First Class Stamp (2 page)

The Lathem family was gathered at Tim and Beth’s new
apartment for a housewarming party of sorts. The newlyweds had been married for
a couple of months and the family had helped them move into their new apartment
just a couple of weeks before. Because MEL Holdings owned many properties in
Manhattan, apartment buildings included, Matt had given his brothers an
apartment as his wedding present as they’d each settled down into marital
bliss, Tim being the latest of the Lathem men to relinquish their bachelor
status.

Tim and Beth had chosen to stay in the same neighborhood, so
they’d found a fantastic three thousand square foot apartment just a few blocks
from the fire station where Tim was assigned. Their favorite part of their new
home was the nine hundred square foot terrace, which is where the family now
gathered, Beth’s German Shepherd Cleo, included. Tim and Paul were grilling
steaks and chicken and all the women were inside with the children preparing
the rest of the feast.

Ben sat in the chaise lounge with a cold beer relaxing after
a particularly busy couple of weeks. Matt had scaled back his hours in the
office to two days a week and Mark, Ben’s second oldest brother and Matt’s
business partner, was also starting to gradually scale back his hours. Both men
had stepsons they were mentoring and grooming, but Ben, having been with the
company for fifteen years now, had been handed much of the responsibility of
running the company. He was ready and able to take it on and felt confident in
his abilities. He wasn’t sure though that his brothers had as much confidence
in him. It irritated him when they continually asked the same questions over
and over again. He’d proven himself to be a valuable and loyal employee and Ben
felt it was time his brothers respected that and cut the apron strings. When he
wasn’t tired and irritable, he was able to step back and realize that it was
their
business and one mistake could literally cost them millions of dollars, but Ben
still wanted their respect. Hell, he’d been working for it for years. The time
had come.

He closed his eyes and sighed, causing Rory, Ben’s brother
Andrew’s husband, to come and sit beside him.

“Everything okay?” Rory asked.

“Yep. Just been a long week.”

“I hear ya,” Rory sighed. “We’ve been trying to potty train
Isabelle. We took the week off work ‘cuz all the books we read said we could do
it in just a few days with focus and patience. The books were wrong,” he
frowned.

Isabelle was two and half and the two fathers couldn’t have
been prouder or loved their daughter more, but Rory was obviously frustrated.

“I can help you with construction licenses and permits, or
mortgage calculations, or the fine art of negotiation,” Ben grinned, “but for
potty training, you’re on your own.”

Rory laughed. “Maybe I’ll talk to Janie. She’ll have some
ideas for us to try.”

Janie, Matt’s wife, was the mother of four children and the
best woman Ben knew. She could help with
any
problem. In fact, Ben had
sought her advice just a few weeks ago. He’d met her for lunch and told her all
about Maria, the woman that had been working for the company for almost five
years now in Brazil. He’d hired her when MEL Holdings had purchased the Crystal
Towers in Rio de Janeiro and she’d been a stellar employee ever since. When his
manager, Len, had left for another job opportunity, Ben had insisted that Maria
be promoted to the vacant position and she’d exceeded all expectations. Ben
didn’t supervise her but had kept in contact with her and her son, Luca. He and
Luca had been exchanging letters ever since he’d taken them to dinner years
ago. Luca’s letters were a hoot to read. The boy was full of imagination and
his view of life was fascinating to Ben, but there were also some underlying
concerns he had about what Luca wasn’t saying in his letters. Ben feared he was
being bullied at school and he asked Janie if there was a tactful way to bring it
up to Maria. Janie had told him it wasn’t his place to say anything unless he
knew something was going on. Why worry her if everything was fine? Ben had
agreed and had made sure to include in his next letter a plea that if anything
was ever bothering Luca, that he tell Ben immediately.

Ben could remember being ten and knew that other boys could
be mean if they felt they had reason. Maria and Luca were Catholic and her
parents had disowned her when she told them she was pregnant and unmarried.
They had insisted she marry the father immediately before their family was
disgraced, but Luca’s father had insisted she get an abortion, that he wasn’t
interested in having a baby with her and he definitely was not marrying her.
She was horrified at the idea of ending the pregnancy and adamantly refused.
He’d told her she was on her own…to not even list him as the father on the
birth certificate. Maria had abided by his wishes and her parents had not
spoken to her since. Ben was certain that if Luca was being targeted at school,
his lack of a father could be the reason.

As Rory headed off to talk to Janie, Ben reminded himself to
send off another letter over the weekend to make sure his little buddy was
doing okay. He’d tried to change their communication to email, but Luca had
insisted on mail because he said it was exciting to get a letter with a stamp
on it. He was saving all the first class stamps that Ben had sent, so Ben tried
to use a different ones each time he mailed an envelope. The shipping
department at the office stocked individual stamps just for Ben. The rest of
the company’s mail went out by metered mail.

Tim yelled that the meat was ready so the family converged
on the patio to eat.

*****

In the solitude of his own home, Ben pulled paper and pen
from his desk and sat at his dining table and wrote to Luca.

Hey Bud,

I haven’t heard
from you for a while so I figured I’d better check on you. How’s school? Are
you still playing soccer? Weren’t you going to try out for the club team?

I was thinking
that when your mom comes to New York for our conference in September that you
could come with her. I talked to her about it and she thought you might want to
come. What do you think? We could finally go to a Yankees game! Do you have a
passport yet?

Ben went on to tell him about his last trip to Germany and
the soccer matches he’d gone to watch. Then he told him about Cleo, Tim and
Beth’s dog. Luca had expressed a desire for a dog but his mom had said they
didn’t have time for one. He signed the letter and folded it and placed it in
an envelope he’d already addressed. All it needed was a stamp and it would be
in the hands of the postal service.

Ben took a hot shower, pulled on some pajama bottoms and
slipped into the cool crisp sheets on his bed. He felt as though he could sleep
for days. His eyes drifted closed and within seconds he’d fallen into a deep
sleep.

“Shit!” he exclaimed as the phone startled him awake. Ben
looked at the alarm clock. “Damn it!” The caller I.D. elicited a groan as he
answered the phone. “What the fuck, Jill? It’s one thirty.”

Jill had been his girlfriend for six years until he’d broken
it off once and for all a couple of years before, but out of the blue she would
call and irritate the hell out of him. His mother, who had never liked Jill,
had told him not to answer the phone, but if he didn’t, she just kept calling.

“What do you want?”

“Hi babe,” she purred through the receiver.

“What. Do. You. Want?”

“I thought maybe you’d like to see me?”

Ben could hear her pout through the phone. “No. I don’t want
to see you.”

“Ben!” she whined. “I miss you.”

“You’re drunk.”

“Am not!” she insisted. “Well, maybe just a teeny bit,” she
giggled.

“Delete my number from your phone, Jill, and stop calling
me.” He hung up the phone and fell back on the pillow. The first few times
she’d called after they’d broken up, he’d been weak and lonely and had
succumbed to her whining and amazing breasts. They’d hooked up a few times for
sex and Ben
finally
realized after a few months that she assumed each
time he’d slept with her that they’d get back together. He hadn’t seen her in
over a year, but she still called every couple of months and each time he got
sterner and less friendly, hoping she’d understand that they were
really
over.
As he closed his eyes he hoped it wouldn’t take many more calls before she got
the hint.

*****

When Ben opened his eyes on Saturday morning and looked at
the clock next to his bed, he was surprised he’d slept ‘til almost eight. He
must’ve been really tired. He’d dreamt of Jill, or recalled several memories
was probably more accurate. The sex had always been great for him. Jill had a
body that was supple and she did yoga, which was a plus. Those memories were
fine. It was the memories of them trying to have any form of conversation that
was unpleasant.

After their fourth date, Jill was talking about marriage and
children. Ben had made his feelings clear that he wasn’t looking for anything
permanent like marriage, and he certainly wasn’t thinking about children. She’d
smiled and said she was willing to wait until he was. After six years he still
wasn’t ready so he’d broken it off. He was trying to do the right thing for
Jill by giving her freedom to find the man who could, and would, fulfill her
heart’s desire. He’d spent six years listening to her nag and complain and beg.
She wanted to be married; her biological clock was ticking; her parents said he
was afraid of commitment (that was partly true); he would make a great father
if only he’d have a baby with her; why couldn’t she move in with him; why
didn’t his mother like her? The list was never ending and Ben finally got tired
of having to listen to it all. Mark had told him it wasn’t going to get any
better; that she was one of those women who would never have enough. After a
particularly difficult dinner where she started in on him before the appetizer
came and didn’t stop until he dropped her off at her apartment and got back in
the taxi alone, he decided he was done. She hadn’t taken it well.

Ben threw back the sheet and changed into some shorts and
running shoes. An hour or so at the gym would do him good. As he grabbed his
wallet and keys from the console table in the foyer he picked up the letter to
Luca. He’d mail that too while he was out.

All the Lathem men worked out religiously. Peter, the Lathem
patriarch, had instilled in his sons a love for sports and exercise. “A healthy
body works in sync with a sharp mind,” is what he always said. Ben had played
sports all through high school and had loved every minute of it. Now, at the ripe
old age of thirty-seven, his activity was limited to the gym at MEL Holdings.
It was state of the art and all of the company employees and their families had
access to it twenty-four hours a day. Saturday morning however, the gym was
practically deserted as it was a glorious summer day in New York City, humidity
at a rare low, and everyone was probably out playing.

Ben started on the treadmill, building up speed until he was
running a seven minute mile. With ear buds in his ear, listening to The Smashing
Pumpkins, his feet pounded in rhythm for sixty minutes. Breathless, heart
pounding rapidly, and sweat pouring from his chiseled body, Ben switched to the
weight machine and worked every toned muscle of his six foot two frame. For
another hour he strengthened his core leaving him physically tired but mentally
focused. After a cool shower he dressed in khaki shorts and a polo shirt with
Nike flip flops on his feet and headed to his office, an envelope in his hand.

There were a few people scattered through the three floors
that housed the head office of MEL Holdings. There always seemed to be a last
minute glitch that needed to be sorted out and they always came on the
weekends.  Ben walked into the suite of executive offices and past Matt’s door.
He was rarely in the office nowadays. If Matt came in for his scheduled two
days a week, Ben was surprised. He’d settled into the role of doting husband
and ever-present father very easily. When Ben had started working for his
brother, Matt was a bachelor and didn’t intend to ever remarry after a
disastrous five-month marriage in his twenties. But then he’d married a gold
digger much to the chagrin of the family. That marriage didn’t last much longer
than his first, and he was determined to avoid the trap for the third time. But
then just a few years ago he’d met Janie and everything changed. Ben could
honestly say that Matt was a different man now. His family was more important
to him than any deal could ever be. He spent his days doting on his children
and his nights making love to his wife and he was thriving. Ben was happy for
him.

Mark’s office was next to Matt’s. Mark had started coming in
to the office less also. He didn’t have any children, but he and his wife,
Katy, were gone a lot. Katy had recently left her job as a nurse and was
focusing on her volunteer work for charities that helped and supported battered
women. She and Mark donated large amounts of money to several organizations and
Katy spent as much time as she could helping women with medical issues;
examining and referring them to free clinics, and attending support groups when
she had the chance. Mark was so proud of his wife and all she was accomplishing
and was happy to fund her projects as well as supporting her in all she was
doing.

The next office he passed was Ryan’s. Ryan Little had come
to the company a couple of years prior to Ben and on the corporate ladder, and was
a rung higher, although his department was finance. Ryan was a CPA and an attorney
and his title was Chief Financial Officer. He 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!” Alex grinned. “Even got to keep the change!
Eighty cents!”

“Well you must be a charmer. I never get tips,” Mr. Manning
chuckled. “Thanks for watching the store for me. You are officially relieved.”

“Thanks Grandpa,” the boy yelled as he ran from the store,
through the back room and up the stairs to the apartment he shared with his
mother.

Aldo, Mr. Manning, sat on the stool behind the counter and
waited for the next customer. Saturdays weren’t exceptionally busy. He made his
money during the work week when all the business people stopped in for this or
that to or from work. He’d extended the store hours to accommodate the
customers and his business had profited because of it. He’d opened the store
over thirty years ago and had managed to support his small family relatively
well. With the small insurance check he’d received when his parents died in a
car accident, he and his wife, Gloria, very pregnant with their first, and
only, child Sophia, had bought the building; a small grocery/convenience store
on the ground floor with some basement storage, and three stories above, each
holding one good sized apartment. As skyscrapers and modern high-rises had
risen around them, he’d been made many offers over the years to sell. But Aldo
was happy with the simple and comfortable life he’d made for his family. And in
two more payments he’d have the mortgage paid off and be able to use the
monthly expense for their retirement fund, which they hadn’t started yet. They’d
rented out the top two apartments until just a few weeks ago when Sophia and
Alex had moved back home. They still had renters on the top floor, but his
daughter and grandson had taken the third floor apartment after the divorce and
the scumbag attorney that her ex-husband had hired left her with nothing.

Willis Grossman had swept Sophia off her feet and convinced
her to marry him. Then, after he’d secured her, like a possession, he’d made
her quit college to help put him through school. Aldo knew that she was blindly
in love with him and would do all he asked. She worked two jobs, barely
sleeping, quickly became pregnant and continued to work up until her water broke
in the middle of the eatery where she worked the evening shift. Four weeks
after Alex was born, Willis had allowed her to quit
one
of her jobs and
four years later, he’d finally gotten himself a job at a big advertising agency
and Sophia was finally able to stay home and be a full-time mother to their
son. Willis was gone a lot but by then the magic spell had been broken and
Sophia didn’t mind being alone with Alex most of the time. She adored her boy
and concentrated on being the best mother she could be.

About a year ago, Sophia began seeing the signs of
infidelity. She discovered a second cell phone in a suit pocket and a credit
card statement with hotel expenses in the city, just a few blocks from their
apartment in Tribeca. Instead of confronting him, she enrolled in community
college, hoping to finish her education so she could eventually leave him on
her terms and support her and her son.

But Aldo knew his son-in-law was a bastard, and Willis filed
for divorce first, hiring a pit-bull of an attorney and controlling all their
joint assets leaving Sophia all but destitute. Fortunately, the tenants on the
third floor had just given their notice to move and Sophia and Alex only had to
be subjected to sharing a bathroom with her parents for two weeks.

That had been seven weeks ago and only a week after they’d
settled in to their new home, and Alex into his new school, Gloria had been
diagnosed with breast cancer. She’d had a double mastectomy just a week ago and
Sophia was now their angel. She once again dropped out of school, even though
both he and Gloria insisted that she should continue, and was at her mothers’
bedside all day long. When Aldo locked up the store at nine o’clock every
night, Sophia served him dinner, made sure her mother was comfortable for the
night and ran up the flight of stairs to her apartment and slept eight hours
only to come back in the morning and do it all over again.

The doctors were cautiously optimistic about Gloria’s
recovery and Aldo secretly acknowledged that he couldn’t have continued to run
the store and tend to his wife without his gracious daughter. He would be
forever grateful. And he hoped that one day God would reward her for the years
of selflessness with a good man that would treat her like the princess he knew she
was.