Every morning for the past five years, someone would drive by my house and throw a copy of the local newspaper in my driveway. I never saw this person, because I’m not one to get up much before 9am.
Most of the time, the paper would make its way from the driveway to the garage where it was deposited into the receptacle that goes out to the curb every Monday night. Somedays, it would actually make it inside the house – usually a Sunday when I would be looking for fifty-cents off Charmin.
While reading the newspaper rarely became a part of my daily routine, I suddenly found myself missing it when it finally stopped coming.
How did I get it in the first place. I never subscribed. None of my friends or relatives would ever give me a gift, yet alone the gift of a newspaper subscription. And most importantly, why did it stop?
I thought that maybe the publisher put me on the gratis list in exchange for that steak dinner he owes me. After all, a five year newspaper subscription probably costs less than taking me out for dinner. But no, that would be pretty cheap, right?
Maybe I’ve been getting the neighbor’s paper all along, but that just doesn’t seem realistic. I’d much rather get misdirected QVC boxes every now and then, than a newspaper.
Ever since the paper stopped coming it was like losing a friend – albeit one you never talk to, but you know is there. The Monday night can is a little lighter, especially with the absence of the 10 pound Sunday edition, so I can assume the trash men are happy.
But in my world I’ll have to keep getting my news online unless that paper starts coming again. But even if it does, it won’t really matter much now will it?