May 07 2008
In All Seriousness
Okay, perhaps I am too serious. Gullible? Well yes, I have been called that word.
Most recently was last April 1. You know, April Fools Day. It was quite funny actually.
I was five minutes out of bed and five minutes until I had to walk out the door. My boyfriends phone rings and suddenly he is in overdrive. Grabs his keys and goes sock footed out the door to start the truck. I wait for him to come back in; I did not have to wait long. Seconds after his diesel roars to life, he comes careening through the laundry room.
“Who was on the phone?” I ask.
“My boss.” He grabs his shoes and races for the couch. “Shop is on fire.” He says with all seriousness.
“Really! What happened?” I ask as I now follow him into the home office.
“I don’t know. I got to get there now because I have the key.” He sits at the computer and taps the key board so the monitor will click on.
I start to panic and go running through the house. I take my shoes to the truck and put them on. As I click my seat belt on, I realize I forgot my phone. I open the door and try to get out before unlatching my seat belt. I reach to the side, press the red button, and almost fall out of the truck.
Thinking to myself, “Hurry up, fire!” I locate my phone and see that he is still in the office. “Hurry up! Shop is on fire!” Then I sprint out the door back to the truck. Where I sit and wait.
Then I wait some more.
About three minutes go by and I decide to go see what is taking him so long. Just then, he calmly walks out the door and jumps into the truck. He adjusts the radio and then backs out of the driveway.
“How bad is it?” I ask.
“It’s bad Jessie, the shop is on fire, and the fire department is there. I probably don’t have a job anymore.” He turns right at the stop sign, um, we usually go left.
“It’s either my laptop or the heat lamp. You know since I got that new cable for my laptop, it has been running hot.” I speculate.
“It doesn’t matter; it is probably all gone by any how.” He says as he turns into a convenience store. “You want to run and get us a couple of energy drinks?”
I grab what I need and fly out of the truck. I sprint through the store, drop the exact amount of cash on the counter as soon as the clerk scans the cans, and then run back to the truck. “Here, now let’s go. I hope nothing happened to my laptop.”
“It’s probably burned up with everything else.” He says. We start our 15-minute commute to the shop.
About half way there, he still seems to have no urgency. I stop thinking about the fire and start thinking about his actions. At first, he was running to get the truck started and then he was acting as if it was just another day.
“Is your boss there?” It is interrogation time.
“No.” He says. “He called me to go open it up for them. But if the fire is bad enough that they can see the smoke, then it is too late anyhow so why rush.”
“There is no fire is there.” I confront.
“Jeez, I thought you would never catch on. April Fools.” He says.
Now I get mad. “Gosh, you really had me going there. I really thought that the shop was on fire. You never go out of the house in just your socks.” I fold my arms over my chest and start pouting.
“Not my fault you’re so gullible.” He states.
I start to laugh. I can finally see the funny side of things. “That was a good one.”
“Yeah, yeah it was, wasn’t it?” He looks at me and smiles big.
“Just wait, I got a whole year to think about how I am going to top it.” I say as I playfully punch him in the arm.
It is funny how normal this seemed to me. In all seriousness if I were able to orient myself to the date with out assistance, I probably would not have fallen for it.
If I had seen past the sock footed trick, I may have realized that he was just turning the ringer back on his phone.
Moreover, if I had had five more minutes to wake up…
Well let’s just leave at: “IF.”
Jessie
