the holy envelope within sight

i think that i finally forgot about it for awhile and gave up on my quest consciously. but like the holy grail, it was never forgotten. i slogged along in my work and printed phots in a one hour lab and tried not to give the mailman the third degree when he came into the store. nothing going out? he asked every day. nope, and neither was i.
then i found an ad in the paper. hiring casuals. call such and such a number to request an application. 'casual' work is the work designated by the post office to be temporary with no benefits, no OT and no promise of further employment. i finally was allowed to test the waters. i received the 20 page application in the mail the following week. what the hell? i op[ened it up. more complicated than applying to the cia or the fbi. i was asked to fill in form after form that duplicated the same information that i had filled out on the previous form. forms for the acceptance of checking up on your past addresses, past employers and hobbies going back ten years. i filled in my name and address until my hand cramped, but this was promising. i was being allowed to audition before the committee. and then i wasn't called.
i forgot about it again for a year. it burned in my brain, i was never called. they had seen something in my paperwork bio that they hadn't felt was up to snuff for the mails. i wouldn't be allowed to carry an envelope for the usps. until the following summer. another ad in the paper for casual work. i phoned the same number, probably speaking to the same woman and requested another application packet. the paperwork arrived again, the same old ten year old forms photocopied over and over for countless hands to cramp while filling out, name, address, phone number, ever been convicted of a felony? if so, please describe, where were you living? give the names, phone numbers and relevant scars or marks of previous emplyers and supervisors going back ten years, turn the page and answer it again, this time answering whether you have ever been employed by the usps before or do you have any relatives within the service? but i persisted and endured the cramping and the ever persistent redundancy.
in the meanwhile i chanced across an announcement for the postal exam. my fiancee was visiting her mom in syracuse and the local paper had a listing for an exam to be given in a month's time. i slipped through the door finally. i registered for the closest exam which was given an hour away and opened the study exam book that i had bought a year ago.