I love a good writing prompt. Every so often I give myself the challenge to grab a writing prompt online that sparks an idea and try to write a piece of fiction from the prompt in and around 500 words.

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WRITING PROMPT: 

Major downsizing meant this was the last day of your 30-year career as a mailman/mailwoman.

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The God of Mail

By Jess Knaus

A heaviness weighed on Paul as he loaded his motorbike with the packages and letters that were about to be delivered. The helmet felt like a knight’s armour, the sound of the engine rumbled with a new and triumphant depth, and the clouds in the bright blue sky were more tangible than ever before. He was a god – the god of mail.

Paul knew this was his last round – the final nod through the window, the last knock on the door, the closing ‘please sign here’. He knew that to deliver the mail was to write the pages of history, and in accomplishing his deliveries he would be leaving his legacy on the world. Pulling out of the depot the breeze cooled the sweat gathering underneath the line of his helmet as it swirled around his ears. The buzz from his morning coffee engaged, giving him the confidence to push the gears higher and faster towards his very first house. Onwards, onwards.

Irving Street, Calister Crescent, Patterson Drive – these were not suburban streets. These were the roads of the kings! Letters slipped into letterboxes with a glorious glide, packages left by front doors sat boldly, and those who signed for their online orders said ‘that man – he has changed my life’. Dogs followed the fenceline to meet him, children waved through windows and the men who saw him drive by stood in salute.

Finally the sun began to set – the conclusion to an epic day, an epic career, an epic life. He pulled off his helmet for the last time, as a warrior removes his suit of armour. He handed over the keys to the vehicle manager and said, ‘my work here is done’.

His colleagues gathered around the room saying nothing but silently agreeing that this man – this man – had changed the future and direction of time. He took the keys to his Toyota Corolla from his locker, made his way outside the building, and looked back with one last glance. He slipped into the driver’s seat, and the nature of mail delivery was henceforth, transformed.

 

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Photo: kgbo