The promised rain, wind and cold did hit Alabama on Wednesday. The marina is not yet full of Loopers, but there were lots of us here. People either huddled up in their boats or rented cars and deserted the place to do some sightseeing before the official festivities get started this Sunday. Count my First Mate and I as the “huddlers”. Wednesday we did inside the boat chores and watched a couple of movies. We ran the heat and I wore long pants for the first time in months. And, I'm not too happy about that!
Thursday I took Mrs. Howell up to Athens, AL to get her nails done. My kids probably won’t believe this, but I went alone to Walmart for provisions. It went pretty well, although I started to get awfully impatient with the checker who spent about 15 minutes checking out the lady in front of me due to their long and detailed conversation about so and so who “has a restrainin’ order ‘gainst that low-life husban uh hers, but she’s not inforcin’ it cause she’s tryin her bes ta make thangs work.”
“Lord, please give me strength”, is all I could mutter to myself.
I was still a bit ruffled I guess when I walked out and loaded the groceries into the trunk of the rental car, a grey Ford sedan of some type. After returning the shopping cart to a collection area a few spaces away, I came back to the car and noticed someone waiting for me to leave so they could park in my place. For some reason, the electric door locks sounded like they were operating, but the doors would not unlock. It had worked fine just a minute prior when I used it to pop the trunk. What the heck? I walked around the car, repeatedly pushing the “unlock” button on the remote and trying all four doors. I finally tried inserting the key in the door to manually unlock it. When I could not get the key to go into the lock I took a step back and realized I was trying to get into someone’s Dodge, not my rented Ford! As I sheepishly turned to the right car (in the adjacent space) I imagined the look on the waiting shopper’s face who must have thought I was trying to break into the Dodge. These people carry guns here, so I left quickly before any shootin’ could start.
I’m really lucky the Dodge had been locked. Back home one Christmas shopping excursion I had parked our Escalade at a strip mall in Elk Grove while I bought Carrie and her friend Carole a gift certificate for a spa treatment. Returning to my vehicle, I hit the remote to unlock it jumped in and tried in vain to start it before looking around and realizing I had jumped into the wrong SUV! Well…they both were white…who coulda’ known? On that occasion too I quickly slipped away, wondering if the car’s rightful owner had witnessed what had to look like an attempted car theft.
Moral of the story…let my First Mate do the shopping…she’s a pro. Besides, she would not have been impatient listening to the checker and the shopper in front of me in line. On the contrary, by the time she had gotten through she would have figured out several people she knew in common with them or how she was related.
Lord, please give me strength, and let Carrie do the shopping!
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