Car Trouble Your car's in the shop. His pickup is too. As a last resort you're driving old blue. Old blue 'tis "funny", with "beautiful plumage." Just pinch off the fuel line and it runs on the fumage. A towel gets the hood up, 'en you can get it in gear. (But you'll have a ride once Ramon gets here!) Here's me, coming over, as calm as can be, to clean in the lab and my people to see. Then there stands my brother, outside in the cold, bursting with news too exciting to hold. Ramon is coming, his playmate, his buddy. (But that's not enough to make him act this nutty!) He said, "Ray's out on the road where his truck broke down. He almost made it. He's just outside of town." So we jumped in my car and took off to get Ray, and bring him over to your house to play. At the end of your block we pass by old blue, broken down, lookin' "perty" with nothin' to do. We rode awhile, laughing, and making some jokes. Just glad to be us, we are such clever folks. As we wheeled right up where Ray said he would be, I looked at Keith and Keith looked at me, but no sign of Ray's truck nor himself did we see. I expected to see him, just cooling his heels, right out in the road, between the big wheels, and so did my brother, his buddy, the man. Why isn't he here? (we don't understand) So, Keith says, "Go west, he would have turned here, so he wouldn't be east of us, that much is clear." So we turned to the west and started to drive, to the place where the city just started to thrive. That's when we realized all was not well. We knew if he stopped in Chandler, he'd tell. So logic switched on in our superior minds, (and you know that McCartys have brains of that kind) If we had the phone with us, then we could call Dawn, and use caller ID to see which road he is on. But we didn't bring it so we changed our tack. "He's got it running! That's it!" So we headed on back. We waved at old blue as we drove up your street, to the place where we knew that Ramon we'd meet. But, alas . . there's the house. In the driveway, no Ray. So we knew for sure that we shouldn't delay. So we quick called the number on the caller ID. Where is our Ramon? Oh, where could he be? Keith's on the phone, he's talking to .... whom? As anxious vibes fly, around the room. I hear him repeating the directions to "Ray". (But some things we needed, he did not say., I thought some info missing, but, by then he was kissing his honey goodbye, for a while. What style!) Back on the road, Keith shared what he'd heard. I still felt lost for some special word. I am "here" was not spoken and I wasn't sure why. Then down the same road, we started to fly. Outside of town, past the bridge, west bound. Oh! Two miles past Chandler, where we first turned around! "Where'd he call from," I wondered as we spotted him there, Ray and his pickup right out in nowhere. We found him! Yippee! and rescued his truck "Bad gas" was his name for "No gas". (dumb cluck) While filling the gas can, Ray made us laugh, But I didn't get what he was saying, by half. "Dawn was freaking on the phone!" he screamed. (You didn't get it, either, it seemed.) "She kept on asking if I was in jail! Where'd you get that idea, Dawn? What the hell?" So, we headed for home and they stopped for gas~ then, so did I and I watched them pass. Back toward the lab and my "reward" I catch up with Ramon, pulling old blue with a cord. I felt like a kid as we eased up the road, following those goobers, pulling that load. So, old blue is home and Ramon is here. Yet something still remained unclear. Something about those phone calls was wrong. I couldn't shake it, the feeling was strong. Then I saw you and you looked really weird Just looking at you made me feel kinda skeered. The story of your phone call, while we were away, Wins the "Grand Prize" for the weirdest today! So good and so eager to make sure all is well, you wanted directions as clear as a bell. So you called once again the phone Ramon borrow-fied. Answered "Chandler Police" and you were horrified. Automatically, McCarty-atically, believing the worst, "Ramon's in jail!" was what you thought first. It is simple really, when you understand when Ramon's truck quit, a cop lent a hand. and the phone we all used, belonged to that man! No one is in jail, and no one is stuck. We all are okay! It's a Blessing, not luck! ©Paula McCarty the story of December 29, 2001