An Afternoon or Two

Hubby's days off have changed and the last couple of days he's accompanied me on some of my regular errands.

Wednesday we went to the library to pick up a couple of inter-library loan books. While there, I spied an interesting book in the Book Sale rack, an English/Chinese phrase translator. The binding was shot but I thought the pages, densely packed with both English words and Chinese characters, in a dictionary style, would make great collage material. It cost a dollar.

I dug around on the bottom of my purse for change and hubby checked his pockets. We managed to find enough change but on the way out the door, as we were passing a cluster of people standing in the foyer, hubby explained the reason he didn't have much change on him was because he'd lost his little change purse. It's a really cool beaded change purse my mom gave him.

"You LOST your MONKEY PURSE!?" I exclaimed loudly. All heads turned to assess the tall man who apparently owned a monkey purse.

"Oh. NO! He doesn't have a monkey purse! I mean, he does but it's not a purse, it's a little monkey change purse. I mean, not a purse. It's just...." Hubby was steering me in the direction of the door, muttering that we didn't need to continue to bother these nice people.

We walked out the door as another man, who apparently works with hubby, followed us out. He'd been walking quickly so he missed my first comments. No matter. I turned to hubby as we cleared the door and said "What!? You wanted those people to think you carry a monkey purse!? I was just trying to explain that it wasn't a purse!"

The man chuckled and nodded a hello at hubby.

Hubby nodded back and said. "Don't mind her. We're on our way home. It's time for her medications."

"Yes" I added, as I opened the car door. "my medications. It calms me."

I figured it was the least I could do to balance the damage.

*******

Yesterday we went out for lunch and hubby mentioned a few more things he wanted me to pick up at the market. I suggested we go to the market together after lunch. He agreed that would be nice. So we did. We parked and went in.

We shopped for over an hour because it was a major list, which of course was still attached to the pad by the phone at home. Hubby kept asking if we were done yet. He kept asking me, as I was standing in each aisle trying to remember everything we needed in it, what I was thinking, what I needed. He kept reminding me that he thought this was gonna just take ten minutes - pick up the five things he mentioned, leave. Easy. Yeah. Like I wanted to do that and then come back again for the rest of the groceries later. By the time we made it to the produce section all I reall wanted to do was apply duct tape somewhere on his face. It was like trying to shop with a bored, restless, ready-for-his-nap toddler. But at last we finished and took a full cart back to the car.

It was really hot outside compared to the air conditioned store but it seemed exceptionally hot near our car. I wondered out loud why.

"That guy in the car next to us is sitting there with his car running so he can have his air conditioning on, depleting the world's oil reserves and adding to global warming." Hubby says as I open our car door, handing him groceries from the cart that he loaded into the back seat.

The car next to us backs out of the parking lot. The car windows are open.

"No, he's got his windows open. I think it's some sort of fan blowing hot air from off the building." We both look up, can't see any air ducts.

"I've filled this side of the car. Why don't you open the door on other side so I don't have to reach over." So I pull the cart to the other side of the car and we continue stuffing it with bags.

"It's really hot over here."

"It's the guy sitting in this other car. He's running his car. No one cares about gas prices." Hubby decides.

"There's no one even IN the car."

Hubby, curious, shuts the car door and walks up to peer in the car next to us. There's no one in it. "It's not running." He looks up at a small drain pipe on the building in front of us. "Maybe it's coming from there." I explain that's a water drain. He suddenly gets very still. Looks at our car. Tips his head to listen. Sticks his head in the driver's side. Looks at me. "It's our car. Our car is running!"

We'd left the car running for OVER AN HOUR with the KEYS IN THE IGNITION and the WINDOWS DOWN and

OUR CAR WAS STILL THERE!

Sometimes it's nice to live in a small town.

And for the record. I have never, ever, ever, ever done that before. Ever. Hubby said, in my defense, it's really hard to hear the car idling. It doesn't make a sound and it doesn't make the car vibrate. And, in my own defense, hubby walked way from the car too. Still, I can't believe I did that. And, mea culpa. I'm really sorry about the global warming.