Finally, John Arrives

          John arrived safely!  Yesterday was an okay day for him – driving from Van Horn Texas to here, but the day before he experienced the hazards of travel: first, he reached into his ditty bag for a toothbrush and cut himself on a razor. He didn’t realize it until blood streamed down his arm. 

          Then, on a two-lane highway, going 65 (in the truck, pulling a trailer), a woman just had to pass.  In the oncoming lane was a semi. Both John and the semi driver hit their brakes and pulled onto the shoulder and let the woman pass, but they were really shaken. The semi laid on his horn. 

          While getting gas at a Texaco, he was washing the windshield when he heard water running. But it was not water, it was the gas nozzle, overflowing. It would not turn off!  His shoes, socks and cuffs got soaked as he wrestled with it and finally managed to turn it off. Going in to the convenience store, he told the woman behind the counter about what happened. She said,  “That happened yesterday, too!”  He was incredulous, so asked to talk to the manager. The manager came out and when John told him what happened responded, “Do you want a free coke?” John was so mad he told the guy he was an f-ing idiot and left. He threw away his socks and put his shoes in the bed of the truck to air out.

          But that was Tuesday.  Yesterday he arrived and I was so relieved to see him. I cried when he brought in Diane’s African violet and the corn plant that was his mother’s twenty years ago.  I’ve missed our houseplants almost as much as the trees outside our windows; the house just seemed dead without them.  He managed to bring a maiden hair fern, orchid and the tall one that was in my bedroom. Already the house seems cozier.

          We cuddled up on the couch and watched the Giants/Phillies game and I was happy that SF won. I loved seeing that beautiful city lit up, the bridge, the sparkling water, the boats. I will always love California! It’s my home, no matter where I “end up”.

          Now it’s Thursday and we have the adventure of unloading the trailer and trying to find places to put everything. A lot of it is his office furniture. I’m anxious to get curtains in the bedroom since our neighbor across the street has a light over his garage that shines directly into my bedroom.

          One day we’ll live where the sky gets dark at night and we hear crickets, not air conditioners. One day. Just not this one.