I laid down for a mid-afternoon nap today and hadn’t even dozed off before I heard a loud, insistent pounding on my front door. I got out of bed, put on my glasses and jeans and looked out the viewing port to see who could be showing up unannounced and didn’t see anyone. I hadn’t taken the time necessary to put on my jeans so I just unlocked and opened the door to see these laid at my doorstep:
There were obvious children’s toys, and one envelope held a Christmas card with an undetermined amount of cash, and every package was addressed to either “Franklin” or “Madison”. The gift giver(s) listed on each package was “Santa’s Elfs” [sic].
I know that the young woman across the breezeway from me has a small boy, so on the offhand chance that her name is Madison and his was Franklin, I knocked on her door. She told me the gifts were not addressed to her, and that she’d seen some people in a van place the gifts at my doorstep. At that exact moment, a gold or silver van drove my rather slowly and what appeared to be a teenaged girl looked directly at me.
I called the apartment manager, and some of the office staff whom I’ve chatted with before came along with her husband(?) to pick up the packages to put in the office. She told me the other apartment 121 on the opposite side of the property is currently vacant, so it wasn’t a case of “right apartment/wrong street” She also told me she knew of no Madison or Franklin, but that she couldn’t possibly remember everyone’s names.
So, if you’re the nice people who wanted to make someone’s Christmas brighter by delivering presents anonymously, the gifts were never delivered because no one knows who to deliver them to, and they’re currently sitting in the apartment manager’s office.
