The glare of the early morning sun reflected off the smooth mahogany desk and shot straight into Alex’s face. He got up from the floor, where he had been trying to adjust the height of the massive desk chair, and closed the blinds. From the moment he had stepped into the ornate office, he knew it was going to take much more than a few slight modifications to the furniture to make him feel comfortable in his new surroundings.The shiny metallic nameplate that read “Alex S. Bentley, Director of Postal Operations”, looked as out of place on the antique wooden door as Alex felt sitting behind the hand-polished desk surrounded by the luxurious paneling, leather furnishings and plush carpet. He was only three hours away from his quiet rural home, but he felt as if he were in a foreign country. He had six months to adjust to his new surroundings, but for now, he needed only to adjust one piece of furniture.Alex continued to struggle with the stubborn chair

When Alex arrived at his office the next morning, he found a huge stack of files waiting for him. Sighing in frustration, he sat down and began the seemingly endless task of reading through and sorting yet another pile of mindless paperwork. It was well past noon when he finally finished the last file and he was just about to leave for lunch when Brad walked in and dropped a new stack on his desk.“This is ridiculous!” Alex’s irritation was obvious, “Most of this stuff is just interoffice memos and application forms. I’m sure we can eliminate a great deal of this paperwork by sending e-mail. Brad, where’d Nate hide the computer?”“Mr. Richman didn’t use a computer, Alex. In fact, he refused to have any modern technology in his office at all. He was quite adamant about it, too. He’d mail letters to Washington, protesting the sales of stamps at ATMs and grocery stores, accusing these modern conveniences of steal

On a normal work day, Cynthia Anderson would never have been rude to a customer, but this was no ordinary workday. So, when the woman had called looking for Alex, she had to quote right from the rule book. She couldn’t take the chance of her conversation being overheard by the two men who had walked in that morning flashing official badges from the US Postal Inspection Service.They told her that they were only performing a routine audit and asked to see the books, which she produced for them in less than one minute. The badges might be a new contemporary design, but the anxiety they created when shown to a postal employee was the same as it had been ever since they were first issued by Benjamin Franklin to William Goddard, the first post office Surveyor in 1776. Postal Inspectors performed their jobs efficiently and professionally, but so did the IRS. Even though the general public was grateful when their watchful eye put law breakers behind bars, no one e

Dawn in Manhattan. Rachel stood by her window, mesmerized by the breathtaking mural of fiery shades in orange, radiant blue and luminescent yellow, set against the stark gray buildings of the most famous skyline in the world. A wallpaper of colors only nature’s artistry could paint.She never tired of the view, but this morning in particular, it looked especially breathtaking. Drinking her third cup of coffee, she watched the world come alive from her kitchen nook, eighteen stories above Central Park. Rachel felt a surge of confidence, strength, and renewal, not only coming from the rays of a brand new sunrise, but from her own feeling of accomplishment radiating from the 127 finished pages of Guilty Pleasures that lay in a neat pile on her kitchen table.Rachel had typed straight through the night. Dialogue and phrases which had stubbornly eluded her only days before were now flowing effortlessly from her re-ignited creativity, as her fingers typed page

Rachel stretched her long legs in the back of the spacious limousine as it inched along with the flow of heavy rush hour traffic. The interview had gone much better than her previous television appearance. At least this time she was able to answer specific questions about her second novel, now that she really did have more than just the title.Fortunately, the producers had scheduled the taping of three shows before Rachel’s interview, so she had an opportunity to relax on a couch in the green room and catch a few hours of sleep before a staff person came in to take her to make-up. Once awake, Rachel’s natural adrenaline rush had kept her alert for the rest of the afternoon, but now she was in need of a cup of strong, black coffee, which the driver had thankfully been able to supply.Rachel couldn’t wait to tell Alex about her successful interview and how surprised she had been when Larry King showed her his hard copy of Legal Briefs. It was