The Bugs Bunny trick

Do you remember Bugs Bunny cartoons - when Bugs was running away from Elmer Fudd or Yosemite Sam? He would disappear into a rabbit hole; Elmer would point the gun down the hole and say: "I got you now, wabbit!"

All of a sudden, Bugs would somehow pop into the picture and get his revenge on Elmer. Elmer would have that look on his face, saying "But..how? How did you get out of there???"

Funny, right? Hilarious?

Had the same experience yesterday. One of the joys of being an ex-pat is that our supporting firm requires us to pay quarterly taxes. They give us some money and the 1040-ES forms, and the requires us to file the forms. Never mind that they are based in Cleveland and we are 12,000 miles away in China.

Anyway, our OND returns were due this month, and we still don't have a good way to mail anything back to the US. I found out that one of the managers was heading back to the US on the week of the 9th; great! I put the form and the check in the envelope, sealed it, addressed it to the IRS center in St Louis, and asked him to mail it in the US. I gave him $2 for the stamps, even!

Fast forward to yesterday. In the Guangzhou office, I get a note that I have pouch mail for me at the mail office. Now, we have a PO Box in Cincinnati that letter can be sent to and then it is automatically forwarded here to work.

I go downstairs to see what came - a card? A Bill? - and what is it?

It's the envelope that I sent to the IRS - addressed to the IRS in St Louis. Sealed and all - with the uncashed check and tax form inside.

How? How did this appear back to me in China? There are no stamps, no postmark, no markings whatsoever that it was handled by the US Post office. My PO Box was used as the return address.......but still, how is this back to me?

I feel like Wile E Coyote after lighting a stick of dynamite, closing his eyes and putting his fingers in his ears....and then , 5 seconds later, the stick returns to him just as the fuse is about to run out......