Life of an Inanimate Object: Part XIV: The Package

Post date: May 12, 2017 12:06:00 PM

By: Megan Cichon, Entertainment Editor

Posted May 12th, 2017

Part XIV: The Package

Galen slammed the door to his room in frustration. The remainder of the meeting with Miss Naylene had gone just as terrible as the beginning. She’d continued to grill him about what those kids had done to him, and it had made Galen extremely upset. At one point, I thought I saw a tear run down his face.

“Did you know Galen was colorblind?” Elvin asked me, “I definitely did not, and you looked extremely surprised when he said that--”

“Do you think I would’ve kept something like that from you?” I asked.

“Well, I mean, you don’t seem to like me very much, so it wouldn’t surprise me if you keep things from me.”

That hit me like a punch to the gut.

“I like you,” I told him, “I just think you talk a little too much.”

“Galen?” Someone called, “Are you alright? You’re home from school early.”

I glanced at the clock, and realized that Galen had ditched his last class after the meeting with Miss Naylene. The door slowly creaked open, and Galen’s mother poked her head into the room.

“I got an email from your guidance counselor,” she began, “You had a meeting with her today, didn’t you? How’d it go?”

“I don’t wanna talk about it,” Galen replied, “I want to finish this chapter. It’s the last one.”

“Are you sending it in for publication this time?”

Galen frowned, and furrowed his brows, as he often did when he was deep in thought.

“Publication?” Elvin asked innocently.

I glanced at the books that lined Galen’s bookshelf in his room, and then thought back to the books in the library at school.

“The book Galen is writing could be a real book, on real shelves--”

“It already is a real book,” Elvin interrupted, “Just because it doesn’t have a fancy cover, doesn’t mean that it’s not a ‘real book’.”

“Maybe I will,” Galen said, “I just gotta think about it.”

Galen’s mom nodded slowly and smiled.

“I’ll leave you to it then.”

Then she left, gently closing the door behind her. Galen grabbed his notebook and tossed it on his desk. He reached for Elvin and I.

“Let’s finish this,” he muttered, sliding into his desk chair and twirling me over.

📖 📖 📖

Galen slammed the car door shut and walked around to the passenger side. I was tucked behind his ear, anxiously watching. He opened the passenger side door, and pulled out a small, rectangular box. Inside of it, he had all five of his notebooks, filled with his novel-to-be. They were labeled “One”, “Two”, “Three”, and so forth. The box was taped securely shut, and was labeled with stamps and stickers. I glanced at the building we were next to as Galen picked up the box. The sign on the side of the road read “United States Postal Service”.

Galen shut the door, and cradling the box in his arms, marched confidently through the door of the building.

“Hello there,” an adorable older lady sang, “How can I help you today?”

Galen gently set his package on the counter.

“I need to send this package to New York,” Galen began, “I’ve already paid for the stamps and stickers. I just need it weighed.”

The lady grabbed the package and dropped it on a scale. She entered a number into her computer and listed off a price. Galen dug through his wallet, and handed the lady the proper amount of change.

“Thank you,” she told him, taking the package and setting it on a cart behind her, “I’ll get that taken care of.”

Galen thanked her and proceeded to exit the building. As he climbed in the driver’s seat of the car, Elvin shouted to me from atop his perch of the console,

“How’d it go?!”

I sighed nervously as Galen started the car.

“Now we wait.”