Bad Day, Wrong Package

Someone was knocking at the door. Gabe opened it and it turned out to be the mailman. "Hi. Could you sign for this please?", he asked him. Gabe thought it was odd, because his family was not expecting a package. "Are you sure you have the right address?" he asked him. "Twenty-two eleven Benhurst Street, right?" The mailman thrust the package past the door, close to Gabe. The electronic pad to sign for the package was on top. Gabe signed it and gave the pad back, knowing that the mailman was in a hurry of some sort. "Have a nice day!", he called out. By the time Gabe looked up, the mailman was already on his way to the next house. After Gabe went back inside, he sat down on the sofa in the living room to examine the package. It looked like it had a book, or maybe a small picture frame inside the brown box. He shook it lightly, careful not to break whatever was inside. It felt like it had a quarter of an inch gap on the top and bottom of the box, because when Gabe shook it, he felt it slide back and forth just a little bit. He still didn't want to open it, but- The mailing address was wrong! It looked like the numbers said 'Twenty-two eleven', but the last two was actually a nine! Looking closely at the number, he realized that the last two was a typo. If someone were to glance at it, it looks like a two. But if they take the time to read the numbers, they would see that the last two is faded, like the number block ran out of ink. The nine was printed slightly to the right with a little heavier ink. Because of this, Gabe knew that the two was a typo. He rushed out the door to give it back to the mailman, but he was nowhere in sight. He sighed. Gabe knew it was going to be a long Saturday.

No one else was home. His parents went to the movie theaters, and his sister spent the night at one of her friend's house. Gabe decided to deliver the package to the right address. He figured it was probably a block up from where his house was, so he started walking down the sidewalk. It was only ten a.m., but it was hot outside. All the kids from the neighborhood were outside, running around and playing. Turning the corner to get to another street, he spotted a little crowd of kids on the sidewalk. It was a lemonade stand. He got in line and asked for a cup. After handing over a quarter, he took a big gulp from his plastic cup. As he was about to swallow it, a kid on a scooter wheeled his way into the crowd, and right into Gabe. One side of the handlebar caught him right in the gut, and Gabe coughed on reflex. The lemonade soaked his shirt. The kid on the scooter simply backed up, and kept going. "Hey, watch it kid!", Gabe shouted angrily at him. Since he was the loudest, tallest one there, everyone turned to look at him. There was hardly anything left to drink in his cup, so he bought another lemonade. After drinking it, he continued walking. As his shirt dried, it became sticky because of the sugar in the lemonade. What a Saturday, he thought.

When Gabe finally found the address he was looking for, he ran into a problem. Construction work was going on right in front of the very same house. The sidewalk and the street was being worked on. The only option he had was to hop the fence on the side of the house and knock on the door. It was a little risky, because he didn't know this neighborhood. It would look mighty suspicious if he were to start jumping fences with nobody knowing who he was. Gabe looked around. The construction workers were in a pit of some sort, so they really couldn't see if he walked through their caution tape. The rest of the street looked deserted, and no windows were open. It seemed like the coast was clear. Gabe walked past the house a little bit, then quickly hopped into the front yard. It was then that he noticed a dog-house hidden beside a bush. It felt like his stomach dropped. Gabe ran towards the front door as quick as he could. He was halfway there when the dog started to bark and run towards him. Gabe ran to the front door, knocked loudly twice, and jumped over the side of the porch. The dog right on his heels, it jumped right after Gabe. As soon as Gabe landed, he darted off to the side of the porch and jumped outside of the yard. The dog scrambled around a bit and headed after Gabe. But by the time the dog got to the fence, Gabe was already hiding behind the construction workers vehicle. He heard a voice shout out from the front door, "Stop that noise, Rufus!" Gabe poked his head out. "Hello! I have a package for this address. It came to my house by mistake."

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