LONG DAY

Holy crap, what a day. Packed up little pirate and some beach accessories, stopped at the ex’s place, grabbing the middle pirate and her stepsister (who’s just about little pirate’s age) with a plan to take all three girls to the beach. First, I wanted to get rid of some garbage in the back of my pick-up; dumping it at the county transfer station, but before that I stopped at the gas station to grab a few bottles of water.

I tossed my wallet on the roof of my truck while stowing the water in a cooler. You know where this goes, don’t you? Yep, I drove off with wallet on roof. It’s only a block to the transfer station. While dumping my bags, I noted a little old lady struggling to carry a bag across the station. I ran out and grabbed it from her, right in front of my truck and the three girls. At the time, I had some sort of vague notion that I would use that moment to impress upon the girls, the idea that we need to help out those in need of help and I remember thinking I would say something along the line of never knowing when it might be you in need of that help And that hopefully, what comes around, goes around. I never gave the speech, for when I got back to the truck and opened the door to grab my wallet, I realized I had left it on the roof and it was no longer there.

I drove straight back to the gas station but the wallet was gone. I knew it had made it as far as the driveway at best, but it wasn’t there. Sucks to be me. In the short five minutes I was gone, somebody picked it up and didn’t turn it in at the gas station. Really sucks to be me. Living in a small town has its advantages, such as when the need arises, you can check the county sheriff’s office, the city police, your bank and the social security office in a matter of minutes, as they are all less than a mile apart. I left my cell number at the gas station, cop shops, stopped at the SS office for a driver’s license application and hit the bank for some cash. Another small town perk-I can walk into my bank and get as much cash as I want with no ID. PW made credit card company phone calls and I had to drop middle pirate and her stepsister off at the beach with a neighbor. No beach for LP and I. Leaving there, I noticed my truck wasn’t accelerating well and pulling to the left. Fucking parking brake on the right front wheel was stuck on and smoking! I quickly peed on it. Just kidding, I squirted it with a bottle of water that had cost me my wallet. Anyway, I had to drive a couple miles to my mechanic, in short bursts, stopping to let the pad and rotor cool. He can’t work on it until tomorrow, but at some point the pad broke loose and the caliper began to function correctly, again.

By the time LP and I made it home, a lady from the next town called and left a message telling me she found my wallet and it’s contents spread out in the street in front of the gas station, picked it all up and drove home with it. I drove down to the next town and retrieved it, all of it. Nothing was lost and she refused to take the eighty bucks I tried to dump on her for finding it AND getting all my credit cards, etc. Finally, on the way to the beach at 4pm instead of 11am, I was able to explain to LP how helping that little old lady with her garbage was not only the right thing to do, but I too was the recipient of a good deed today. She just nodded wisely and asked if this still meant we could go swimming at the beach. We did.

Later, we picked up PW from her shop and drove out to our new, favorite restaurant. PW had BBQ’d bison ribs and I the shrimp and morel mushroom fettuccini. LP stared at a very large hamburger. Both of us had the spinach salad. Man , I love spinach salad. We all tried a batter-fried steak fillet appetizer with a zesty southwestern-type sauce that was meh. We also shared a fresh berry tart and cheesecake for desert, all washed down with a decent merlot. I did most of the washing down and ended up passing out on the couch for an hour after we got back home. Long day.