Barefoot
07-06-2021, 10:40 AM
A couple of weeks ago, I pulled up in my driveway after having spent a few hours walking around downtown Augusta. Parked the truck, rolled up the windows, and reached over to get my camera. No camera there.
Some of you might remember that two word line Ralphie used in A Christmas Story when he lost the lug nuts. You know...the one that got his mouth washed out with Palmolive.
In an instant, I realized what had happened. I stopped in at Soy Noodle House for a bite and on the walk back to the truck the contents of my carry-out had spilled in the bag and gotten all over my phone. What a sticky mess. When I got back to my parking spot, I had both hands full and was struggling to get my keys out of my pocket. I placed the camera on a planter box there in the parking area to free a hand and opened the door to lay the other items down in the floorboard. I cleaned up the spilled sauce and wiped off the phone as best I could with no water. After arranging things for the ride home I got in the driver's seat and took the long way home. I'm not sure exactly what time that was, but it was shortly after 4:20pm, if you know what I mean.
Have you noticed one key step in that sequence of events that I failed to make? Yep, drove right off and left it laying there on that planter box. The hour and a half that I spent driving back over to Augusta to look for it and then back home again was a waste of time, of course. The drive did provide me with a little time to reflect upon my stupidity, though.
To make a long story short, a couple of hours after I got back home I was sitting in my recliner with a box of Kleenex and a bottle of Slow & Low at my side when my phone laughed at me. It was an email notification.
Subject Line: Camera
Body: Did you lose something?
There was no ransom, but I felt a reward was in order. I picked it up the next morning and with my faith in goodwill towards one another restored I completely forgot to ask her if she was a Republican or a Democrat.
Some of you might remember that two word line Ralphie used in A Christmas Story when he lost the lug nuts. You know...the one that got his mouth washed out with Palmolive.
In an instant, I realized what had happened. I stopped in at Soy Noodle House for a bite and on the walk back to the truck the contents of my carry-out had spilled in the bag and gotten all over my phone. What a sticky mess. When I got back to my parking spot, I had both hands full and was struggling to get my keys out of my pocket. I placed the camera on a planter box there in the parking area to free a hand and opened the door to lay the other items down in the floorboard. I cleaned up the spilled sauce and wiped off the phone as best I could with no water. After arranging things for the ride home I got in the driver's seat and took the long way home. I'm not sure exactly what time that was, but it was shortly after 4:20pm, if you know what I mean.
Have you noticed one key step in that sequence of events that I failed to make? Yep, drove right off and left it laying there on that planter box. The hour and a half that I spent driving back over to Augusta to look for it and then back home again was a waste of time, of course. The drive did provide me with a little time to reflect upon my stupidity, though.
To make a long story short, a couple of hours after I got back home I was sitting in my recliner with a box of Kleenex and a bottle of Slow & Low at my side when my phone laughed at me. It was an email notification.
Subject Line: Camera
Body: Did you lose something?
There was no ransom, but I felt a reward was in order. I picked it up the next morning and with my faith in goodwill towards one another restored I completely forgot to ask her if she was a Republican or a Democrat.