Throwback Thursday: ‘Finding Relatives’ by Susan Pieters

A small country town has several places where one can pick up gossip and pass it around like a Chumash arrowhead, and I parked in front of the obvious first choice. The post office lobby was the ideal location to run into neighbours and hear the local news. The advantage of this location was its plebeian nature; it was the only place in town that everyone had to visit regularly, no matter their status. It also had old-fashioned glass covers on the mailboxes, which offered a great peek into people’s personal lives. An eternally empty window or stacks of letters left to rot inspired speculation.

I was here to find out how my mother was doing. I’d been away at college for several months, and over the phone she sounded fine. Almost too fine. Before I appeared back at her doorstep, I wanted to prepare myself. I dialled the combination lock for the mailbox and pulled out a few brochures, but no bills. I decided this was a good sign, and when the postmaster gave me a polite nod and turned away, I figured my mother must be doing pretty well. There was no one else in the lobby at the moment, so I decided to drive two extra blocks to the more exclusive place to get gossip, the local meat locker.