HydroPhobia, Part the First

Things have been going fairly smoothly around here the past week or two. Nothing has broken, blown out or gone flat. Even when I figured out I was going to have to take girl #2 in to the Dr.'s office, I wasn't too worried.

We got an appointment for 9:50 a.m. and in the time between dropping her off at school and time to pick her up for the appointment, I decided I was going to vote. That went smoothly, I used the electronic voting machine and since there was so few people in the polling place, they let me vote a couple more times. It was fun.

After getting my student at the front gate, we got down to the Dr.'s office without incident about 20 minutes early. I figured we were a little ahead of the game. I felt pretty good until we crossed the threshold and saw the crowd of ill and escorts-to-the-ill packed in the waiting room. The wait and appointment went without incident. It just took an hour and a half.

From there we went to the pharmacy to fill the prescribed prescription, and on the way, the patient ate the lunch I had made for her. She didn't want to go in when we got to CVS, so she sat in the car with a window partly down and the radio playing softly. It took about 20 minutes to get the medications, so I called my girl to see if everything was still OK there in the car. She answered sleepily, and when I got to the parking lot, my partner was lazing in the sun with the passenger seat laid all the way back and her eyes were at half-mast. Still no problem.

I got her back to school just as lunch was over with, so she marched off to class. I thought about calling my wife to let her know how the office visit went. There were too many good songs on the radio to turn the radio down; I figured I would call when I was on the road. It was nearing noon, and knowing that it takes a good 40 minutes to get to the office from the High School, I decided it was time to eat. I settled on McDonalds in Wal Mart. No incidents to report yet.

As I was strolling up to the McDonalds, I saw my Sister-in-law wandering around aimlessly. We greeted and she said she was getting her oil changed and was just killing time. After talking for a bit, we adjourned and I went to the burger joint. I was wearing a light fleece jacket, and I only note this because in the past I have taken a mental reminder that the pockets are less than secure. Anyhow, I ordered, sat and began to eat. My Sister-in-law came in and sat down and we talked, looking out the plate glass at the zombie shoppers that arrive without knowing why they even came.

A pleasant lunch conversation later, I cleaned up and went to get on the road to the office. On exiting the parking lot, I was going to call my spousal unit and let her know how the diagnosis went. Where's my phone? I patted myself down; pants-front pockets-back pockets, jacket, shirt (no pocket, check twice anyhow). I stopped the car, got out, patted myself down again, numerous times. Check passenger seat, driver's seat, behind each, down the side, overhead (why? I don’t know, I am starting to panic).

Got back in the car and started to drive, not knowing where I was going. Where was I the last time I KNEW I had it, CVS when I called my child and woke her up from her car-nap did I go anywhere since then no I just dropped her off then went to McD’s in WallyWorld OK I’ll go back to CVS to see if it’s there. Nope, they said nobody turned one in, they called the number anyhow and we heard nothing.

Next. Burger Joint. I’ll bet it fell out of this stupid jacket pocket while I was eating and talking. Dang.

Me: Did anybody turn in a black Samsung cell ph…
McDonald Girl: Oh, yes, here, is this it?
Me: YAY!

So I now get to go to work. I drove the 20x miles to Pasadena and arrived at work at nearly a quarter to two. Everyone welcomed me and said, “Cool, just in time for Kyle’s birthday celebration!” Which was fine with me. I sat down and answered a few emails, got my phone messages, and was then summoned to the KyleFest. We ate cake and cookies and laughed about how young he is, and after a little while, I moseyed back to my cube.

I had just gotten settled in for the rest of the day, when the phone rang. It was my neighbor’s friend.

She said, "Call Judy now, she just called me and said to tell you that there's water coming out of the (North) side of your house..."


Thus ends Part the First. Please tune in tomorrow to see the rest of the tale.