8:40 am Christmas 2008 Thursday
"LOL It all began with stars in my eyes"
It is a quiet fogged in Christmas morning. I have the windows open and am sitting here in 3 jerseys and a corduroy long skirt. The wind is coming from the west, I can feel it. But out my northern window it’s not stirring too much. So far I only hear birds, and a dog barking. O that wind from the west is picking up. Now it settled down.
Yesterday was a huge day. Bill took me swimming at Edith Ball pool. I was so happy to be swimming again, I had not stepped one foot out of the house for two days, and they had been rainy and cold. Because Monday morning the 2nd hand Chrysler leaked a whole quart of oil in 15 minutes, Bill knew he had to do something about it. So Monday was car drama. He took the Chrysler to PepBoys, and they diagnosed it and fixed it and his friend Jim was kind enough to drive him over when car was ready to go home. But it was so stressful that the next day, Tuesday, Bill wanted to take it easy and relax. That was the day of freezing cold rain all day. I turned the heat up high but spent most of it in my back bedroom, where heat doesn't reach, under 7 quilts in front of open window, watching “NCIS” marathon. Bill read in bed, and hung out with his kitty. Priscilla, the cat from outdoors, has not only adopted Bill, but spends the nights with him now. She likes to sleep late, one morning Bill reported she did not wake up till 11 am. When the dog is up and about she switches from Bill's bed to the table on the other side of it, which for some reason has tons of cotton clothes. Bill says she likes to spend her morning on her cotton mountain safe from the dog.
Yesterday morning, Christmas Eve, was still stormy. I did not write. I went on my news forum and chatted with posters. But when Bill woke up blue sky shone thru and even the sun, and I was happy because I knew I was going swimming today. By the time he showered and made his breakfast, there was so much sunshine I went to outside couch in backyard to lie in it. It was heaven soaking up its warmth and brilliance, and Bill brought his breakfast and joined me at the table. The only pool open was Edith Ball and it was only open till 2. So we decided to go early, and got in the truck and headed over there, and I had glorious swim and long long hot shower, and it was heaven and I felt great, and we got in the truck to go home.
Edith Ball Pool is in the middle of Reed Park, behind the zoo, just past Hy Corbett Field where all the baseball teams come for their spring training. To go back home, you have to drive thru all the huge parking lots for Hy Corbett Field, then thru a road in the park, and then you arrive on the big thoroughfare. And it was while we were driving thru all the huge parking lots behind Hy Corbett field that the truck acted up. He was not able to change gears. And he did not want to take it into heavy traffic of Christmas Eve when truck was acting up. So we kept driving around the parking lot, it is huge and empty, to see if he could get it to work. But it got worse and worse and finally he stopped and opened the hood to see if he could figure out what was wrong. He said "the nut is loose, if only I had a wrench and could tighten it, maybe that would do it." So I set off to try to find someone.
When the problem first began, just before, I noticed I was seeing stars in my eyes. This is something which never happened till I moved to Tucson, I don't know when it started, maybe a few years after we moved here. It doesn't happen very often, and I am always thrilled when it does. I really do not know how to describe it. It is like a star starting to form from the corner of my eye, and if I focus I can see the star form all the way. And then I try to be quiet and focus on the star. It doesn't last very long, usually about 10 minutes max, and I never know what brings it, it just seems like a wonderful gift. I don't know how often I have it, maybe 4 times a year, it is not that frequent, and seems to come at the oddest times. And just before Bill reported the clutch won't work, I had been watching the star form and reform in front of my eyes, and I was in ecstasy. Plus so happy from swimming and hot shower. So when the trouble started I still kept focusing on the star. And I did not panic, I stayed calm, and my confidence that all would be well stayed with me.
And I may have still been seeing the star in my eyes while he was working on the truck, but by the time he said "I need a wrench," it wasn't there anymore. The huge parking lot was deserted, but the gate to Hy Corbett Field was open. I decided to try to find someone. I walked in and there was a man coming back with his lunch. I said "my husband can't get the truck to start, he needs a wrench." And the young man came over to where Bill was. He said he is on his lunch hour. He was a very nice young man, he said his name is Ronnie. And I sat back down in the sunshine again. And he and Bill talked, and then he went back and got his friend Tom who had tools. And Bill tightened it, and at first it looked like it would work, but then it didn't. And I came over, and to my surprise, Tom had a very long braid down his back. He was also smoking a cigarette and I was dying for a cigarette.
I went back to sitting on the curb in the sunshine. I didn't have a cigarette, and so I was picking up handfuls of gravel and letting it fall thru my fingers and all over my skirt. I was content to be sitting in the sunshine playing with the dirt. Ronnie came over to get me, "your car is ready" he said. And on the way he stooped down and picked up a little rock. "This is for you." And it turned out to be an amethyst. I said "thank you, it is my favorite stone." And Bill had driven the truck all over parking lot. And I said "I see my car has arrived." We all giggled, it was funny to pretend Bill was my car service who had arrived to drive me home. But when Bill tried to put it in gear it would not work. The two men waved goodbye, it was time for them to go inside and get back to work. But before they did, I asked Tom for a cigarette. He was so nice about it. And it was a Winston, that used to be my favorite cigarette and I have not had one in a long time. So instead of playing with the dirt in the sunshine I smoked my long Winston and was happy, and I had my amethyst stone.
But Bill reported "it is worse now, the car won't go at all," and he had a card with the phone number for Mark and Larry service station where he brings the 2nd hand Chrysler. "They have a truck, call them and ask them to pick me up." So I went into the entrance of Hy Corbett Field to find Ronnie and Tom because I thought one of them might have a cell phone. And Tom appeared and I said "Bill can't get the truck to go at all, and I want to call the garage." He said the batteries on his phone are low, and he changed his position 3 times to get better reception, but he reached them. And I talked to the man who answered. And he said "we have no truck and there is no one here now, there are no mechanics here." So then I said to Tom "I can't remember my friend Jim's number but maybe this is it, can we call and try it." And he dialed it and said "it is ringing" and then someone answered and he asked if it was Jim and Jim must have said yes, so he passed the phone to me and I said "Jim, help, the truck won't move, we are stranded, come now." "Where are you and how do I get there?" he asked. So Tom got on the phone and explained and said "he is coming."
So I went back to Bill and said "Mark and Larry had no one there to help us but I remembered Jim's phone number and he is coming." And I went back to sit in the sunshine. And then Jim pulled up. Instead of his sportscar, he had driven the car he is baby sitting, a woman went to Los Angeles to be with her daughter and Jim graciously let her keep her Buick in his garage. He never drives it, even if his car is in the shop, this is the first time he drove it because he wanted a car big enough to take both me and Bill home, his sportscar is two-seater. He looked at the truck with Bill, but I saw him make a gesture which means "give up, it's no use." So then I knew they would not be able to fix it. Jim's idea was "leave the keys in the truck, let me drive you both home, call the tow-truck man, and he will arrive and bring the truck home for you." But Bill said "I'm not leaving the truck." Jim said "it could take 7 hours for tow-truck man to arrive, they are so busy." Bill said "I don't care if I have to sit here all night."
Jim and Bill have different styles of dealing with problems. Jim's car always breaks down, Bill is always going to pick him up. But Jim just leaves his car where it is. Even once in the middle of the biggest thoroughfare in Tucson, Jim said "I'm not going to stay out in this boiling heat waiting for them to arrive." He leaves the keys in, calls Bill on his cell phone, Bill picks him up and eventually the tow-truck man does arrive and brings it to Jim's mechanic. That is how Jim handles things but Bill is different.
So I got in the car with Jim. Jim couldn't understand why Bill would prefer to wait by truck. "He can go home, play with the dog, watch tv, go to sleep, it could be hours and hours, instead he said he will sit by the truck all night." And Jim said "another storm is coming in, and it will be cold very soon, is he going to sit in the dark and freezing rain, I would never do that." I said "Bill does things differently." My dad did things the way Jim does. We lived in a housing project in Flushing (actually an electricians co-op) and if something was broken, my dad called the office, then he left the front door unlocked, then he went in to take long delicious bath, and by the time he came out the repairman had fixed it. So I understand how Jim is, he is like my dad. But I have lived with Bill for trillion years now, and I know he is the opposite.
So I said to Jim "first take me to Royal Buick, that is who Bill always takes truck to for repairs." But they were closed. So then I said "take me to Cora and Floyd's, my neighbors, Floyd is mechanic, maybe he can come over and fix it." But when we arrived Cora and Floyd were just getting ready to go to a birthday party. Cora had her lipstick on, and her earrings, looked very pretty, was all dressed up. They were so sweet. It was like two angels. They were so sorry they could not help us, because they were just this minute leaving. Floyd looked at the Buick Jim was driving and said "Bill's pick-up truck is so light, why can't your friend pull him home." But Jim said it's not his car, he is not allowed to be driving it, and he has nothing to pull with. Cora and Floyd both felt so bad they couldn't help us out. But I said "it is fine, it was so sweet of them to want to, I feel so loved and secure by their loving kind helpfulness, and not to worry I will call tow truck." I got back into the car with Jim and he received phone call on his cell phone. My house is only one block away. And Jim wanted me to get out, go inside, call tow truck, and have them pick up Bill. I had thought Jim would do that for me from his cellphone in his car. Jim said "I can't, I just got that phone call telling me I have to be somewhere, I have no time, just go inside and do it." I said "Jim you have to help me, I am scared, I never called a tow truck before, I don't know how, I don't even know who to call." I said "who do you call?" He said "Red and White." I said "come in and help me." He really did not want to. He said "do you have a phone book?" I said "no, but I can look it up on my computer." He said "your computer takes 20 minutes to warm up." I said "now it is already on." So I typed in "Red and White Towing Tucson Arizona" and phone number came up immediately. I tried to talk to the woman but Jim helpfully took over when it came to explaining where Bill is. And then he said "you really lucked out, she said the man will be there in half an hour, maybe less." I said to Jim "don't you want to stop over and let Bill know a tow truck is on the way?" He said "no, the tow truck will get there before I will. So I thanked Jim a lot for his help and he was off. And I wished I could talk to Bill. I wanted to be able to tell him I had tried Royal Buick but it was shut down totally and not to bring the truck there, just bring it home. And then it dawned on me "I could call the woman back at Red and White, probably the man had not yet arrived, and she would give him the message, I am sure he is on cellphone." And the woman was so nice and she said "yes, she will tell him to tell my husband 'just bring the truck home, the place which fixes it is closed.'"
And I had 3 cigarettes in a row and then heated up the half of my bean burrito I had for breakfast. I was starving. And O Beanie was so glad I was home he was doing somersaults and would not leave my side. And I found my purse with my wallet in it because I knew I would have to pay the tow-truck man. This had happened once before. And I sat on the couch in front of screen door to frontyard with my Beanie and my cigarettes and my bean burrito to wait for Bill.
And my Higher Self said "he is coming now." And sure enough, I heard the sounds and I looked out. And our truck was on top of a flat bed, and huge truck drove it into our driveway. And Bill did not look that upset. A very nice young man, with the name John embroidered on his uniform, came out, and I thanked him for helping us. And I got out my wallet and he called in my credit card, and gave me a receipt and then got the truck off his flat bed and into our yard. And Bill said "thank you" and wished him a happy Christmas, and John said now he has to go home and cook a roast for 4 hours.
And Bill said how he first sat and waited, but then he got up to try to fix it again himself, and while he was working the tow-truck arrived. And John reassured him on the ride home that Bill did the right thing to call him. He said "a lot of people don't, and the result is their car breaks down in heavy traffic and they have to call him anyway, and on Christmas Eve everyone is in a rush to get home and they are passing everyone, he would not have wanted to try that."
I said "I'm going in to watch tv and relax" and Bill said "OK" but the phone rang and it was Jim. And I told him "Bill just got back" and he said "you got lucky." He just wanted to check up. And Cora had said "call and let me know how it worked out.” But if she was at a birthday party how could I call her. I decided I would call the next day. You always forget to call the people who say “call and let me know how it all worked out.” But I have been one of those where the person never called and I would have liked to have gotten that call. So I really did try to put it in my mind to call Cora. She and Floyd were so sweet and Cora said “I will be praying for you.”
And I was starving. So I heated up something for myself, and since the dog had not eaten his dinner dish whole time I was gone, I heated up his food too. It was the same food, chicken and rice, altho his had beef in it too and was much bigger bowl. I had cooked it up few days ago. And I got an iced cold Pepsi Cola and my bowl of hot tasty food. And Beanie's big bowl of warm tasty food I put down by the bed next to me, spread a little dishtowel where my pillow was, turned on the tv, ate my food and watched 8 episodes of "Top Chef" in a row. And when I could not keep my eyes open anymore, I turned my face in other direction and went to sleep.
Somewhere in the middle of the episodes of "Top Chef" Bill went in to make chili so we could have chili burritos for supper. I was still full from my two portions of chicken and rice and all those chocolate cookies I had for dessert, but Bill really wanted to share his food with me. So I made a burrito out of Bill's delicious chili and Beanie and I shared it, and he loved it, and so did I.
This was about 10 at night, Bill likes to eat late. He took his meal into his room so he could eat it in front of the game. He made chicken noodle soup with his and offered me some, but I wasn't hungry, altho it looked good. And I ate my half of the chili burrito and watched Beanie so totally enjoy his half. He is so cute. After he ate his half, he looked all around the plate all over the rug for morsels which might have fallen off.
I told Bill and Bill said "dogs love tasty food."
And then I just could not keep my eyes open for the last episode of "Top Chef" and I fell asleep.
O Beanie is burying his morning cookie now, right under the tree outside my window. He has spent all morning walking around with those huge dog cookies in his mouth, choosing his spot so carefully. Now he is filling in the hole with his nose. He is so assiduous. There is a whole big heap of fresh earth over his dog cookie. No one will ever find it. His cookie is safe....
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