The Ten Foot Rule

Postmaster Paul Byrnes took a sneak peep into the lobby of the new Memphjus post office. How come it was so cold? Starla was working the counter. The line was clear through the lobby and out into the weather. Maybe he should get Roy to cut his break short and open another counter post. He didn't want Roy to go postal on him, though. And... wait a minute. The line wasn't really long. But the woman who was next in line was standing 10 feet behind the couple at the window with Starla. That meant the man behind her could stand only half in and half out of the door. 2 other women were out in the cold behind her. This seemed to happen more and more. What was wrong with people, anyway? Over in Verdi County, which people secretly called Mussolini County because of its Italian Heritage, 18 people would have crowded into line ahead of her by now. In Periwinkle County, though, people were just too polite to do that. It was bad enough that Hobby Lobby was letting people order online now. Once Kate Bates and Claire Randall and the rest of those church ladies found out about that, his carriers would be volunteering to go back to Iraq. Now people wouldn't even close up the line, rather make those behind them stand out in the cold. No wonder people were saying that the Obama administration had already failed.