Email Follies Ch. 01
 

Jason sank heavily into the chair and was immediately concerned the cheap frame might not hold up. Thankfully it did, and he breathed a long sigh of relief. He was five months in to his deployment with the Army, the unit's computer room was already desperately short on chairs, and the thought of having to lean over the desk or squat down if this one also broke was terribly unappealing to him.

Bringing up his email, he quickly scanned the list for something aside from junk. The past few days had been long and exhausting, and he hoped for word from home to lift his spirits. His mood soured a little more, though, as his eyes failed to find anything new from his parents, his older sister, or the few old friends he regularly corresponded with...

"Ah!" he thought to himself, as his eyes brightened a little. Down towards the bottom was a message from Miguel and Astacia, the couple that had "adopted" him from a list of soldiers the unit chaplain had sent to various groups and businesses. They corresponded fairly regularly, mainly through email and occasionally over the phone, and they sent him care packages from time to time. He had come to know the two decently well, and always looked forward to hearing from them.

He opened the message, and as the picture loaded he furrowed his brow at the short inscription heading the email, "Just thought I would give you a reminder of what's waiting for you at home tonight." Astacia sometimes forwarded encouraging messages