Mailman
By Jonathan Stone, first published in Cold-Blooded
A mailman deeply dedicated to his neighborhood begins tampering with the documents of a mysterious new neighbor who is involved in criminal activity, in order to force him out.
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Plot Summary
George has been a particular suburban neighborhood's mailman for thirty-five years. He is deeply connected to the neighborhood, and the people there love him for his above and beyond service. One day, a stranger moves in. He is unfriendly and never speaks to his neighbors, and makes a lot of noise constructing a huge fence. George hears the neighborhood's grumbling about this stranger, Mr. Muscovito, and decides to do something about it. George begins opening Muscovito's mail, and realizes that he is involved with a number of illegal businesses: money laundering and fraud mainly. So in an attempt to get rid of Muscovito, George begins tampering with the correspondence from these illegal businesses, dedicating his nights to changing the terms of contracts with intense accuracy, in hopes that his business associates would lose trust in Muscovito. Eventually, Muscovito notices that something is wrong, but does not suspect George who is only an near elderly mailman. But then Muscovito's business associates notice, and do suspect the mailman. One day, as George delivers the mail, Muscovito summons him inside his gate. Once inside, Muscovito pulls a gun on him, and orders him inside his house. Inside, the business associates wait. They know George was behind the discrepancies, and tell him there's only one way to deal with him. They draw a gun, and George is sure that he's about to be shot, but instead they shoot and kill Muscovito. They explain that Muscovito was no good, as he didn't even try to be inconspicuous. The fact that he had drawn George's attention made him unreliable. But they were impressed with George, and forced him to join their business dealings. George now had a new hobby and had successfully rid the neighborhood of the unwelcome stranger.
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