AUTHOR'S NOTE: Welcome back, once again! Please enjoy finally finding out more about the mysterious mailman in The Mailman Chapter!

"Letters to the Red-Haired", a Peanuts fanfiction

The Mailman Chapter

"What the hell...?" Charlie spoke aloud. The noise of the mailman's motorbike was growing.

Heather looked scared. "Charles? Is that... is it heading towards us?"

Maybe he realised he was going the wrong way...? Charlie momentarily thought. But... it really did seem like the bike had suddenly stopped, and changed direction, just after he had yelled at him...

Charlie could just make out the figure on the bike. He was tall, but completely clad in a mailman's outfit. He was wearing a mask, and sunglasses, and a postman's cap, and... and he almost seemed...

"Charles! He's getting closer! I think he's upset with you! Charles!?"

He snapped out of his daze. Where could he go?

HONK! The bus had made it to the stop, and was honking, the driver wondering if they were going to both get on or not. Heather was already up the bus step, and had her hand outstretched to Charlie.

"Quick! Up here!"

In a fit of panic, Charlie took her hand, and the doors bus was almost empty, with the only other adults there sat at the front. The driver did a very quick U-turn to drive away, causing Heather and Charlie ran to the back of the bus to see if the motorbike was still gaining on them.

And it was! The bus stop the two teenagers were on was a hill - and the motorbike would have to drive uphill to reach them. But it was getting there! The bus had a nice headstart, but the bike would soon be close to them.

"Surely they wouldn't try follow me on the bus...? I'm glad I didn't stay on foot, I would not be standing here right now..." Charlie muttered. He looked at Heather, who had her mouth open in shock.

"He's crazy..." She turned to Charlie. "Well, he's probably not from Scotland."

Charlie frowned. "How do you figure?"

"I mean, he could be, but no-one I've met around here is that crazy. Even for a good reason!"

"That's a pretty large generalisation for a future journalist." Charlie said, eyeing her cheekily.

"Oh, shush..." She smiled at him, but then looked back toward the motorbike. "He's getting closer..."

"This is your usual route, right?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah. It's one more stop, then the bus goes into the bus depot place." Her eyes were fixated on the mailman. He was still a ways away. "Why could he still be chasing us?"

"Maybe he's really angry. It's okay, though. I got an idea." Charlie said.

"What's your idea?"

"We can wait until we get to that bus depot. We can hide until then. And if we get to the depot, the mailman won't be able to follow. And! Even if he does, he'll get confused with all the buses. Security would be more likely to see the driver outside and kick them out than see us if we manage to get in by hiding here, right?"

The red-haired girl looked at him, her face scrunched up. Was she... annoyed? Wondered Charlie.

"I understand why you want to do that, but..." She whispered.

"But?"

"I was looking forward to going home. My grandmother's visiting from America. She was meant to arrive today. And... we'd, what, spend the night in this bus? Isn't that silly?"

"Oh." Charlie felt guilty, of course. "Right. Sorry."

She didn't respond, which made him feel worse. What could she be thinking?

Maybe she's realising you're a loser, and not because you're Charlie Brown. Just because you'll always be a loser.

Charlie didn't have time to respond to himself as the bus had stopped at another traffic light. He could just see the bike still following the bus. Why were they chasing after him? He had to get away, and run, he didn't want to be confronted, he didn't want to be noticed...

"You know, we could talk o the mailman. Maybe they just want to talk?"

Charlie faulted. "Well..."

"I don't think it's a good idea to get stuck in the bus depot."

Charlie took a deep breath. "Okay. Fair enough. So... we should just get out at the next stop, and talk to them?"

Heather nodded. Charlie sighed. "Alright. Let's see how it goes..."

...

That sigh again! Why was that sigh so familiar? Heather didn't know, and she didn't have much time to think about it. The bus had arrived to its last stop.

Heather and Charles got off. Charles peered. "I suppose he'll park right next to us?"

"You'd think, but they're not exactly stopping, are they..."

"Well, they're not gonna run us over... right?" Charles said. Oh, he seems worried... thought Heather.

Heather squinted. Now that the mailman was getting closer, she could hear... noises? Coming from the mailman. Two different, distinct noises.

That's peculiar. She thought. Is he talking to himself?

The bike started swerving, left, right...

"I don't... I don't think they can stop!" Realised Charles. The bike suddenly wheelied upward, and swerved into a ditch nearby - the mailman was flung off the bike, high into the air. But the mailman...

"He's been split into two!" Screamed Heather. Charles shook his head. "No, he hasn't! I get it now! Heather, you catch the other half!"

Heather stared at him. "WHAT?" But he had ran off, watching the sky. So she did as well. She noted there was no blood or anything like that in the air, so she carefully watched the thing that was high into the air, and, arms outstretched, caught it as it landed... and it was fluffy!

The thing she caught looked up at her. It was...

"A dog?" The dog barked, as if acknowledging his existence.

Charles walked up to her, a sheepish smile. He was holding a larger, fatter dog, with a hat. "Well, um, Heather... the mailman was two dogs in a trench coat. Can you believe it?"

"No, I can't...? But you seem unsurprised."

"Well, actually... I know these two dogs."

"Huh?"

The dogs looked up expectantly - one fuzzy, one fat. Charles sighed, and scratched the back of his neck. "They're the two dogs that I mentioned - remember?"

"Your dog's brothers?"

Charles nodded. "Heather... meet Andy, and Olaf."

Dear Charlie Brown,

This'll be the last letter that I send. I'm not sure why you haven't responded to any of my letters. It is upsetting. I thought you were kind, and brave... but now, I'm not so sure. I'd like to believe you lost my address, or maybe I lost yours. I'm still going to send one last letter out anyway.

We are moving again from Canada eventually. I'm not sure when, but the next place will be Scotland. It's been hard to make friends here. I miss my grandmother. She's still in Minnesota, where you are. She's taking care of the same house I used to live in.

Charlie Brown, I miss her a lot. I didn't feel a need to make friends when I had her around.

But now, I'm so far away. And I'm not sure if the people here are just not nice, or I'm struggling... but I'll be okay.

Again, I'm hoping you respond soon, especially before I leave to Scotland so I can pass on my new address. Making friends is hard. It would be nice to keep in contact with at least one friend from one of my old homes.

So take care, okay?

Your friend,

Heather

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The plot thickens...! Two more chapters to go! See you next time, in... the next chapter!