I just got home from a most unusual trip to Barnes and Noble. I should have known that the area would be mobbed. And it was. I went into B & N and found a copy of Golding’s
Lord of the Flies to give to my grandson for Christmas. And when I went out to drive away, I didn’t drive away. The car seemed to be frozen and I couldn’t budge a thing, no key turn, no gear shift, no anything. At first I thought maybe I’d gotten in the wrong car. Nope, it was mine. Still no key turn. So I went in search of a public phone. I may be the last cell phone holdout in the country, but this made me realize how handy one would be. There seem to be no, NO, public phones anymore. For years I’ve railed against the almost universal explosion of the little buggers, cell phones, that is. Now I think I’ll buy two cheapies, one for in the car and one for home. I’ve never felt so helpless as I did today. I walked to Target and asked if I could use the phone at the customer service desk. They said yes. I tried to call KIA and got busy signals each time I tried it. I called Rosalie and told her my problem and that I’d call her again whenever I could contact KIA. After an hour of this, I tried one more time, and--hurray!--it finally turned and the car started and I drove home. Just as I was pulling in, I caught Rosalie as she and a friend were about to drive away to go to Target to find me. Someone up there must have been looking out for us, to have me catch her before she left. I wouldn’t have known where she’d gone and she wouldn’t have found me. We might have spent all day trying to find each other and trying to get the damn car started. Oh, yes, and my jaw dropped when I paid for my little paperback copy of
Lord of the Flies—just under $12 with the tax. I hadn’t realized book prices had gone that high. I guess I’ll just have to buy a Kindle and buy e-books instead of hard copies from now on.
2 comments:
Every time you've railed against cell phones over the years, I've meant to point out how helpful they are in case of emergency. Car trouble is a perfect example, but get this one... A friend was visiting my parents where they stay in Florida during the winter and my mom and the visitor were gabbing in the front seat of my mom's car. They stopped at a mailbox for my mom to drop in a letter, but my blind father got out of the car, thinking they were at the gas station where he was going to help pump the gas. My mom didn't even notice he'd gotten out and she drove off without him. 10 minutes later when she realized he was gone, she had to drive all over the place trying to find him (didn't occur to her where he could have gotten out of the car - she thought she'd left him somewhere else entirely). Anyway, after standing next to the mailbox for at least half an hour, my dad now has a cell phone!
Dearest Daddy,
I LOVED THE VIDEO CLIP. I sat here and cried and watched it 3 or more times. Chris got up and was worried but then he figured out they were happy tears. What a nice thing for the holidays. Thanks for sharing it. I will see you soon!
Love you always,
Jeri Lynne
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