The First Package

Charlene could not sleep again for the ninth night in a row.  She could not figure out why.  Every time she would lay down, no matter how tired she was, she would suddenly become extremely restless.  She was becoming very frustrated with the whole situation.  Rain poured down, playing a staccato lullaby on her roof, and time drifted slowly.  A glance at the clock told her that what she thought was three hours gone by, was really forty-five minutes.

With a grunt of anger, Charlene stood up from her bed, walked to her closet, grabbed a pair of boots and a coat, and briskly walked out her door.  She figured, if she had to be awake, at least she could enjoy the storm outside.  Not caring that she was getting soaked, Charlene headed towards the river where she liked to think.  It seemed like the right place to go at the moment.

As she sat on the bank, she thought about the last nine nights.  It was very odd for her to be unable to sleep.  She had never had trouble before, even when she had a lot on her mind.  She would lay down and within seconds she was as good as dead.  Charlene racked her mind for some kind of clue.  And then it hit her, the morning of the first night she couldn't sleep.

She did not have to go to work that day, so Charlene had decided to take a walk to enjoy some air.  She picked a random direction and started walking.  Not long after she started, Charlene saw an old woman walking in the opposite direction to her.  As Charlene passed her, the old woman called out to her.

"You must be the courier!  I am so glad I was able to catch you.  Here's the package, and the money has already been wired to your account.  Thank you so much, this means the world to me."  Charlene had been stunned by the old woman's abruptness, and now she found herself holding a small box, watching the woman heading back from which she came.  She looked at the box to see if there was an address, but there was no writing or label on the paper that wrapped it.

Charlene could not figure out why she kept the package instead of just throwing it away, but her inability to sleep began after that woman gave her the package.

"This is all her fault.  I don't know how, but it is definitely her fault.  I'm not even a courier for crying out loud!  And even if I was, how do I know who to give this to?!"  Charlene yelled into the sky and looked around, half hoping that the old woman would magically appear to either take the package back, or to at least explain why she had thought that Charlene was a courier service.

The woman did not appear, instead, a ship's horn was the reply to her question.  Charlene stood up quickly.  Her mind was racing every which way.  Why was there a ship on the river at this time of night?  Why was there a ship on this river period?!  The river was barely ten feet wide and only about eight feet deep at its deepest areas.  And the ship that was heading towards her was as big as the Titanic.  Yet it glided over the water at a crisp pace.


Charlene watched it as it slowed the closer it came to where she was at.  With another loud blast from its horn, the ship stopped right at her feet.  A ramp began to lower from the side and it's slow progress gave her a chance to read the name of the ship.  The S.S. Chameleon.  She did not know what to make of all this when the ramp touched land, and a shadow started to descend, which she soon saw by his hat and coat, that it was the captain of the river offending vessel.


The captain walked right up to Charlene and gave a great big smile.  She didn't know what to do.  Minutes passed with Charlene wide-eyed and practically petrified.  The captain's smile began to waiver when he realized that Charlene was not going to move or say anything.


"Well?", he said, "Don't be shy now lass.  Hand it over will you?  I've waited fifteen years for my bonnie lass' trinket and I don't want to wait another one just so you can get your wits about ya."  Charlene just stared even more confused than before.  The captain saw the confusion in her eyes and things clicked in his head.  "No one told you what's going on did they lass?  Leave it to land lovers to forget the details."  "It's quite simple really, you are the new spirit courier.  It's your job to carry items from the living, to their loved ones that have passed on.  Now, lets have it shall we?"

"Wait," Charlene had been broken from her reverie with this last bit of information the captain had given her, "are you telling me that you're dead?"

"Now you're catching on little lady.  That's right, I'm as dead as they come, and I have a tight schedule that I need to keep.  So how about you pass me that package in your pocket, and I can be on my merry."  Any normal person would have probably fainted from the thought of talking to a ghost, but the only thing that went through Charlene's head was whether or not she would finally be able to sleep.

Charlene reached into her pocket and pulled out the package, which she never remembered putting there to begin with, and handed it to the captain.

"Ah!  Many thanks lass, now I can be with my bonnie lass always."  and with that, the captain turned and strode up the ramp.  And before the ramp was pulled fully back in, the ship was already moving down the river blaring its horn.  But the noise fell on deaf ears because Charlene was asleep right where the captain left her.