The envelope
The envelope sits on a table just outside of a popular eatery at an upscale outdoor mall.
My immediate inclination is to be nosy and open it. But I don’t. It’s not addressed to me and besides, I’m hungry.
Instead I walk inside the resturaunt, order lunch and find a table. As luck would have it, there’s a table for two (or one, as the case was today) which sits opposite the table with the envelope on it, separated only by the wall of glass delineating the outside from the inside. I sit and wait for my soup and salad.
And I stare at that envelope.
Did the intended recipient find it and simply leave it behind? Was it a note to say that the person she was supposed to meet for lunch couldn’t make it after all? Given the fact that it was in a highly visible place, how many people would see me if I snuck a peek at what was inside?
I begin to over-think the implications of reading what was inside that envelope versus not reading it:
What if the information within that envelope has long lasting implications for its recipient and she never found it?
What if it’s a ransom note left for a mother who was supposed to meet her child there? (There is a junior high and high school just across the street.)
What if it’s a note from the woman’s husband telling her he’s leaving her for another?
Yeah, I know. I should not be left alone with my thoughts.
I even go so far as to send an email to a friend asking what he would do. He not-so-helpfully suggested that I was probably watching too many episodes of Fringe.
The multiple plots playing out in my head are abruptly interrupted by a young man carrying a backpack who walks purposely up to the table, picks up the envelope, reads the name on it, opens it and reads its contents. He then returns the note to the envelope, places it back on the table face down, sits in a chair three tables away, takes out his phone and begins texting someone.
I’m a little incensed at this point. Not only has this teenager done what my curiosity tempted me to do but my upbringing prevented me from doing, but he did so brazenly and with little thought to who might see him doing it. Clearly that envelope was not intended for him. There are many names which can apply to either gender, but Virginia isn’t one of them as far as I know.
Wait…
Maybe I’m judging him too quickly. Maybe he knows Virginia and is texting her at this very moment to tell her someone has left a note for her.
Five minutes later, an SUV pulls in front of the restaurant driven by a woman I assume is the kid’s mom and drives away. So much for the thoughtful teenager theory.
And the envelope remains abandoned and alone on the table.
But not for long…
The next person to arrive is a man I judge to be in his 50′s. He glances at the overturned envelope, reaches for it but then reaches back. Instead, he sits at the table, pulls out his phone and proceeds to make a phone call. I notice he’s wearing a blue tooth device. His attention is divided between the smart phone he holds in his right hand and the overturned envelope sitting on the table he now occupies.
The man with the blue tooth.
The man sits at the table for about ten minutes. After he completes his phone call, it doesn’t take long before curiosity overtakes courtesy. The man opens the envelope, reads it contents and quickly places back on the table just as he’d found it: face down. I presume he did so quickly so as to avoid being seen by the bicyclist who finds a place to chain up his bike right next to the table.
But that’s not how it was to begin with.
It was facing up with the recipient’s name clearly visible!
And if Virginia comes by she won’t see it!
Clearly I’m not the only one concerned with this envelope, because the man with the bicycle has taken up residence not three feet away from me and is now also looking at the envelope from the next table over.
At this point I’ve long finished my lunch and I’m nursing my Acadia berry iced tea. I need to move on and let someone else have my table.
But not before I put the envelope back to the way it was: facing up with the name turned outward.
As much as I wanted to read its contents I didn’t. It wasn’t mine to read. If Virginia read the note and chose to leave it there that’s her prerogative, but it’s not my place or anyone else’s to read something intended for someone else.
Besides…
Bicycle man was watching me.
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Hmmm
Wonder if the note inside said “Your name is not Virginia. Why are you reading someone else’s note? Nosy person. Nothing to see here, move along.”
-Peace
Allen´s last [type] ..Book Review: Day of War – Cliff Graham
Ha! I actually considered doing something like that after the fact: Place an envelope with “Kathy Richards” on it, then wait for someone to come open it, show them my ID and say, “What the heck are you doing reading my mail?”
See, that is exactly why I enjoy reading your blog. I would have been VERY tempted to do the same thing…hmmm LOL
-Peace
Allen´s last [type] ..Book Review: Day of War – Cliff Graham
That’s exactly what I was thinking.
I was thinking it said “GOTCHA!!!”
But then it couldn’t have because no one either laughed hysterically (as I would have) or appeared embarrassed.
Helen´s last [type] ..Rethinking an Old Resolution
I probably wouldn’t have looked either but I would have been so tempted.
Amy Nabors´s last [type] ..Jealousy, Words & Disappointment
So was this post really just a veiled way to admit that you frequent popular eateries in upscale malls?
Anyhoo….
So now I’m going to have to place an envelope on a table like that with a random name on it.
Inside, I’m going to place a note inside which says something like,
“By reading this note, you’ve set in motion an unstoppable chain of events….
We’re watching you….”
Peter P´s last [type] ..Disappoint – Blog Carnival
Mwha-ha ha! Excellent!
Sounds like a great beginning to a novel to me.
karenzach´s last [type] ..Prayersanity
Just an excellent story, seeing how everyone reacted to the letter. Except, of course, the recipient. I’m still wondering who she was.
Megan Willome´s last [type] ..Zombie
1. my brain works the same way (overactive imagination as my husband would say)
2. are you running for public office? maybe this was a test for you
3. how long did you watch from your car once you flipped it?
4. where was the waitress?
blessings.
I REALLY want to know what the letter said though….
Peter P´s last [type] ..You Are Good Enough
What happened to the cat whose curiosity got the better of it???
But I would be curious, also! Human nature???
Oh, absolutely human nature, Berniece. And I think I’m nosier than most.
You tell a good story. I was worried there was anthrax in the envelope, you wouldn’t want to meet the same untimely demise as the man with the bluetooth and the nosy teenager, would you?
jake´s last [type] ..They’re Worth It
One thing keeping me from handling the envelope would be the possibilty of a camera crew and some popular national news correspondent/celebrity coming out from the kitchen and asking me all kinds of questions about it.
That and the fact that I might get a paper cut.
Larry Hehn´s last [type] ..Shirkers, Lurkers, Perkers and Workers