Which is not the same as the first Monday in October, eh?
This morning Stephen was catching an early train back to D.C. Frank, being the world’s best father, got up at 5 a.m. to drive Steve to Penn Station. In a moment of generosity, I had paid for the train ticket (This fact will be of significance.) which we ordered online.
Since most people tend to sleep late on holidays, they hit no traffic at all driving in to the city. Frank dropped Steve off and starts driving away when Steve calls him. “Uh, do you have your credit card on you? The machine won’t take just the order number. It’s asking for the credit card used to place the order.”
Yeah, since it was my credit card, obviously Steve didn’t have that on him. Frank says he’ll park the car and meet our boy inside. Then he cruises the area, looking for a parking spot. He pulls up on 7th Avenue and is trying to make out the signs to see whether or not he’s in a legal parking spot. Suddenly the passenger door opens. He thinks Steve came out to meet him but as he looks over, it’s not Steve. It’s a homeless man.
I think that must have really woken my poor husband up as he pulls away with the car door ajar. Luckily the door didn’t swing fully open and he pulls over to shut it and this time locks the doors. Ha! Now he understands why I always lock the car doors.
He finds a spot that he thinks may be okay and walks into Penn Station to find Stephen. The boy isn’t by the ticket machines. He finally finds him by the main windows where Steve resolved the credit card problem. Frank walks back to where he parked the car wondering if there will be a ticket on it or if it will have been towed away. The car is still there, ticketless.
Today’s lessons - don’t be generous and lock those car doors!
