Work Text:
From:
The Crafty Pig
4 Oldham St
Manchester M1 1JQ
To:
Room D/G/005
Derwent College, Quad, University of York
Heslington, York
YO10 5DD
Hey,
I used to live in your house. I’m drunk in Manchester and it’s the only address I know. Happy holidays.
PL.
By all accounts, Dan should bin the postcard. It’s not like he knew anyone with the initials PL and besides, the card wasn’t even addressed to him, not really. Anyone else in the house would give it a single cursory glance and forget about it. The sender hadn’t given any indication of wanting a reply back. It could all be part of an elaborate murder plot.
Yet the playful curve of the letters and the illustration on the front of a pig playing a video game suggested otherwise. And after begging his mum to let him return to uni several weeks early to “better focus on revising” as soon as he could skirt off his family Christmas obligations, Dan had no one to confide in about this strange dilemma. Since his contract law revision had gotten him absolutely nowhere, Dan figured he may as well do something useful with his day.
With a rush of blind hope, he tore a page out of his notebook, sat down at his desk, and started writing.
Hey PL,
I have no idea who you are but you wrote to my exact room in my uni house so I assume this must have been your room when you were here. And since this college is meant to be for more serious students who aren’t into parties and pub crawls, I’m going to assume you’re not a serial killer waiting to break down the door. I mean, you already have my address and you haven’t done anything yet, so.
I suppose I should introduce myself, even if you haven’t. My name’s Dan and I’m studying law here at York, though after barely surviving my first term I’m starting to have second thoughts. That illustration on the front of your card was really cool. I’m assuming you like video games then? I’m a fair bit of a gamer myself, which is probably why I had such a rough time last term. I mean, how can anyone possibly study the history of housing laws when there’s a new Rock Band out? Anyway.
I looked up The Crafty Pig just now (I hope you don’t mind) and saw that it’s a “dog friendly pub”? I had no idea those existed! Do you have a dog, PL? I have an old bearded collie called Bangy at my family home who we got when I was 8. I think my parents thought he’d save their marriage after my little brother didn’t, but that was a long time ago. He’s always been a really good dog, but it’s obvious he’s on his last legs now. It kind of makes me sad to see him these days. Hopefully your dog is doing better though, if you’ve got one.
Alright, since you’re basically a blank slate to me, I hope you’re alright with me asking some questions. What did you study at York? Did you end up graduating? Was it better than law? (Probably, I think anything’s better than law at this point.) Did you move to Manchester after uni or have you always lived there? When did you go to York to begin with? For all I know, you could be a 50 year old man whose marriage is crumbling and you’re wishing you could go back to your uni years. What is your life like? How come you decided to get drunk over the holidays and send a letter specifically to my room in this house? Is that the room you lived in too? Why did you want to live at this college, in this house? (If that’s alright for me to ask. If not, you can absolutely tell me to fuck off.) If you are a gamer, what sorts of games are you into?
Well. Not to bombard you with questions or anything, but you’ve gotta know a 3 sentence postcard isn’t going to give me much to work with! I don’t know if you actually wanted a reply or not, but I’ve got nothing else to do today but revise and my housemates won’t be back here for a couple weeks, so.
I hope you had a nice Christmas holiday. Mine was fine, though let’s just say I’m glad I’m away from my family now.
DH
As quickly as Dan had pulled the paper out, he folded it into neat thirds and slid it into an envelope lying in the back corner of his desk. Before he could decide against it, Dan licked the envelope and pressed down hard to seal the letter shut. There. He pulled his laptop back towards him and scrolled down to find the pub’s address when he realized he should probably call to ensure these people even knew who this PL was. Just as Dan’s heart dropped at the idea of making a phone call, he saw the “Email us” link. Oh, thank God .
Dan couldn’t possibly stand the awkwardness of a phone call. But maybe he could handle an email.
From: [email protected]
Subject: Holiday Postcard
Hello,
I recently received a postcard from your pub addressed to my room in my uni house, from someone called PL. Any idea who this could be? If they’re a regular or just a tourist? Also, would it be alright to send a letter back that’s addressed to your pub? I know it’s a bit weird, but, well… it was addressed to my exact room in my uni house. I think it would be even weirder not to reply. You’re welcome to tell me to fuck off if you’ve got no idea who I’m talking about, but I figured I’d at least try.
Thanks,
Dan
He pressed send with his eyes squeezed shut and heart rattling in his chest. There was no real reason he should be this anxious about it. This was just someone who had gotten drunk over Christmas and decided to send a postcard to their old uni house. Surely the owner dealt with much wilder things on the daily, especially if the pubs in Manchester were anything like the ones in York.
And yet the bright ding of a new email a few minutes later nearly had Dan jumping out of his skin. He forced his heart to slow down by drawing in several deep breaths before he opened the reply.
From: [email protected]
Subject: RE: Holiday Postcard
Hi Dan!
Wow, so someone actually got the postcard and answered back. I guess that means I owe Phil 10 quid.
Anyway, yeah, the PL that sent the postcard is my best mate Phil. He graduated with his Master’s from York last year and we were both feeling nostalgic about uni so I gave him a postcard and told him to write to whoever’s living in his old house. I bet that whoever got it wouldn’t write back but he said they would, so I guess I’m out of coffee this week.
Oh, you’re welcome to write back, by the way. Me and Phil rent a flat together so I’ll make sure it gets to him.
Happy holidays and best of luck in uni,
Mark
Assistant Manager, The Crafty Pig Manchester
Home of Manchester’s finest craft beers–and dogs!
So that was it. The mysterious sender was someone called Phil.
“Phil. Phil.” Dan whispered the name a couple times out loud, a tiny thrill coursing down his spine at the way it rolled off his tongue. If he’d just gotten his Master’s and was living with a flatmate, he must not have been that much older than Dan. So he probably was into video games. Maybe now Dan could finally have someone to rant to about his wild Final Fantasy theories, who appreciated the soundtrack as much as he did. Maybe he had studied law too and could give Dan some pointers on how to get out of this hell hole. Maybe… maybe…
No, that was ridiculous. If Phil had studied law, he wouldn’t be renting a flat with his best mate. He’d be living it up in some posh part of Manchester, probably with his uni girlfriend he was about to propose to. Not everyone was gay like Dan or even realized it by uni age. There was nothing suggesting Phil had any desire to write Dan back or that his friend Mark didn’t think Dan was a total twat.
Still, a spark of something Dan hadn’t felt since he was a child twirled around in his gut, jumping and spinning and not at all unpleasant. It clawed its way up to his heart and for the first time in months (maybe even years?), Dan found himself biting back a smile. All at once, it hit him. This was hope .
Hope that he might find his way out of this mess he’d gotten himself into. Hope that maybe someone would want to be friends with him after all. Hope that he wasn’t doomed to a miserable existence. It grew and grew until it shone bright enough to power the entire campus.
So Dan threw on his coat and dashed to the Campus West mailroom. Suddenly, he couldn’t wait for next week.