The Post Office Lion
by Mat Twassel
Copyright© 2026 by Mat Twassel
Flash Story: The Post Office Lion has a strong opinion about life, and love, and self-stick stamps. Illustrated.
Caution: This Flash Story contains strong sexual content, including Ma/Fa Fiction Illustrated AI Generated .
The lion had watched thousands of people pass those steps, but Emma was different. She always paused before sitting, as if acknowledging him — not with fear, but with a gentle, unconscious respect. He liked that. It made his stone chest feel a little less heavy.
Today she carried a letter. He saw her eyes soften as she unfolded it, and he leaned — imperceptibly, but enough — to read over her shoulder.
Emma, The mornings here are gray...
The lion’s brow tightened. Gray mornings? Someone far away writing to his Emma? He had guarded her through rainstorms, through winter winds, through the long quiet hours when the post office was closed and she would sometimes sit on the steps just to think. And now this Daniel — this traveler — dared to send words that made her smile in that private way?
He felt a pinch of jealousy, sharp and surprising. Marble shouldn’t feel anything, but he did.
I saw a marble lion outside the old courthouse and thought of you — steady, curious, brave.
The lion’s ears pricked. Another lion? Another guardian? He imagined some smug courthouse beast, polished by decades of weather, thinking himself wise. He huffed silently. Old courthouse lion, indeed. As if Emma needed two of them.
But then he saw her expression — the way her lips curved, the way her shoulders relaxed. She wasn’t troubled. She wasn’t drifting away. She was simply ... cherished.
The jealousy softened. Concern remained, but it was the warm kind — the kind that made him want to keep watching over her, even more carefully than before.
Emma folded the letter and held it against her chest for a moment. The lion wished he could speak, just once, to tell her he approved. Or at least mostly approved. Provided Daniel understood that marble guardians do not retire simply because a boyfriend writes nice letters.
Emma rose, brushed her skirt, and gave the lion a small, absentminded touch on his paw as she passed — a gesture she didn’t even realize she made.
The lion felt it like sunlight.
He would keep watch. He always had. And now he would watch over her and the boy who wrote gray‑morning letters — provided the boy behaved himself.
The Lion, the Letter, and the Stamps
Emma liked the post office more than most people did. It wasn’t just a place to send things; it was a place where things arrived. She had a small post office box — number 42 — because she liked the feeling of opening a tiny brass door and finding something meant only for her. Sometimes she bought stamps there, too, choosing sheets with birds or constellations or old-fashioned locomotives.
Today she had come to check her box, and the lion watched her with his usual mixture of pride and mild possessiveness. She walked up the steps, floral skirt swaying, boots tapping lightly, and he felt that familiar warmth of being part of her routine.
Inside box 42 was the letter. She carried it out to the steps, sat down, and read it — and the lion, of course, read it too.
But what the lion didn’t know was how Daniel had chosen the stamp.
Daniel Choosing the Stamp
Daniel stood at the counter days earlier, looking at the options. The clerk slid out a few sheets: lunar eclipses, state flowers, a commemorative jazz musician, and a set of vintage botanical illustrations.
He picked the botanicals — a pale pink rose, delicate and old-fashioned. He thought Emma would like that. He thought the lion might approve, too, though he wasn’t entirely sure why he cared about the lion’s opinion.
He pressed the stamp onto the envelope, smoothing it with his thumb. He liked the self-stick convenience, but he paused a moment, remembering the old lick-and-stick kind. There had been something oddly ceremonial about those — a tiny act of commitment, sealing the message with breath and tongue.
Still, he chose the botanical sheet. He hoped Emma would notice.
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