b'final mattersHow Backyard Neighbor KidsMade Snail Mail Cool AgainWhen two tin cans and a piece of string just wont doBY DONNY LEVITT he expression on my sons face had that utterly recognizable gri-mace of licking the bitter glue before sealing an envelope. But Jack was undeterred; he had a letter to mail and nothing was going to stop him. Perhaps the most shocking part of it all was his im-maculate penmanship as he carefully spelled out S-a-m-m-y on the front of the envelope. After all, it was the spring of 2021 and his handwriting was suffering badly after the relentless months of remote instruction. But this was a 7-year-old on a mission.Jack sped out the back door, trailed by Alexina, his 5-year-old sister who wanted in on the action. They galloped towards the back of the yard, mounted a step stool, and lifted the lid of the newly painted wooden mailbox hanging on the other side of our fence. When is Sammy going to check for mail? asked Jack. Jack and Sammy had barely finished painting the mailbox but still insisted on mounting it as soon as possible. I want to draw something for Sammy, said Alexina. Be patient, I told my kidsknowing full well that Id feel the exact same way if I were in their shoes. I texted Sammys parents to give them a heads-up that she had a special delivery.By now, youve probably figured out that Sammy lives behind us. Although we recognized her family from the neighborhood, we didnt put two and two together until the kids explained it. Sammy and Jack had become close during their time at the Y Aftercare program, which served as a socialization lifelineL to R: Jack, Sammy, and Alexina at their backyard mailbox.during remote instruction. The two became wizards at using Google Maps and quickly discovered theyto convene for pizza and conversationvictim to the weather and was literally lived a street apart. I guess you can call Sammys family our diagonal (or cat- out back. Their dog Rosie and our dogfalling apart. As I hang the new one up, ercorner, kattywumpus, catty-corneryou decide) backyard neighbors. AndAkashi developed a copacetic relation- Imhopingtheletterswillcontinue. when the kids returned at the end of the day from their aftercare program,ship.WeevenreceivedaninvitetoNow that Ive known Jack for a whole theyd often gravitate to the back fence and continue chatting away. The two ofcrash their block party last fall. All ofyear, I feel like Ive known him forev-them cooked up the mailbox idea so they could write each other letters whenthis was taking place while the mailboxer, said Sammy. May they continue to they werent spending their afternoons together. Sometimes we forget to tellfilled with letters and drawings. be friends and pen pals as we cope with each other something at the Y, Jack explained. AlthoughJackbecameratherad- these challenging times.The duo developed quite a backstory to the reason why they insisted onept at using his laptop during remoteAnd we promise to bring more beer painting the mailbox silver.instruction, we did not welcome theifSammysfamilyinvitesustotheir We were born on a dragon planet, explained Sammy.relentlessscreentime.Illadmittoblock party again. We are brother and sister silver dragons. We got split apart when a gianthavingmorethanafewnightmaresDonny Levit is a writer and Maplewood meteor started to crash, said Jack. aboutthisgenerationgrowingupasresident. He is the author of Rock n Roll And the dragons rode the meteor down to Earth, Sammy added.lonelykeyboardwarriorsbecauseofLies, 10 Stories. You can hear him DJ his The tale continued with the meteor crashing somewhere in New York Cityall of this. Fortunately, their backyardindierockshowUndertheInfluence before they eventually made their way to Maplewood. If Joseph Campbell werefriendship gave him a reason to closeand his jazz show Kind of Pool on Bone still alive and researching these two, hed probably add a chapter to The Herohis computer and handwrite letters. Pool Radio. Follow him on Instagram @with a Thousand Faces. Its now January 2022, and the sil- undertheinfluenceradioand@kindof-Soon enough, the two silver dragons were jumping on the trampoline togeth- ver dragons are hard at work paintingpoolradio.er over at Sammys place. Our families took advantage of the summer weathera new mailbox. The original one fell 42/ matters magazine / hearth + home 2022'