The Mailbox

Author:  Susan L. Prince

One day grandma pulled into a parking place by the mailbox downtown. She asked me to get out and mail the letter she had. No problem, right? wrong.

I was in my early teens at the time and I had never used a mailbox downtown. You know, the big blue ones with the USPO eagle emblem on the side? I had been raised in the small, quiet community of Hinckley, OH and I had a rural route mailbox. One that sat on a pole at the end of the drive and when you open it, you place inside the letter going out, and then you raise the flag to let the driver know there was something being mailed.

Well, I said to grandma "sure!" and got out of the car. I went up to the mailbox looking for the slot to put the mail into. I didn't immediately see one so I went around to the other side. There wasn't one there either? So I investigated further going 'round and 'round the big blue box. Grandma yelled something from the car, don't remember what it was, but she was trying to direct me as to how to put the mail in the box! LOL I never did figure it out on my own. Grandma got out of the car, came over to the mailbox and opened a door to put mail in. The handles for those doors are hidden! LOL

That's my memory of the mailbox.