"Here's the story / of an old grandmother / who had brought up her six kiddies, plus two more / and it's the story / of how old grandmother / was out shopping when her grandson needed her"
I contracted to stay with Josh in his home in Marina for three days, while Joe and Kathie flew back to Chicago for a nephew's wedding this weekend. Here's the first installment in the story.
So I took the small car left here for my use, and drove down to the big shopping center in Monterey, to look at the two recliner chairs in situ that I have on order at Macy's. (I sat in the floor model, inspected it, and declared it "just right.") I did a bit of other looky-loo shopping and had lunch at Whole Foods (the free samples did it for me) -- and got back to Marina at 2 PM -- and there was a car parked in the driveway.... Scary.
Turns out that shortly after I'd locked up and left this house, Josh's school had called because Josh had a tummyache and wanted to come home. Not finding anyone home, they called Kathie's cell, as she waited at the San Jose airport to board for Chicago. She couldn't reach me, since John had taken our one cellphone with him.....
Luckily, Kathie got hold of her former teaching partner Linda, who lives around the corner from her and is retired and was at home -- so Linda picked Josh up at school, brought him back here and waited for my return.
I felt like I'd failed my first babysitting test. But how could I have known? And Josh was not sick; he was a little constipated and won't use the school bathrooms -- the problem was taken care of as soon as he got back home, according to Linda, and he was fine when I got here. (Linda and I conjectured that he might have thought the complaint would give him more time with Granny Franny -- but that didn't quite work out!)
Joe and KB called as soon as they landed in Chi, and were very understanding, but I apologized profusely.
Anyway, grandson and second-rate grandma had a nice afternoon and evening together, and all's well.
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