunging into a bloodcurdling scream.

"Hey, Grandpa, did you hear something?" Arnold asked.

"No."

"How could I have been so stupid? I must have been too excited when I wrote the letter to realize what I was writing! How could I have written that? Now, even though he's so dense, he'll be able to figure out who it was from and then…criminy, I don't even want to think about it. I've got to somehow get that letter back! But…how? I know, maybe the mailman hasn't come yet! Maybe the letter's still in the mail box! Yeah, that's it! That's gotta be it! He can't see that letter!"

She quickly got dressed and ran downstairs.

"Helga, do you want some breakfast?" her mother called, as she ran out the door, into the pouring rain.

"Hmm…I am hungry. I did skip dinner last night. Maybe I'll just grab a bite."

Just then, she saw a white truck pull up in front of her house. Before she knew what was happening, a man got out of the truck, took the mail out of their mailbox, and drove away.

"WAIT! STOP! COME BACK!" she screamed, as she tore down the street after the truck. However, there was no way she could keep up with it, and it was soon out of sight.

"I. Am. Doomed." she said. "By the time I reach Arnold's house, the mail would have come already. Then again…maybe the mailman will be slow. Maybe Arnold won't get the mail right away. Maybe he's not even home! Who knows? Anyway, it's the only chance I've got, so I might as well take it," she said, as she sped off towards Arnold's house.

About twenty minutes later, she was next to the boardinghouse that Arnold lived in with his grandparents. His grandparents were the owners of the boarding house. A sign on the wall read "No kids. Pets okay."

"Yeah, that makes a lot of sense," she muttered, as waited in the rain for the mailman to get to Arnold's house.

Finally, she saw the white truck pull in front of the red bricked building.

"Hey, Mister!" she called, as the mailman got out of the truck. It wasn't Harvey, the neighborhood's normal mailman; it was a man that she had never even seen before.

"Must be Harvey's day off or something," she thought.

"Hey, kid. What is it?" the man said in an annoyed tone.

"Um…I need one of those letters."

"Are they your letters?"

"No, but-"

"If the letters aren't for you, then I can't give them to you."

"I don't want all of them! Just one!"

"Sorry. Those are the rules."

"Listen, pal," Helga said slowly, "I need that letter. You have no idea how important this is. My entire life is at stake!"

"Not my problem," the mailman said, as he dropped the stack of mail through the mail slot in the door.

"NO!" Helga cried, as she desperately tried to reach her hand through the slot.

"Listen, kid, I'm sorry you can't have the letter, but you can't go around invading people's mail slots! It's against the law!"

"How would you know?"

"My brother's a cop."

"Oh…" Helga said slowly. "Listen, why don't we forget this ever happened, okay?"

"Alright, but I'd stay away from here if I were you, if you know what's good for ya. Now beat it!"

Helga dashed off and hid in an alley next to Arnold's house.

"Kids these days. They're crazy," muttered the mailman, as he got into his truck and drove away.

"Great," Helga muttered. "The blasted letter is only a few feet away from me, and I can't get to it! Stupid mailman. I've got to somehow get inside his house! I must get to that stack of mail before he does! But how?"

Then the fire escape leading up to the top of the house caught her eye.

"Perfect."