Free First Class Stamp by Aj Harmon Page B

Ben had been all for it, seeing as
though his executive team were the ones who worked with these people on a daily
basis. Reservations at the hotel had been made and the travel department had
reserved all the plane tickets. One more week and everyone would converge on
New York City for the inaugural annual event.
    When Ben checked his mail as he entered his apartment
building he was happy to see a letter from Luca. It always brightened his day
to find the hand-written envelope in his box. Once upstairs, changed from a
suit to shorts and a t-shirt, he ripped it open and began reading.
    Hello Ben,
I made the soccer team. I was very excited because I didn’t think I’d make it,
but I did. Mama is proud of me and said I am the best player on the team but she
doesn’t know because we are still only practicing. Our first game isn’t for a
few weeks. It will be after we get back from America. I am very excited to come
and I think mama is too. She says that we will see the Statue of Liberty and I
told her that you would take me to a Yankees game. My friends here don’t
believe that I am going even though I told them I was.
    Mama had to put
two new windows in the car. She said that she accidently got too close to the
ticket box in the parking garage. She must be a very bad driver because the
ticket boxes are on the driver’s side and the broken windows were on the other
side.
    I will see you
soon in America. I’m glad I will get to see you because I don’t remember what
you look like.  
    Goodbye,
Luca
    As Ben folded the letter a deep concern for Maria’s safety
almost drowned him. He sat down with his laptop and sent her an email telling
her to stay away from Crystal Towers and to tell all her employees to do the
same. On Monday, he would have to decide what to do.

7.
    Although she’d read Ben’s email, and called and instructed
her staff not to come to work, Maria sat at her desk in Crystal Towers and
reviewed her calendar. There were still things to be done like paying the
utility bills and representing MEL Holdings with a brave face and strong
backbone. These protestors would not get the better of her…not today or any
day!
    While the group protesting outside had lessened in size,
they’d moved closer to her building. Over the past couple of weeks, the closer
they came, the more tenants had left. Maria was in fact nervous, but she wasn’t
going to show it. They seemed to be disorganized now and didn’t appear to have
a united voice. They’d originally been protesting the amount of money the
government was spending on the Olympics; money that was allegedly being
diverted from other funds like schools and hospitals. And with that she could
agree. But now they were shouting about everything from the Olympics to saving
the whales and increasing money to AIDS research to banning all yellow cars!
They gave the impression of being utterly unorganized and while that could be
viewed as a good thing, the protests winding down, Maria understood that it
also meant the remaining individuals could be unpredictable and that had her
feeling anxious.
    Moving through her to-do list, Maria kept herself busy and
productive most of the morning. The mail arrived and she sat behind her desk
methodically dividing the envelopes into piles as she did every day; a junk
mail pile, standard mail that came every month like bills, and the curious
pile. She began with the junk mail and tossed the majority of it into the
recycling bin in the corner under her desk. Tearing open envelopes and dealing
with bills and newsletters came next, saving the third pile for last. A lot of
that pile ended up in with the junk mail. Advertisers were getting smart in how
they sent out mail…making their envelopes look official and interesting but it
only took two seconds to realize that the inside was the same old garbage and
ended up in the same place as all the other crap.
    Opening a beige linen envelope, Maria retrieved a letter
typed on matching stationary