First Class Stamp Read Online Free

was very good at what he did and
was a trusted employee and friend, although Matt and Mark still signed all
checks by their own hand. On that, Matt would not make any exceptions.
    Finally, the fourth door belonged to Ben. He unlocked it and
walked quickly to his desk. He didn’t plan on being long, as he didn’t want to
get sucked in to spending the weekend working. He’d already put in sixty hours
and needed the two days to unwind. He pulled out the small drawer of his desk
and searched for the stamps that the shipping department supplied him with. He
couldn’t find them. Frustrated, he slammed the drawer shut and left his office.
With his backpack slung on his shoulder and his letter to Luca in hand, he
exited the building for the four block walk home.
    Ben liked living in the financial district. He walked to and
from work every day. His apartment was spacious and modern and his apartment
building had all the amenities he could ever want. There was a gym there but he
preferred the office gym, but his building did have a pool and he liked to use
that sometimes. He usually worked out in the morning before he started work. It
cleared his mind and gave him a fresh start to the day, and it was convenient
to have the gym and his office on the same floor.
    Another reason he liked the financial district was because
it was much quieter during non-office hours. On the weekends, some streets were
almost void of humans and he didn’t have to fight with the crowds. He liked
people but he had to deal with them all day long. The weekends were his and
solitude was his friend.
    On the corner opposite his apartment building he stopped in
at the small store that he frequented on occasion to get milk or a loaf of
bread. His refrigerator was mostly bare but he liked to have milk and cereal on
hand for breakfast, and peanut butter and bread for the occasional snack. The
shop was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Manning and Ben knew them and they knew Ben.
He’d been shopping there for the seven years he’d lived in the neighborhood.
    As he stepped inside, the smell of cinnamon rolls wafted
into his nose. He walked to the counter and waited for someone to appear. After
a couple of minutes a young boy, about twelve Ben guessed, came out from the
back room.
    “Hi,” Ben said.
    “Hi,” the boy replied.
    “Do you work here?” Ben asked with a slight grin on his
face.
    “Yep,” the boy smiled. “How can I help you?”
    “I was hoping you sold stamps,” Ben said.
    “Hold on,” he replied and disappeared back into the room at
the rear of the shop.
    Ben heard some voices but couldn’t understand what was being
said. After just a minute, the young man returned and pushed a couple of
buttons on the cash register.
    “We sell books,” he said to Ben. “Would you like one?”
    “Yes please,” Ben smiled.
    The boy pulled a book of stamps from the till and placed it
on the counter. “That’ll be…ummm…hold on.” He ran into the back room again
leaving Ben with the book of stamps and the cash register drawer wide open
exposing the cash inside. Ben smothered his chuckle and waited for the young
man to return again.
    “Its nine dollars and twenty cents,” he said as he came
jogging back to Ben.
    “Here’s a ten. Keep the change,” Ben smiled as he handed the
boy the money and picked up the stamps from the glass counter.
    “Thanks,” he replied.
    Ben walked out to the sidewalk, removed a stamp from the
book and placed it in the top right corner of the envelope. As he walked into
his apartment building, he handed the envelope to the door man who promised to
get it in the mail immediately.
    *****
    Alex Grossman carefully put the crisp ten dollar bill into
the cash register and counted out the eighty cent tip he’d been given. He put
the three quarters and the nickel in his pocket and shut the till drawer. As
his grandfather entered the store through the back door he asked if Alex had
been able to take care of the customer.
    “Sure did!”