Hana's POV

As always I woke up to my alarm blaring and per my usual routine I rolled over to hit the snooze button, but then I bolted upright remembering that I was going to hit the mail room before class that morning. I scrambled around the room pulling together an outfit from the clothes that I had haphazardly tossed in the small closet we had. 

Mary groggily called "What's the rush this morning?"

"I wanted to go to the mail room before class today."

"Are you sure they're open?"

"I believe so, I've checked there for mail a couple times early before class."

"When? You're always a slowpoke getting up?"

"Probably the days when you don't have an early class too?"

"Oh, I guess you must have been a little more stealthy in the past about it."

"Maybe," I shrugged "sorry I woke you up today, and I'll see you later."

"It's okay, bye." she replied half awake as she rolled towards the wall again to sleep for another hour until she had to be up.

The fall air was starting to get crisp, but not quite as crisp or fresh as it did back in ia. However, it was still my favorite season for weather. I hummed along to Binguel Binguel that was stuck in my head as I walked with a spring in my step. I reached the building where the post office was and grabbed the handle of it's huge doors. I pulled and the door creaked open shedding light into the dim exterior. 

"Morning Hana!" called Mr. Perry glancing over. 

"Morning Mr. Perry."

"Got a letter already?"

"Yeah, I decided to write a reply right away instead of forgetting about it for a few days."

"I see." He said with a smile taking my letter and weighing it on the scale "$2.00, is the magic number today."

"Okay, here you go." I handed him over two bills from my bilfold.

"Great, say Hana, I talked to the Mrs. and she thought maybe tomorrow night would be okay for you to come over for dinner."

"Would it be okay if I brought my friend Mary along?"

"I don't see why not, it'll be nice to have some young people over for a change." he said with a wink. 

"Great! I'll let her know later."

"Here's our address and phone number. We usually eat around 6:30, so if you girls want to plan on coming a little before then, that would be fine." he said handing me a piece of paper.

"Sounds like a plan! See you two tomorrow and tell Mrs. Perry thank you in advance."

"Will do Hana, see you tomorrow."

"Bye" I waved as I headed towards the door and off to class -it was going to be a good week. 

The next evening at the Perry's house:

"Come on Mary, we're going to be late!" I said dragging her along by the arm.

"I know, I'm coming!" she snapped -she was being moody today for some reason.

"Here we are." I said stopping in front of the building that shared the number on the sheet of paper Mr. Perry had given us. It was a modest looking apartment building that was older, but well kept. I let go of Mary's arm and we walked up the steps. I pressed the buzzer next the the name Perry and the door clicked open.  We climbed up the staircase and went down the hall to apartment number #7 and knocked on its door. 

"Welcome ladies." said Mr. Perry opening the door. "Can I take your jackets?"

"Yes, thank you." we said in unison pulling off our jackets and taking off our shoes. "You must be Mary," he said turning to her. "I'm Carl Perrry, the mail counter man at your school."

"It's nice to meet you Mr. Perry, Hana's been really looking forward to this."

"You don't have to be so formal her, call me Carl. The pleasure is ours though, we were looking forward to this evening too." he walked forward and then motioned into the room "You girls can settle in on the couch there for a few minutes, while Ellie finishes up supper."

"Okay." I said leading the way into their cozy living room and depositing myself gently on the couch. 

"Can I get you girls anything to drink?"

"A glass of water would be nice, thank you." I said.

"And for you Mary?"

"The same would be fine, thank you."

"Okay, two waters coming right up!" he said wisking off to the direction where the wonderful smells were wafting from.

"He is really nice." said Mary to me.

"I told you, but I'm glad you came anyways."

"Me too, I've been getting sick of the cafeteria food already."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." I groaned.

"Girls, we're actually ready to eat, so I'll seat you in our dining area now." he said motioning for us to follow him. There he seated us on opposite sides of the tables and poured ice water into our glasses. The table was set with some cheery mixed carnations in the middle. 

"The flowers are so pretty." I said admiring them. 

"They're Ellie's favorites, so I brought them home as both a surprise and a decoration for our meal tonight." he smiled.

"That was a really nice idea." said Mary.

"Ellie, the girls are ready." he said.

"Coming," said a soft, sweet voice from in the kitchen. The lady who appeared through the doorway was petite like her voice, and appeared middle aged like Mr. Perry, but still lovely for her age with rosy cheeks, sparkling brown eyes, and deep brown hair. "You must be Hana, and you must be Mary." she said turning to each of us, to which we both nodded.

"It's so nice to meet you Mrs. Perry." I said extending my hand to shake hers.

"Please call me Ellie, Hana." she said taking my hand in both of hers and gently squeezing it. 

"Thank you for having us both over for dinner, I hope you don't mind that I came along too."

"Not at all Mary, it's a blessing to have two lovely young ladies here." she said squeezing her hand too.

"All right, let's say the blessing." said Mr. Perry after Ellie sat down. 

"Dear God, thank you for these two lovely young woman that are here to share this meal with us. Bless this nourishment to our bodies and our conversation this evening. In your name, amen."

"Amen." we all echoed. Then Ellie passed around the wonderful dishes she had made for the meal -rosemary chicken, roasted vegetables, french bread, and homemade applesauce. We all settled into eating and the food was as wonderful as it smelled.

"Where do you go two go to church?" I asked the happy pair.

"We go to City Grace Church on Broadway." said Ellie.

"Okay, I haven't been there before."

"Are you a believer too Hana?" asked Ellie excitedly.

"Yes, I am. I've been looking for a good bible teaching church that isn't too far from campus."

"You should come with us this weekened." said Mr. Perry.

"I'd really like that." I said.

"Mary, would you like to come with us as well?" asked Ellie.

"I guess so." she said shifting a little bit uncomfortably in her chair.

"Oh, wonderful! Would you girls like to meet here and then walk over ther with us?"

"What would you like to do Mary?"

"That would be okay."

"I'll have our friend Kris come along too if that's okay?"

"Sure, the more, the merrier." said Ellie.

"What time should we be here?"

"Around 9 if you girls can manage that?" said Mr. Perry.

"I think so." I said smiling.

"You girls, and Kris, can come over for lunch afterwards too!" said Ellie.

"Are you sure you want to feed us all?" asked Mary.

"I'd love to!" she said happily.

"Ellie loves to cook for people, and especially for young people. Our son was killed overseas last year."

"I'm so sorry to hear that."

"He's with the Lord now, so we'll see him again someday thankfully." she said teary eyed, but smiling.

"It still wasn't easy, but God really used it to draw us both back together." said Mr. Perry taking her hand across the table briefly. 

"God makes a lot of things happen that we don't understand, but it really is all for our own good."

"Yes, it is Hana. Yes, it is." said Ellie smiling. 

We stayed over at their house until late in the evening stuffed with cake that she had baked and popcorn she had popped while we played some card games. We said our goodbyes and then Mary, and I headed back to our home away form home.