Post Haste

          (Colin Howard)

This is a beautiful story, written by American author Colin Howard.  Colin Howard is well known for his humor, fun and frolic. “Post haste” is an example of all of his writing. In this story, the writer has presented an interesting character Mr. Simpson who amuses with his absent-minded behavior.  The writer has made the story a source of entertainment by describing ridiculous behavior and funny dialogues of Mr. Simpson in a delightful manner.

The writer says that he happened to meet Mr. Simpson near post office one night. He was a new comer in the locality and the writer and his wife had only met once or twice with Simpson and his wife. While leaving home, he didn’t notice whether the envelope was stamped or not. As he reached the pillar-box for posting, he came to know that the letter was not stamped. He had no money to get the stamps. This situation made him worried, as he had to post letter urgently. So he requested the writer to lend him three half pence to get stamps out of automatic stamp machine. The writer explored his pockets but he could not find any coin to entertain him. However, out of sympathy and courtesy, the writer asked Mr. Simpson to accompany him to his house situated at a little bit distance for having three half pence.

After reaching home, the writer handed over coins to Mr. Simpson. He thanked him and left for post office. He had hardly taken a few steps when he returned because he had lost the way to post office. The writer explained the exact location of post office but he could not understand. So the writer himself led him to the post office to overcome the inconvenience faced by Mr. Simpson. On reaching there, Mr. Simpson dropped the coins in the machine one by one but no stamp came out from it. The stamps were out of stock in the machine. This situation made Mr. Simpson more frustrated. Moreover, due to confusion and nervousness, the envelope dropped from his hand and when he picked up, it was having great mud blot on it.

Meanwhile, it occurred to the writer that he had stamp book at home. He took Mr. Simpson and rushed towards him home, as they wanted to post the letter before the last clearance of the mail. The situation became extremely desperate for Mr. Simpson when they found the stamp-book empty. Mr. Simpson thought, perhaps, the writer is joking with him but the writer assured him that the book was nearly full of stamps. Then the writer suggested him to post the letter unstamped. At first, Mr. Simpson did not agree but, the, he had to post the letter unstamped as there was no way left with him.

After posting the letter, the writer led the way to Mr. Simpson home so that he might not lose the way. On reaching his Place, Mr. Simpson extended his thanks to the writer for his co-operation in posting the letter. At that moment, Mr. Simpson was looking confused but he did not tell the writer that the letter was simply an invitation to dinner. The writer was also very amazed at the puzzled behavior of Mr. Simpson but he could not understand anything. The next morning, the writer had to pay three pence to the postman for a blue envelope with a large mud blot on it. He, then, came to understand the mysterious behavior shown by Mr. Simpson at the time of parting at night. The letter was, in fact, addressed to the writer.  

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