Melissa glanced at the apple-shaped red, white, and black clock with a green leaf hanging on the wall above the sink in her two-bedroom apartment.

The mail carrier would have come and left by now, she thought.

She turned back to the light brown salmon fish in the cast iron pan on the stove, and her belly rumbled.

“I hear ya. I hear ya,” Melissa said aloud, “but the mail first and then food.”

So, after taking out the last piece of fish from the pan and placing it on the plate with the white tissue and a few other fried fish, she covered the plate with a tissue, washed and dried her hands on the blue and white towel on the oven door’s handle and left the apartment.

No one else was in the hallway, but a woman with a brown and white Chihuahua in her arms stood at the mailbox when she arrived at the mailing area on the ground floor.

“Morning,” Melissa said, but she did not recognize the woman.

The woman, dressed in blue jeans and a pink and white fir sweater, did not reply, and Melissa thought she didn’t hear her.

So, Melissa took out her mail, praying, please God, please! Please let this cheque be in here.

Two envelopes were in there. One was in a brown envelope with a see-through window, the other in a white envelope, and the information was handwritten.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! she silently prayed.

Melissa quickly closed and locked the small gray door of the mailbox, and as she walked away, she heard, “Excuse me.”

She turned to look over at the woman with the dog.

“Sorry for disturbing you, but I was expecting a mail today, but it’s not in my mailbox; by any chance, did it end up in yours?”

“Why would it?” Melissa asked, puzzled.

“Because my number is 331 and yours is 133, and sometimes people mistake the other for the other?”

“Oh, true, that can happen, but no,” Melissa said, looking down at the envelopes in her hand.

“Oh, no, hold a second,” Melissa said a few seconds later.

She stared down at the white envelope in my hand.

“The name on it is not mine, but the address is mine.”

“Does it say, Jenny Grove?”

“No, it’s Barry Park,” Melissa replied, examining the envelope.

“Barry, that’s my boyfriend’s name.”

“Oh,” Melissa said, “here you go.”

“Thanks,” Jenny replied, taking the envelope from her outstretched hand.

“No problem,” Melissa replied before turning and leaving to return to her apartment.

The following month, after grabbing her mail from the mailbox and taking it to the apartment, another mail in a white envelope was there for Barry Park.

“Mmm,” Melissa said, examining the envelope. “Where did the other one come from? I didn’t look.”

“Well, this one looks like the same envelope, and there’s no stamp or anything on it.” Melissa continued.

Hmm, she thought.

Ra ta ta ta came on her front door, jumping Melissa.

Who’s that?

She passed her hand over her light brown face and got up from the blue and white floral living room chair. She quietly walked over to the door and peeped through the peephole. A guy, not much older than she was standing there with his hands pushed into his blue jeans pockets.

Melissa was thoughtful for a few seconds before opening the door with the silver chain attached.

“Yes?” she asked as the pleasant smell of cologne floated into her nostrils.

“Sorry for disturbing you,” he said, smiling broadly, “I’m Barry Park, and in error, my mail may be coming to your address.”

“Ohhh, you’re Barry Park. Yeah, I just picked up my mail, and there is one for you.”

“Sorry about that,” Barry said, “I’ll get it sorted out as quickly as possible.”

“Okay. Wait a minute,” she said, closing the door.

Melissa grabbed the envelope from the chair and returned to the door. She peeped through the hole and saw him still standing with his hands in his pocket. She opened the door with the chain still attached and slipped the envelope through to him.

“Thanks,” Barry said.

“No problem,” she replied and closed the door.

Melissa was about to sit in the chair when the doorbell rang again.

“What?” she quietly cried.

The woman with the dog stood there, but the dog was not with her then, so Melissa opened the door with the chain still attached.

A hissing sound reached her ears, and she instantly docked and moved behind the opened door. The woman wedged her food through the door.

“You’re not stealing my man!” she exclaimed, still spraying.

‘What are you talking about?” Melissa asked, coughing, as mists disappeared in front of her.

“Don’t play coy with me. I saw him. Barry just came out of this apartment,” she yelled.

“Barry Park? He just stopped by to pick up his mail. He said …”

“I bet he did,” she said, interrupting, “first, he has his mail coming here, and next, he’ll be moving in. No way, homewercker!”

She pushed her hand through the door and sprayed again. Melissa hit the can out of her hand, and it clanked on the brown carpeted floor.

“Oww!” the woman yelled, pulling out her hand and moving her foot.

Melissa quickly picked up the small blue, black, and red can, and within seconds, the gray chain was off, and the door was opened wide.

The woman, dressed in a purple sweater, a black mini skirt, and high purple booths, stood rubbing her hand.

Melissa held the can a few inches from the woman’s face.

“You and your boyfriend keep away from me, or I’ll call the cops. I don’t want to be a part of whatever craziness you and he has going on,” Melissa said.

The woman stared at the can.

“Do you hear me?” Melissa asked, her voice raising.

The woman nodded vigorously.

Melissa lowered her hand, and the woman stepped back.

“Can I have my pepper spray back?” she asked, indicating the can in Melissa’s hand.

“Leave it here with me, and when I report this incident to the building manager, I’ll leave it with her, and you can pick it up from her.”

“Please don’t report me. Please!” she pleaded, with her hands in the prayer position.

“What?” Melissa asked.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for attacking you. I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she said, hitting her head.

“Stop that,” Melissa said, “stop hitting your head.”

She stopped and slowly dropped her hand to her side. She meets Melissa’s eyes.

“There’s a coffee shop next door,” Melissa said after slowly breathing, “if you want a sounding board, I’m willing to be that.”

The woman continued to stare at her, and Melissa stared back at her.

Then she slowly nodded.

“I’ll like that,” she quietly said.

“Okay. Hold on a minute. Let me grab my keys, etc.,” Melissa said.

About two weeks later, Melissa sat on her sofa and said into her cell phone, “Okay, Jenny, talk to you soon. Bye. Bye.”

She ended the call, smiling and shaking her head as she reflected on the past weeks.

Jenny met Barry online about a year ago and moved into the apartment complex with him about six months ago. Things were great for about one month between then. Then Barry began whispering into his phone and quickly ending calls when she entered the room.

Once a month until she reached twenty-five, which was four years from now, Jenny received a check from a fund her dad set up for her before he died from cancer. She had the cheques forwarded to her new address, but nothing had come to her for the past four months, but the cheques were being cashed.

It turned out that Barry and the postman were friends, and he had been putting Jenny’s envelopes into another envelope and putting other people’s addresses on it. Then Barry would go to that apartment and collect and then cash it. In error, the mail carrier wrote Melissa’s address twice on it.

She explained to Barry what was happening with the cheques, and he encouraged her to sort out the problem with the company sending the cheques instead of reporting the issue to the police. Nevertheless, she still needed to pay half the rent, so she had been working tirelessly for the past few months.

After giving his friend his portion, Barry used the money to fund his lifestyle.

The day they went to the coffee shop, Jenny thought Barry was cheating on her, but after talking things through with Melissa, she realized something else was happening. Well, he was cheating on her, but not with Melissa. Actually, it was Barry who confessed everything to her after she bluffed him with their suspicion that he was cashing her cheques.

Now, she was back in her old apartment complex, trying to decide if it would be worth pressing charges against him and his friend.

The End