Quick Quip

Last night I went out with a friend of mine for dinner and afterwards she asked me to stop by the post office so she could drop a couple of letters in the mailbox. The mailboxes were the big metal ones that sit at a curb and you can pull up in front of them, slip the envelopes in, then drive away.

Of course it's not that easy. :-)

We pulled up right behind a car and waited for him to slide his mail in. And waited. And waited. His hands would go sneak out the window and then back in again. Not once did I see any paper.

Finally, I turned to my friend and asked her, "Do you think he's having trouble ordering his Venti Caramel Apple Spice?"

Seriously, I thought the guy was trying to order food or something. No, I did not honk. We were having too much fun laughing at the fact that it took forever. Plus, he finally did figure out how to put the mail in the mailbox. Of course when it was our turn we knew what we wanted so our order didn't take nearly as long. LOL!

Now, how could you use that little event in a book? I can think of a couple of ways.

Your hero or heroine could be in a hurry but just have to do this one little errand. That could lead to all kinds of scenarios. . .they're late for whatever they were in a hurry for, like getting to a stakeout, or a meeting with a bad guy. Or maybe that little detour and lengthy wait in line gave the bad guy an opportunity to ambush them. Any ideas spring to your mind?