The
Old Coot checks again and again.
By
Merlin Lessler
Six
months or so ago I wrote about the check lists that old coots use before
leaving the house: are your shirt buttons in the right holes? - is your sweater on the right way, or backwards?
– remember not to yell Ouch and Oops in public – did you take your pills? - pat
your pockets to be sure you have the keys, phone and wallet. Those sorts of
things. I’ve since discovered a need for another checklist, one to cover myself
when I’m out and about. It started when I took the train from Virginia to
Florida. I was in such a hurry to get off, I didn’t make sure I had everything I
boarded with. As a result, I lost my back-up cell phone. I filed a claim with
AMTRAK and then tracked the phone’s movement on a computer. It headed north and traveled all through the night,
getting back to Virginia at 9am the following morning. So, I knew it was on the
train and no one had found it. Then it headed back to Florida, but the battery
died and that was the last I heard of it. AMTRAK never found it.
Then
it happened again, but this time it was my primary phone that got lost, at one
of those fancy, modern movie theatres where you plunk yourself down in a luxurious,
reclining chair with a food and beverage tray attached at the side. The space
between the rows of seats is so wide you don’t have to get up to let others pass
by to their seats. Admission was $15, which is why it was my first experience
in a modern movie theatre, being the cheapskate that I am.
The
seat was comfortable and the light level so low I had trouble staying awake. I
didn’t want to sleep through my $15 investment; I strived to remain conscious. It
didn’t work, but my wife, Marcia, saved the day; she gave me the elbow every
time I started snoring. When the movie ended, we got up and walked out of the theatre
and down a long corridor to the building’s exit. I fumbled in my pocket for the
car keys and discovered I didn’t have my cell phone. Did I bring it with me? Of
course I did, it was on my “leaving the house” checklist. I hustled back to
theatre #8 to retrieve it from the seat. The cleaning crew had already gone
through that section and claimed they hadn’t seen a cell phone. I checked
anyhow, and there it was, out of sight, wedged deep down between the seat and
the arm rest. A light went off in my head, “I need an “out & about”
checklist!”
When
I get up to leave a restaurant, movie theatre, park bench, emergency room lobby,
police station and the like, I go through the list: keys, wallet, phone, etc. Now, if I could just
figure out where I put the list; I thought it was right here in my pocket.
Comments? Sen to mlessler7@gmail.com
Thank you for very usefull information.. Accept Checks By Phone
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