Going Postal Outside the Post Office

Yesterday we went to Costco. I took a cart and so did Anna and we went our separate ways to buy stuff. We came upon each other in an thorough-fare aisle and we stopped and was going over our shopping tactics when I noticed a lady standing near me. Then I noticed I was blocking an aisle so I backed up to give the lady and her cart enough room to turn in, but was still talking to Anna.

The lady said, “Well, Eddie aren’t you going to speak?”

I focused in on the lady and it was a old postal co-worker that I haven’t seen in about 9 or 10 years or maybe longer. She transferred to main office and became a telephone operator for the post office. She has changed. Even if I looked at her before I might not have recognized her. Aging changes the appearances of most people in a near ten year period, whether we like it or not.

Linda was a little perky aggressive red-head that was never lost for words. She appreciated my wit.

“Linda!” I said. I asked her how she was and how Robert was. She said Robert was fine and he was over in the electronics area. She said they were about to become grandparents for the first time and Robert was about to freak out. I immediately thought of Robert’s children by his first marriage, – They were grown in 1982, maybe Robert was already a great grandfather from his first marriage, but I decided not to bring that up.

She said she better go find him. She told us to take care and come to see them in up in Cartersville sometime, since I don’t have anything to do, being retired and all.

If anyone overheard our conversation they would probably think “that’s nice, the old guy is retired and he used to work with the woman he was talking to and knew her husband Robert as well.” In fact, we were close to a free sample person handing out little cups of fat-free potato chips – Maybe that is what she was thinking.

The free sample lady probably didn’t think about or remember the local news headlines in about 1982 or ‘83: JEALOUS HUSBAND SHOOTS WIFE AND HER BOYFRIEND IN A RESTAURANT.

Back then Linda was married to someone else. Someone she regretted being married to. Not only did she regret it but so did her mother. Her mother encouraged her to have an affair.

Enter Robert: Robert came into the picture and begin flirting with Linda. She told her mother and her mother came one night to the post office break-room in the middle of the night to meet Robert and she approved of him. That is a close mother- daughter relationship.

Then Linda and Robert had a hot motel affair going after work on many mornings.

We took our lunch breaks then at 7am. Robert and Linda had gotten in the routine of going to a nearby Hardee’s and having breakfast then. One of her husband’s friends saw them at Hardee’s on several occasions and told him.

One morning, her husband was part of the breakfast crowd at Hardee’s. He pulled out a handgun and shot Linda in the face and shot at Robert but missed. The husband was soon apprehended. The bullet went into Linda’s cheek and exited her jaw also. The poor mixed up husband was sentenced to ten years (I think it was ten) in prison.

I noticed that you can hardly see Linda’s scar on her face now.