"The Post"

Arthur picked up his meager pile of mail from the front desk of the boarding house and headed off to work. He was in an especially good mood this morning for some reason, and smiled and waved to the other residents as he passed them by.

He arrived at work a half hour early this morning, as was his custom to do every morning since he’d hired on at Colin’s Garage, enjoying the bit of quiet before the others arrived to start their day.

Arthur straightened up his desk, sharpened the pencils, put a pot of coffee on, and sat down to go through the morning post.

"Bills, bills, oh...here’s something....," he mused to himself, as he pulled out an advertisement, "Seems Barrett’s is reopening soon. Well, good. The town needs a good shop."

Setting it aside for later, Arthur picked up a small, decorative envelope and smiled.

"Well, seems I’ve got an invite for a fancy party of some sorts."

His face quickly fell into that of a frown when he went on to read just who the party was for.

"Oh dear... won’t be attending that one, Arthur... no, no, no.... no reason to go and upset Mr. O’Brien by attending that particular party."

He quickly tossed the invitation into the dustbin and picked up the next little envelope. Smiling once more, he opened it up and pulled out the contents.

As he read the letter, his hands began to shake and an expression that one could only describe as a mixture of shock and horror washed over his face.

This is how Colin found him, as he walked into the office that morning. "Good morning, Arthur, you look like you’ve had a bit of a fright. Bad news, eh?"

Without looking up, Arthur simply replied, "My parents... they’re coming ‘round for a visit."

TBC...