“Yeah, dude, this morning all the papers were saying it was a horrible find,” added Wendo with an alarmed expression.
The campfire that lit up the faces of Donalx and his friends in the middle of the woods seemed to glow brighter and brighter, causing fleeting whirlwinds of sparks that the wind intermingled with the stars above.
It was only when Josh handed Donalx a marshmallow that he changed his lost gaze and began to speak.
“Yesterday, as usual, I was supposed to deliver letters all over the town—Donalx muttered before munching on the marshmallow. Actually, everything was going fine, until at the end of the day I arrived at house n°101, Moon Street.
Chisbaily, Wendo, Josh and even, Aretha, normally apathetic, looked at their friend without blinking, waiting to hear about the event that spooked the Wiz Road community.
“I don't remember much, but dang! As I got off my bike I told myself I'd never been on that street,” explained Donalx nervously. The house and its old and somewhat neglected facade wasn't as scary as seeing the living room flickering light bulb and the front door coming and going for no reason.
“You say there was no one in the house when you got there?” asked Aretha, who shocked everyone as she spoke.
“I always ask you for the answers in the tests, and not a single word, you wretch,” Wendo chided her.
“Yeah, Aretha, you could have saved our asses many times in high school,” Chisbaily pointed out agressively.
“Guys, who cares about high school, vacations or if we're all losers now? Let Donalx talk!” yelled Josh.
“Fine. Although ridiculous, I rang the doorbell several times and no one showed up. So, I called out loudly to the recipient of the letter, Mr. Weatherluck. Absolutely nothing. But, suddenly, I saw a shadow slip beyond the room, perhaps entering the kitchen,” Donalx recounted, his voice cracking.
“The light in the room, before long, went out, and I took that as my cue to leave. But first I wanted to leave the letter at the entrance. I ducked down as fast as I could and half-turned. What a mistake!” said the young mailman.
“What happened next?” cried the guys in unison.
“A pale giraffe appeared.”
“What on earth do you mean?” asked Chisbaily standing up, disappointed.
“It was Mrs. Weatherluck. Tall as a giraffe, pale, dressed in black and smoking a cigarette as long as her hands, she greeted me and asked who I was. I only answered 'mailman'.
“Guys, it might have been the adrenaline, but I swear I don't know how I ended up sitting in the living room with Mrs. Weatherluck,” confessed Donalx.
“I think you've always liked them wrinkled, heart-throb,” joked Wendo.
This bad joke didn't sink in on anyone. Even Chisbaily looked at Wendo as if wanting to pick a fight with him, but they continued to wait for Donalx to speak which happened next.
“She had already changed the light bulb, and with a suggestive look she asked me several things; among them, that if I liked weird stuff. As best I could, I replied that I did.”
“This seemed to excite her, and she began to point to the collar and sleeves of her dress. She soon told me 'see these fine details? They are all Australian spider hairs'.”
The tension of the moment caused all the guys to finish the marshmallows, and not notice that the sky was clouding like charcoal.
“Then, you may imagine, I wished to escape from Moon Street, but just before I spoke, there came the sound of an enchanted piano to my ears. It seemed to be coming from upstairs,” said Donalx.
“Oh, I wonder who is playing the piano. I've been alone here for two days,” said a somewhat nervous Mrs. Weatherlcuk.
“It must have been the ghost of Wiz Road!” said Josh biting his nails.
“Not at all,” replied Donalx immediately.
“I only thought it was the shadow I had seen before. However, a heavy gait on the stairs removed all doubt: it was Mr. Weatherluck.”
“Love, how nice to see you. When did you get home?” he asked his wife with flashing eyes.
“William, what do you mean? I haven't left. I thought you had gone on a business trip,” she replied.
“Business what you do with me every time you ask for my credit card,” Mr. Weatherluck said looking at her defiantly before approaching me.
“Ah! He's Mailman. Dads are getting more and more creative with the names they give their kids, aren't they?” she said jocularly.
“Nice to meet you, boy. You probably knocked on the door, but I was lost upstairs. Where's the letter?” he greeted me with utmost confidence.
“Right there,” I said, pointing to his right leg.
“And the police arrived just then?” Aretha hurried to ask.
Everyone immediately silenced her to let Donalx continue.
“No. In fact, Mr. Weatherluck took the letter from the floor with a big smile. He opened it gently, looked at me as if thanking me and proceeded to open the paper in it.”
“It looked as if that letter had a bomb in it, for Mr. Weatherluck's whole features quivered horribly, and he immediately fell sprawling on the floor like a log. I tried to help him, but I think I was stiffer than Mr. Weatherluck,” explained Donalx.
“And his wife?” asked Chisbaily, who was holding on to his curly hair with all her might.
“When I turned to look at her, she was already watching me with grim eyes and a thousand-teeth smile through the faint smoke of her cigarette,” said Donalx.
None of the guys were breathing. The anticipation was on edge. So much so that not even the drizzle that began to fall scared them away. Their heartbeats were pounding to know what would happen.
“Seeing Mrs. Weatherluck looking like that wasn't the worst of it. The shadow from before revealed as the figure of a handsome young man with a square face, short beard and somewhat torn clothing that revealed great muscle mass,” pictured Donalx.
“Don't you feel there are too many obstacles in this life, mailman? My father was one of those, but thanks to my stepmother, or rather, my new bride, there will be no more impediment to being rich,” commented the young man, who was, I guessed right, William Jr.
“For sure! Some fake kidnapping photos of his son, and we knew that hypertensive William wouldn't live to tell the tale; he was always a man with a big head, but small heart,” she said before bursting out laughing.
“Even with a foggy mind, I knew that if I didn't get out of there, I wouldn't tell either,” Donalx said standing up to the rain that was growing and dousing the campfire a little at a time.
“I ran with all my might to my bike. I didn't care where I was going; I just wanted to get away. But in my clumsiness, I hit the tail light of a police car that was parked up ahead.”
“We'll kill you, we'll kill you,” I heard behind me.
“Young man, you just hit a police car, I hope...” the officer was saying before my tearful face suggested something serious was going on.
“After that moment, I think everything started to slow down. The cops apprehended William Jr. and Mrs. Weatherluck with relative ease. The three of us were taken to the police station, and after some questioning, I was released and they went behind bars,” Donalx said.
“So you inadvertently made possible a crime and justice at the same time,” Aretha inferred with a surprised look on her face.
“Sh! He's a hero of Wiz Road. Don't ruin everything, killjoy!” replied Wendo to Aretha with evident frustration.
“It's okay, buddy—calmed Donalx to both of them. There's just one thing that still bothers me,” said the most famous boy in town.
“What?” asked Chisbaily in distress.
“That now I don't know what to do with so much money,” Donalx shouted at the top of his lungs with a somehow naughty chuckle.
Chisbaily, Wendo, Josh and Aretha looked at each other and fled like ants under the rain at the thought that their dear friend, the mailman, had planned this whole crime.
It was a strong impression that did not last long, as Donalx himself came out in an interview the next day explaining that he had inherited the fortune of retired millionaire William Weatherluck because all his relatives were either dead or in jail.
