Reading the Dice

Story 5: Darren Delivers a Letter

Dice Roll: fiend shadow, skyscraper, phone, question mark, magnet, bee, house, parachute, letter

One day, Darren awoke to the phone ringing. His parents weren't answering it, and it rang and rang. Finally, he pulled himself out of bed with a groan and stomped out to the living room, wondering why his parents even still had a landline telephone, anyway.

"Hello?" he mumbled into the receiver.

"Oh, good, you're awake!" his mother replied on the other line. "Good morning, honey. Your dad and I had to run out for an unexpected business meeting; we left you a note in the kitchen, and breakfast, lunch, and dinner are in the fridge! Have a good day, and try not to break anything!"

"Huh?" Darren rubbed his eyes. "Oh. Yeah. Okay."

"We love you! See you tonight!"

The dial tone was ringing in his ears before he could even think to reply.

Darren put down the phone. His stomach grumbled loudly, so he ambled over to the kitchen and yanked open the refrigerator. A big bowl of oatmeal, blueberries on top in the shape of a smiley face, sat on the top shelf. He grabbed the bowl, absently pushing the fridge door shut, dug a spoon out of the silverware drawer, and sat down at the table, hunching over his bowl as he ate.

Dropping his empty bowl in the sink, he looked around the room, eyes scanning for the note his mother said they'd left. A piece of paper clung to the fridge door, held in place by a magnet in the shape of a bee. Steve had gifted him that magnet after the incident in the park when his nose got stung; Steve thought the gift was hilarious.

Darren grabbed the paper and looked over the note.

Darren—

Have a nice day. Don't forget that the cleaning people are coming—be sure to be out of the apartment so you don't disrupt their work. See you tonight!

Love,

Mom

As usual, his dad had signed the note with the symbols of Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, the Flash, and Spider-man in a circle around a big question mark; it was a running joke of dad's that he was secretly a superhero, but he couldn't tell Darren which one. He'd also scrawled the Wonder Woman and Supergirl symbols under mom's signature.

Darren returned to his room, retrieved his backpack, and packed a water bottle, the lunch from the fridge, his yo-yo, a deck of cards, and a harmonica, before heading out the door. He walked down all 34 flights of stairs to the ground floor of the apartment building, then went out into the city.

As he walked along the sidewalk, the wind tossed a piece of paper across his path. He picked it up; it was a letter. Figuring it must've blown out of a mailcarrier's bag, he walked to the post office to turn it in.

The woman at the counter of the post office smiled brightly and thanked him for the bringing the letter in. As he turned to leave, she asked, "I was just about to fly this route. Would you like to come along and deliver this letter yourself?"

He quickly returned to the counter, nodding excitedly.

"C'mon around." She gestured to him, opening a door off to the side to let him in back. They walked together out of the building and to the hangar. "Have you ever been in a plane before?"

"Oh, yes, lots," Darren replied. "My mom has her pilot's license."

"Oh, good! Have you ever used a parachute before?" The woman opened the hatch to the plane.

"Yup! We go skydiving all the time!" Darren beamed. Every vacation, his parents took him skydiving.

"Perfect! You're just the kid for the job!"

After they were both strapped into their seats, they taxied slowly out of the hangar to the runway and took off.

They'd flown for several hours when she turned to Darren. "Okay, you ready?" After he nodded, she gestured to a house far below. "Go ahead into the back and get into your 'chute, kiddo. Your target is that house down there; it's inaccessible to our delivery cars, so we need to airdrop the mail."

Darren pulled on the parachute pack, carefully securing and tightening all the straps, then pulled on a pair of goggles. He tucked the padded envelope full of mail, including the lost letter he'd found, into a pocket in his coat and zipped the pocket shut.

"Okay. Now, when I tell you go, you open the hatch and jump, okay?"

Darren nodded, grasping the bars by the hatch.

"Go!"

Darren slid open the hatch, holding tightly to the bar as the air pummeled him. He jumped out of the plane and spread his arms, embracing the air as it whipped past him.

After he'd plummeted some distance, he yanked the string, opening his parachute.

Using the ropes, he guided his descent toward the house. His shadow stretched out across the ground, looking like a strange monster, making him laugh.

He landed with a thump in the yard. After he freed himself from the parachute's straps, he walked across the grass and knocked on the door to deliver the mail.