Accidental Vacation
February 3rd 2007 22:51
On Thursday, I went back to our previous home town, just to visit around a little and catch up with some old friends. Didn't work out that way, at all! The first person I saw was my ex-roommate. He promised to buy me lunch if I'd just accompany him on a little dig. He was referring to a cremains hole for a funeral the following day. From years of experience, I know that a cremains hole only takes a few minutes to dig. So like a dum-dum, I agreed. Then I found out it was in another town, 30 miles away. Oh well, the canyon is nice this time of year and it won't take but maybe an hour and a half, then lunch. Right... It took more than 3 hours before we got back to town and stopped at the funeral home to check in. Before we could leave and go to lunch, there was a "first call." Somebody had died and we had to go collect the body. When we arrived at the scene, there was a uniformed hazmat crew and local police, still working on the death scene. It was more than an hour before we managed to do the removal and prepare to go to dinner.(It was too late for lunch by this time.) Back at the funeral home, my friend noticed that his shirt had gotten dirty from the removal (the poor man had been dead a long time. We call that condition a "decomp.") So it was back to his house for a quick change and then dinner. Right... As we were leaving, the phone rang. It was another "first call" in the same general area where we dug the cremains hole. We drove like crazy to get there and got lost while trying to find the police cars. As it was, we took the wrong turn and wound up across a declivity and barbed wire fence from the death scene. Took us awhile to get to where we needed to be. By the time we got back to the funeral home, it was after 9 PM and too late for dinner. Not that it mattered. The boss informed us that both of the deceased men had to be delivered to Reno immediately. Loading the pair of them wasn't easy, even in the Suburban van we drive. But we managed. "How about dinner in Reno?" My friend asked a little sheepishly. That's what we did. We ate at Mel's Diner in Reno a little after midnight. By the time we got back to town, it was 3:30 AM. I slept on his couch until his puppy awoke me at 7. At 8:30 he had to leave for the funeral of the man we'd dug the grave the day before. He was gone until afternoon, and I was too tired to do any visiting so I spent the day playing with his 8 week old Doberman pup, Anubis. The boss and his wife were going out of town for the afternoon and evening, and we were really busy, so my friend (his name is Aaron, by the way) asked me if I'd watch the phones (which used to be my job for several years). I agreed but told him I needed to get home before dark since I'm night-blind. Another "first call" came in and I dealt with the phones while he took care of business. It was almost dark when he returned. Needless to say, I got another night on his couch. With Anubis... Super cute puppy, but quite a little night owl.
Finally, just after 11 o'clock this morning, I managed to get home. My kids were worried, my husband is downright cranky that I was gone so long for a "short visit" and somewhere along the line, I managed to lose both my checkbook and drivers license. I guess they fell out of my coat pocket...
Anyway, the next person who asks "How's it going?" Is going to get an earful!
Finally, just after 11 o'clock this morning, I managed to get home. My kids were worried, my husband is downright cranky that I was gone so long for a "short visit" and somewhere along the line, I managed to lose both my checkbook and drivers license. I guess they fell out of my coat pocket...
Anyway, the next person who asks "How's it going?" Is going to get an earful!
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