The Card Not Mailed

The addressed and stamped envelope to the Starbirds stood propped up in the window sill for days. Yesterday Paul commented “I wonder why Philip doesn’t take this down to the mailbox. He is always so quick to take mail down.” It was still there this morning when I went into the study. We always put our outgoing mail on the window sill by my desk and then Phil takes it down to the corner of our street and puts it in "outgoing mail". I picked it up and noticed that the flap had not been sealed. I now knew why Phil hadn’t taken it down; he was waiting for us to put something more into the envelope. I took it downstairs and told Phil I knew why he hadn’t mailed this yet. He said something to me that I could not understand at all--not a word. “What did you say?” He repeated it but I still had no clue what he had said. “What?” He repeated it again and finally I could begin to understand a few words. On the fourth try I got it. “The Starbirds do not have a mailbox” he had been trying to tell me. That is the real reason he had not mailed it. Phil is very observant. He notices burned out taillights of visiting cars, where I put my car keys, where a recently purchased grocery item was put. I am usually more astonished when he doesn’t know something. I have often said “Everyone needs a Phil at their house.” Today I wondered why he said they do not have a mailbox. Here is my best guess. The mailbox is across the street or it is in front of another house a few doors down. This much I do know; it is not where Phil thinks it should be so therefore “The Starbirds do not have a mailbox.”
After much discussion and explaining that they must have a mailbox, I finally convinced him to take the card to the mailbox.