The Mysterious Package

The Mysterious Package

By Charley Faraday


The old woman woke up. Through tired and bleary eyes, she looked at the analogue clock that sat on her bedside table. Its hands pointed to read seven-thirty in the morning.
"Time to get up.", she said in a quiet voice to herself.
Nancy Tingle was an elderly woman of seventy-five years old. She liked to keep her long gray hair done up in a top-bun, just as she had when she was a young secretary at a dentist's office when she was twenty-four. As she did up her hair she thought to herself, "But, oh, that was a long time ago, back when I met Walter."
Walter had been hired as the dentist's assistant when they had first met. The moment their eyes met for the first time, they both knew it was love at first sight. One year later, they would become husband and wife.
It wasn't until Nancy was seventy-two that her Walter would soon pass away. However, Nancy stayed devoted to her beloved husband even after his passing. She still remembers how he would say her name.
"Nancy, I love you…", his words echoed in her mind.

She began venturing down the stairs, her old bones aching with each step, and made her way to the kitchen to brew herself some raspberry tea to have with breakfast.
As she went to the door to recover the morning newspaper, the doorbell rang. She looked at the clock on the wall which indicated it was now eight-fifteen.
"My word, it's too early for any visitors.", She voiced to herself.
She made her way slowly to the front door and opened it. It was a postal delivery man. He was holding a brown paper package.
"Mrs. Tingle? Please sign here for your delivery.", he told her.
She signed for the package and brought it in alongside the newspaper on her doorstep.
Nancy carried the mysterious package into the kitchen and sat it on the table across from where she ate her breakfast, and stared at it. She knew very well she hadn't ordered anything, it wasn't her birthday either.

When she was done eating her morning meal, she got up and washed her dishes, then turned her attention back to this very strange and sudden package.
"Well," she said, "I might as well open it… it was addressed to me after all."
She looked at the shipping label and saw it made mention that the return address was the same as the return address. "How odd.", she thought, "How could that be?"
There was no other name on the package except her own. The mystery of this package began to grow even more, as well as her curiosity.
She started gingerly unwrapping the brown paper covering the box. When finally completely unwrapped, she opened the plain white box. Inside were smaller boxes, also white in color. Ten total, to be exact. On top of the smaller boxes lay a beautiful postcard with two flying white doves with a red rose between their beaks. She picked up the postcard and read it.

"My dearest and most beloved, Nancy. I can't give you back the time we missed while we were apart during my deployment in the war. However, I can give you something so that I can share the memories with you. I'm sorry I didn't do this sooner. I want you to always remember I was with you in spirit; and that I will always love you, even if I can't be with you. Love always, Your Walter."

Nancy looked at the date written on the postcard, and gasped. He had written the postcard two months before his passing. She checked the date on the package for when it was issued. It was the same date! But why was it delivered so late? She looked back at the postcard.

"P.S. - I made arrangements for this package to be delivered on our anniversary when you are seventy-five years young, my beautiful Nancy."

Nancy clutched the postcard to her chest and tried not to cry. A single tear escaped her. "I love you too, my dear Walter." She had forgotten it would be their anniversary today.

She moved on to the small boxes that lay nestled in the postal box in front of her. As she opened them, each box contained a picture of him at a monument specific to each country he had been deployed to, while he served in the American Navy during World War two. With each picture was a conjoined keepsake from the same place as the photo to commemorate his travels during his absence.

"I will cherish these, all my days, Walter… and one day soon, I will see you again."

… To be continued.