Blind as a bat, that postman!” Frankie cursed, as she looked again at the label on one of the two packages she’d casually torn open.  “Riverside close, not Riverside drive. Same number, but the names aren’t quite the same. I’ll have to take it round.  Give my apologies.”  The cat didn’t seem to be listening. 

She was in a real rush this morning, getting ready for the holiday she was about to start, the next day.  No surprise then that she was absent-minded in picking up the parcel from the sofa, as she hurried out. Riverside Close was only three streets away, so it shouldn’t take her long.

Elizabeth automatically looked into the hallway mirror, checking her appearance. Like her whole house, the neat, grey tweed two-piece suit was spotless, and her silver hair was curled atop her head in a tight bun.  Though today was only her sixty-second birthday, she felt years older.  Was she really such a bore?

OK. She’d been a head teacher half her life, and taken her work very seriously, even to the extent of a strict upbringing for her daughter.  Husband Frank had left when daughter Beverly was only two, never to return, and she’d never found another man, because her work was her life, and men couldn’t cope with that.

None had ever seemed to see that there was more to her than rules and regulations.  She gazed out of the living-room window at the gloomy sky of the early afternoon, and gave a tired sigh.  Tired of doing the same thing.  Tired of life.

A loud rap on the door made her jump, but still she smiled.  It would be Stan, the beefy postman with the laughing eyes.  His cheeky, disrespectful manner always made her day. He stood, smiling, with and handful of envelopes for her, and said, as she opened the door

“I take it today’s your birthday, Mrs A!  Many happy returns.”

Elizabeth thanked him, with a  wry smile, before going back inside.  Yes, they were cards, no doubt, but she felt no desire to open them.  The bland words of congratulation would only deepen her despair.  Why was she worth so little to those she loved?