Will Always Get You

I’m from 5:00AM on a call.  It’s over at 6:30AM and I tell one person and then another that I’ll be free in thirty minutes.  When my younger one heads downstairs, I’ve already got the car keys out so I can go warm the car up.  This her first day back at school after her Quebec trip and after the Monday, President’s Day holiday.  “Can I get a ride over to school this morning?”  I had one and then another call queued up.  “I need to finish some homework and I can’t do it on the bus.”   I grumble a bit but acquiesce.  Homework, even last minute efforts with homework, will always get you special consideration. 

She sits at the dining room table and I return to reschedule one call and take another just now.  Remarkably good news on a deal I’m cooking with two other fellows.  Wow.  Could it be that straightforward?  It isn’t.  But I’m buzzing on this all way over to Poughkeepsie, considering, idly, what a wonderful thing it would be if this deal came through.  I’ve already spent all the money I’ll make in my mind’s eye. 

My wife dug up a pair of speakers from the basement that plug into my computer.  We tested them out and they pack a punch.  Sounds good, even from the other room.  All our stuff is in storage back in Beijing and I’ve been putting up with the tinny sound of my lap top or my phone for much of last six months.  It’s good to finally have some depth.  I play a Red Garland album “Red Alert”, featuring Harold Land on tenor which I play once and then play again, loud enough to enjoy in the other room.

Later in the day I’ve got to mail something off to the IRS.  It’s the same postal lady I dealt with last time.  She’s kind, patient.  I feel for her as she is forced to repeat the same question about whether or not there are lithium-ion-batteries in my letter, even though she just saw me put the simple form in.  “Do you want any stamps?”  She is required to ask me.  She asks me.  Like everyone else I tell her “no.”

Tuesday, 02/18/20