Three Of A Kind

Part One- The Draft

Elijah

The floorboards creaked under the battered rug as I made my way over to the mail table. My usual day consisted of no mail, work, and little sleep. But when I approached the table, the little cupboard with my name on it had a green light. Intrigued, I slid my card across the drawer and watched as it shot open. There was no huge pile of mail, or a gift wrapped in transformers paper because she couldn't afford the modern paper or adult wrapping. I picked up the single letter wrapped in a crisp envelope outlined in ivory.

I payed attention to these details because I'd heard the descriptions before. No, this is not a note from Clara telling me to hang in there and that Summer is doing well. This is the letter that tells you, you will now become a member of the Associate military. Flipping the letter to its front, I saw exactly what I had predicted. The only people who mail now a days are the poor and the government.

The "townhouse" that I lived in was starting to awaken, meaning I was late for work. People milled around me but I paid them no attention.

My only thought was on the two most important people in my life, Clara and Summer.

Jade

Rocking back and forth on the porch swing reading a book, I heard the mail coming from a mile away. Since we live out in the rural community of Illinois, we don't have the fancy high tech mailing system and our mail is still delivered by noisy trucks and crabby people.

Our mailman's name is Bob, a not so common name now that I think of it. He is always angry, and I know why. This one time, I had to go and get the mail from the truck personally, because we were remodeling the farm house to have an Asian touch to it- my mother says its good to keep in touch with our roots- and I saw a bottle of whiskey not so cleverly hidden under the mail bag.

It is against the law to drink and drive, but I was only a twelve year old girl and he was a forty year old drunk man in a car.

I decided not to call him out on it.

But my guess is that he's an angry drunk. And he gets angry when he gets drunk, and when he's sober he's angry because he drinks and since he's angry, he gets drunk. A very vicious cycle if you ask me. Also a confusing one.

So since we don't have a mailbox, Bob threw a single envelope at our house and sped off at what had to be fifty miles an hour in a thirty miles speed limit area. If you couldn't tell, I'm a square. But a very quiet one.

Like I said, he threw the paper. And as always, it landed dangerously close to my head. As always I ducked and caught it when it fell. But it was unusual that the envelope was military. Neither of my parent's jobs were anywhere near the government.

Opening the letter I read it and turned pale.

My parents were not going to like this letter....

John

The hangover was killing me; no matter what your buds tell you, you do not get used to waking up in your clothes from the night before, feeling like your head is beating instead of your heart.

So the mail in the drawer next to the window in the small apartment seemed a pretty petty thing to look at when I could just listen to all the messages on my phone.

Hitting the play button before going to the bathroom to wash my face and get some water, I let the machine go off, wincing at the beep it made before each message.

"Hey man! Its your bud Chucky callin' you right now... uh, duh," he laughed when he said that and I rolled my eyes. The guy was a complete knucklehead and a goon... "Anyway man, I just want to say that last night, those girls, just damn! Like when she did that la-" the machine cut him off, thank God. I don't need to find out there's another girl that I'm supposed to call...

The machine starts up again, "and man, I was so hard like I'm not going into details, but her ass was top notch bro... whatever dude. We gotta hang again man, call me back, see ya dude!" Beep! The message ended and I was left at peace.

Until two more messages came on.

"Mr. Rivas, we have informed you twice now that if you are to complete your online education, you must finish all mandatory assignments. This is your last warning Mr. Rivas, good day." The nasal sounding lady hung up and I groaned. Just because my mother thought I should finish college doesn't mean I will. I left the family because of all the pressure, not to create more now that I'm gone.

I was about to go into my room and grab a beer from the mini fridge, but a final message stopped me.

"You have: one letter from the USA government." The machine voice that informed me of the contents of my mail and financial status spoke, catching me off guard.

Oh shit, did my fake IDs not work? I told that kid if he snitched he'd get whats comin' to him.

I angrily tore at the fancy envelope and yanked out the letter. In bold print it read at the top words I thought I would soon have seen. Didn't mean I wanted to see them.

Well sunshine and rainbows, I'm now a forced member of the Associates military.

***
I'm baaaaack!

Yeah, I just did that. But I mean, I'm writing this while I'm finishing the other book so it doesn't feel like "I'm back" from anything.

More like I never left:)

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Love ya Blue Birds, read on!:)