It Was One of Those Nights- TEE HEE

This blog entry should take 2 minutes for fast readers, 3 minutes for medium fast readers, 5 minutes for slow readers, and really slow readers, I have no idea.

I had "One of Those Nights," last Friday where I thought later I should have gone directly home. It was like the Monopoly game where you have to go directly to jail without passing "Go." Well, I should have gone directly home without passing the shoe store. I had gone to buy some new shoes and of course there were no parking spaces around the show store. So I parked in a designated parking spot with a clear "No Parking, Tow-Away Zone."

My thinking was that, it is night, and no one cares, and I since I will be here a very short amount of time, I am sure it will be okay. Wrong thinking! I go into the store get my shoes and come out about ten minutes later and no car. I was stunned and thought perhaps I had parked somewhere else so I went walking around, but no car.

So, I thought maybe I am just not seeing it. So after walking around in circles I walked about half way back, closed my eyes for about a minute and thought this is all a bad dream. I thought, when I walk back my car will be there, especially since I closed my eyes. So I walked back, but no car. What to do?

And since this "Was One of Those Nights," I had left my cell phone in my car. My next thought was even worse, "What if my car wasn't towed, but was stolen. Oh banish that thought." I saw a man dumping some garbage and asked him if he had seen a tow-truck. "Being One of Those Nights," he answered, "NO!" Now I was worried, I wasn't sure what "No," meant. Did it mean he didn't understand English, or did it mean he didn't see a tow-truck.

I walked in circles some more and realized I needed to memorize the number given and go back into the show store and call and see, if in fact, my car had been towed. So I thought I had memorized the number and went back in the store. I told the two young women in the store that I thought my car had been towed. They asked where I parked and after I told them they said they knew it had been towed.

It seems that a tow truck is right across the street looking for rule breakers like me. I tried calling the number but I had done as bad a job memorizing the number as I had obeying the sign and had to take a pen and piece of paper out to write it down.

Finally I called the number, and yes, they had my car. Now I had to get a taxi to take me there. Luckily there are a lot of taxis close to the shoe store. So I went outside and hailed a taxi which turned out to a car that sold subs. It looked like a taxi. The young man driving said this happened to him all the time.

So, I only had to wait for a couple of minutes for a REAL taxi and not a sub delivery car. When I got in the cab the cab driver said I needed $140 in cash, but not having $140 in cash he asked what bank I used. I told him Bank of America. He said, "Okay," and turned his cab around. As he was from Somalia, originally, we had a language barrier. He stopped on a corner, which confused me, as I didn't think there was a Bank of America ATM machine there. I got out of the car and walked three to four blocks to where I knew there was a ATM machine.

The whole time I was walking I couldn't figure out why he didn't park closer. When I got back to the cab, he said, "Why did you walk so far?" He than pointed to a ATM machine that was right outside the cab. I laughed and said that "I was an idiot." He apologized and we both laughed. I felt like an idiot, but knew it would make a great story, and after all "It Was One of Those Nights."

"It Was One of Those Nights," didn't end there. After getting my car and doing some other errands, I went to the Bank of America again to deposit a check. I drive into the ATM drive through and couldn't find my check. I spend twenty minutes looking for it before finding that it had fallen between the seats of my car.

After spending $140 to release my towed car I needed to find and deposit that check. Which I did.

So my gentle reader "It Was One of Those Nights."

Jana Ruth
Author of "Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
www.janaruth.biz
www.laughandlivehappier.com
www.onewomanslaughter.blogspot.com