The Wrong Parcel

The first parcel arrived on a Thursday in June.

Nora opened her front door in the morning and found a small brown box on the step. The label said: R. Lambert, 21 Maple Street, Kingston, ON.

Nora lived at 21 Maple Street. Nobody called Lambert lived there. Nobody called Lambert lived anywhere on Maple Street. Nora knew this for certain, because for thirty-one years she delivered every letter on this street.

She wrote Wrong address — not known at 21 on the box and left it for the delivery driver.

The next Thursday, there was another box. Same size. Same label. R. Lambert, 21 Maple Street.

The Thursday after that, another one.

"Maybe it's a mistake in the computer," said Dev. He was sitting on Nora's porch, eating one of her oatmeal cookies. "Somebody typed 21 instead of 12. Or Maple Street instead of Maple Avenue."

"I checked," said Nora. "There's no Lambert at 12. And Maple Avenue is in a different part of the city. I called the post office. They say the address is correct on their system."

"So why don't you just open it?"

Nora looked shocked. "Dev. I was a letter carrier. You never open somebody else's mail. Never. It's the law. And it's the rules."