Seeds Arrived, But They Forgot My Mug

The shiny little Fed Ex truck came rumbling up the driveway yesterday, and the man inside stepped down and handed me a large heavy box.
E & R Seeds of Monroe, Indiana has been one of my favorite companies for several years now. They’ve a wide selection and the best prices around for most varieties. They’re catalog is a low-key newsprint affair infused with Mid-Western wholesomeness. They’ve pages and pages of corn, and even more on beans. And lately, they have features more and more organic seeds. I get so much from them that my order drags over onto a second page. Two pages that I faxed to their office – they don’t take online orders.
I poured the contents of the box out onto the floor and sorted my little seed envelopes into their appropriate family. And came across the paring knife.
You get something free with every order – a paring knife, a coffee mug, a Farmer’s Almanac, jelly jars, just something they send out to you. You just have to check the box for the gift you want. I always go for the coffee mug. That’s the box I check. For the coffee mug.
It seems the fax pages got mixed up somewhere along the line, and page one became page three, or something. They never saw my check.
I went through the little envelopes again, madly tossed the little styrofoam peanuts across the room. I turned the box upside down. I stared at the paring knife in disbelief.
They tried to guess at what I would really want and they failed. I will farm this year without my complimentary mug. I hope this isn’t an omen.