He did not know it at the time, but that day was the last one of its kind. Elliot Whitman was a normal man with a normal life. Actually, not a lot of people would say that he had an ordinary life. He was in his forties, and it was uncommon for someone his age not to have a family or a specific person to love. He himself never thought his life was different, as he felt completely satisfied with his routine and his job. He even had a few friends, with whom he spent time only when they reached out. He was not the kind of person to call first.
This morning, he woke up at the same time that he usually does on workdays when he has to work afternoon shifts. It was late autumn, so the last few days had been mostly cloudy and dark, but to his surprise, today the sunlight filled the room. The first thing he always does in the morning is head straight to the bathroom. He liked to wash his face and let the cold water wake him up while looking into the mirror. The second most important thing was breakfast. The moment he opened his fridge, his phone suddenly rang. Even though he did not like phone calls, especially during breakfast, he alwas felt the need to answer the phone. The number was unknown, but without much hesitation, Elliot decided to answer. The person at the other side of the line sounded a bit impatient: "Daniel? Hi, it's me. I just wanted to remind you about the letter. It is still at the old post office. You said that you would pick it up today and take it to Mrs. Adler. She has been waiting. Do not forget it, please!"
Before he could say anything, the mysterious person had already ended the call. He thought about going back to his breakfast, but the letter was bothering him more that it should have. No task should be left unfinished. So, he decided to skip his breakfast and hurry to the old post office before he was late for work.
The post office was close to the street where he worked, a small watch repair shop at the town square. When he moved here, he found this shop and he ended up visiting it quite often. He later saw in the newspapers that they needed a new worker, so he took the chance and got the job that had lasted him twenty years now. The shop was very close to his house. It usually took him about ten minutes to get there, if he chose the same route that he always did, but that day was different. Instead of walking forward, his feet turned right. He did not know why he had decided to change the most practical route for the one that would take twenty minutes longer. After realizing that he had not seen this part of town in a while, he thought that it might be a good idea to take a look, as he still had some time left.
Instead of looking at the old buildings like he did every day, today he saw a beautiful park. In the middle of the park was a mesmerizing lake, the trees did not have many leaves, and the grass was turning a bit yellow. Still, it was the most stunning sight he had seen in a long time. He felt like he was walking more slowly than he ususally did, but he must have been wrong because a few minutes later he saw the old post office. It was a small room filled with letters, packages, and some old papers. The whole builidng looked like it was stuck in time, even though it was very loud inside. When he walked in, the first sound he heard were footsteps, as if people were running around. The drawers were being shut and a bunch of papers was getting thrown around. After a bit of waiting, he got called to the service counter. The lady working at the counter looked like she had all the time in the world. "Hello, sir! How can I help you today?" she asked him quite nicely a few seconds later. "Hello! I am here to pick up a letter. It is for Mrs. Adler, it should be here," Elliot said while the lady was typing something on her computer. "Of course! Can I just get your name, sir?" She spoke even more politely now, as Elliot stood in place. He had not thought about this enough. Was it right for him to steal somebody's identity? Should he even be touching the letter? Anyway, now it was too late to ask any of these questions. He pushed all of these thoughts away and simply answered: "My name is Daniel". The lady looked at him before leaving the room. She soon returned holding a quite huge envelope. "Here is your letter, sir! It has been here for a while." She looked very happy handing him the letter, as if she had been waiting to get rid of it. As he was trying to leave, the lady urgently said: "I am sure Mrs. Adler will be very excited to finally get her letter!" Elliot just looked at her with a bit of confusion on his face. Now he had completed one part of the task, the other, more important part, was to get the letter to Mrs. Adler.
The address of Mrs. Adler was written on the front of the envelope. The fact that her house was not far away from the post office made Elliot wonder why nobody had delivered her the letter. Her house was situated next to the partk which Elliot had passed earlier. It was a nice-looking house, with red bricks covered in a bunch of colourful flowers. Elliot saw the postbox close to the main entrance. He felt at ease knowing he had no way of explaining why he was the one delivering the letter. Instead of giving it directly, he could just put the letter in the mailbox and avoid any form of communication. So he tried, but as he was about to put the letter in the mailbox, the front door suddenly opened. A short older lady looked at him direclty. After studying his face, she noticed the letter in his hands. "Oh, Daniel! I was expecting you! It took you a while. How are the kids?" Elliot was stunned, and not knowing what he was supposed to say, he caught himself already answering: "Good. The kids are doing good." As he was slowly moving away, he felt a hand pull him inside. "You cannot leave so soon, I have not seen you in ages! Come inside! Would you like some coffee or tea perhaps? I also have some sweets, where did I put them?"
Now Elliot was sitting in the kitchen of a complete stranger, pretending he was somebody else who he also knew nothing about. While Mrs. Adler was looking for the sweets which she had obviously hidden from herself, Elliot, surprised with himself, asked: "Would you like some help, Mrs. Adler?" She looked at him with disappointment. "Haven't I told you a thousand times to call me Julie?! I do not like it when you try to act formal with me and no, I do not want your help!" After a cup of coffee and no sweets, because they were nowhere to be found, and, of course, a lot of lying, Elliot realized that he really had to go to work. He felt kind of strange and it was not a bad kind of strange; he almost felt happiness. As he was leaving, Mrs. Adler stopped him. "I know your name is not Daniel," she said.
Elliot froze and stopped putting his right shoe on. He did not know how to react and his legs were not letting him turn around to look at Mrs. Adler, or, now, Julie. "I also do not know anybody named Daniel. I did know one in high school, but that probably isn't you." Elliot gathered the strength to turn around, but he accidentally dropped his shoe. He had no plan of picking it up. Mrs. Adler looked a little ashamed, but she continued: "I had nobody to pick up my letter, so I dialled some numbers until somebody answered. And you did. I was quite surprised when you actually showed up. Come back tomorrow and stop by the store. If we're going to keep drinking coffee, we might as well need some sweets this time." Elliot smiled and simply said: " Do not hide them this time."
And then he left knowing that tomorrow he would be buying sweets. On his way to work, he caught himself smiling while crossing the park. He never thought that a stranger would make a change in his life. Two people will now have something to look forward to every day. One of them found a son she could never have, while the other one found a mother whom he had lost. They did not know it at the time, but that thay was a new beginning.