ON DECEMBER 30, THE WEATHER WAS BITTERLY cold and overcast as I walked down the drive to check the mail. It had been unusually cold in Digger this year, but this was getting ridiculous. Amos had borrowed his Expedition from me and driven to town to get some groceries. Since the accident, a bunch of women from his church had cooked him casseroles, pies, meatloaf, roasts, and more pies, but he had eaten all that already, and Amos wasn’t one to let himself go hungry. I decided to spend the morning by myself, but when Amos got back with his truck I’d drive in and check on Maggs.
The chill wind whipped around my boxer shorts, dropping the temperature from real cold to even colder and persuading me to move quickly. I was standing by my mailbox, freezing and stuffing mail under my arms, when a Chevrolet Lumina with the words Mike’s Courier Service on the side screeched to a halt behind me. I dropped the mail and turned to see who had just scared three years off my life. A sixteen-year-old kid, with more zits than cream could cure, hopped out.
“You Dylan Styles?” He was holding an envelope and waving it in my direction.
“I’m Dylan,” I said, jogging in place and wondering if the hole in my boxers was open.
“You’re hard to find. I been driving around these dang boondocks for an hour and a half. How do you live out here? This is Egypt.” He shook his head and threw the envelope at me. Without another word he hopped back into the car, gunned the engine, spun the tires, fishtailed, and disappeared.
I jogged back to the house, dropped the mail on the floor, and took the letter over to the sofa by the fireplace to open it. It was printed on watermarked paper, embossed at the top, and signed by my boss at the college, Mr. Winter.
December 27 Dear Dr. Styles,
Your teaching performance and student evaluations are exemplary. As a result, the DJC Board and I are pleased to offer you a one-year contract extension for this coming school year. We would be delighted to have you join our staff on a more permanent basis. If you so desire, please sign the attached, keep a copy for yourself, and return the other to me at your earliest convenience. I am available at any time if you wish to call.
Happy New Year.
Sincerely,
William T. Winter
Chair, English Department
Digger Junior College
I scratched my head and looked down at Blue, who was studying me and pointing his nose toward the wind.
“Well, I’ll be.” I pointed to the letter. “Looks like I might get to teach after all. Go figure.”
Blue hopped up on the sofa, put his head in my lap, and rolled over, sticking his stomach in the air. I leaned back, propped my sockless feet on the coffee table, and thought how much I liked the sight of my drum perched atop the mantel. I thought Maggie would like it too.