Luck of the Draw?

Since I got a good amount of sleep last night - that would be Friday night, ya know - and was well rested today, wouldn't you just know the little guy decided to be very well-behaved and go to sleep just before 1 a.m. and here I was then, wide awake, all prepared to be able to stay awake half the night if need be with him.

So, I decided one way to (hopefully) relax and also, this way be half-way ready to get up early in the morning to get ready and go to church, was to take a shower now rather than waiting till morning and fight for a slot in the bathroom between Mandy, Katie (if she gets up early enough) as well as the two little ones if Mandy plans to get them up and dressed to go to church.

Sounded like a darned good game plan to me!

Got the shower, all ready to hit the sofa and relax a bit more and about 1:20-1:30 a.m., I hear the darned phone ringing upstairs in Mandy's room.

Now I don't know how you all feel about late night phone calls, but around here, anytime there is a really late call coming in usually is not a good sign. Nine times out of ten it is usually a sign of some type of disaster and most of the time, that disaster involves my dear, sweet, lovely but often very misguided son!

I didn't hear Mandy let out any loud screams or anything so I thought well maybe it was actually some goof ball friend of hers who had gotten times mixed up or something and maybe it was safe to relax.

Then after about five minutes or so, I hear Mandy coming down stairs. Uh Oh. Back to that's not a good thing idea in my head again. As she walked past me, I didn't notice she was still on the phone when I inquired who the Hell had called at this hour. She just waved to me and pointed towards her ear. But she was smiling so this couldn't be "super squirrel" on the other end then. She went out to the kitchen to continue talking and I heard her say then as she was hanging up, "Ok, see you tomorrow then. Love you."

Hmmm. The fact she said "See you tomorrow" ruled out a late call from her dad who is out in Nevada so I'm figuring maybe it is her sister then who sometimes gets a big kick out of calling here at weird hours but she usually gets more of a thrill out of calling very early in the morning, as in daylight morning hours just because she knows the odds are she will wake me up then and start my day off with me being in a not so friendly mood, ya know. Are all kids this way with their parents? Don't they know that should be considered cruel and unusual punishment.

Mandy came in the room, giggling as she put the phone down on the desk in front of me. Again I asked her who the caller had been and this time she says it was my son after all.

Oh really now! What the devil kind of a jam is he in this time?

Why is it I wonder that I would think that way about him calling at this time of the night. Past track record perhaps? But at least since Mandy was still giggling, smirking about this call, I conclude he must not have been arrested or anything like that.

Lucky for his scrawny butt, he was ok. However, he was kind of "jammed up" you could say.

He was on his way home from Harrisburg where he had parked his car on Wednesday morning when he left for his runs this week and enroute home, had some mechanical problems with the boat. Yes, it is an old boat of a buggy that he acquired about a month ago now and he dearly loves this thing! Because I am lousy on remember what year or specific make most cars are - with the exception of 1955, 1956 and 1957 Chevy's - which I KNOW FOR A FACT ARE CLASSICS aren't they -I don't know for sure what year this buggy of his is but I think it is a 1979 year and I know it is a Cadillac! Yes, it is that old, at least. Anyway, he was coming down the mountain between Lewistown and State College towards Boalsburg when the car decided to die on him.

As luck would have it - or so he thought anyway - it broke down right by a very nice restaurant bar in the little town outside of Boalsburg. He told Mandy there is something wrong with the carborater (apparently no spelling is correct for that item on an automobile) so he decided he was going to park the car (didn't really have much choice there did he?) and go in and have a couple of beers since the bar was so handy and he didn't have to worry about trying to drive after indulging in some liquid refreshments since the buggy wouldn't run.

Knowing him, he figured too that maybe, just maybe, by doing that he might meet some nice young lady, smooth talk a bit, get a phone number or some such and possibly make a connection that way for a future date.

But just to show how good his luck is - probably inherited it from his mother I suppose since I always figured if it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all - it turned out that tonight at that particular place is what the young folks refer to as "sausage night." I'd never heard that terminology before and thought maybe it was referring to what I thought it was but to be sure, I asked Mandy to explain a bit and as she giggled a bit more about her brother's dilemma, she didn't speak the words, just motioned to me.

You can figure out the rest! But suffice it to say, the kid's ideas weren't about to pan out!

At least though, I do know where he is at 2 a.m. on a Saturday night, don't I?

And yes, I am sorry about your luck too Son!