This is very embarrassing, so let's just get it out of the way: the reason I couldn't reach Steve, my mechanic, is because I was one number off. His number starts out 332, which I put in my contacts as 322. This happens to me all the time, if there is a number that repeats itself. I've been meaning to do this for a long time, and I finally googled "Is there a number version of dyslexia?" Possibly. It may be dyscalculia. Or numlexia. These terms pop up in informal chat sessions, but neither seem to fit my specific disability. Wikipedia suggests "math learning difficulties" and makes a troubling reference to low IQs. In any event, Steve said he had been waiting for me to okay the work, so now it would probably be Saturday before he'd be finished. Honestly, I don't mind -- it's kind of fun having to get by without a car! The only day I really, really need one is tomorrow, and Lynn and I have worked out a complicated and brilliant hand-off involving her car, her boss's mother's funeral, and her roommate's late night shift.
Last night as I half-listened to the news I heard something about today being 25 degrees colder than yesterday. Truer words, boy, as Holden Caulfield would say. Banks and I were only a block from the house when I rushed us back in to add a jacket and gloves. Since I had to take the bus this morning and didn't really have much time, I planned to do 2 1/2 miles, then finish up the rest after work, but Banks and I were having so much fun (once we adjusted to the cold) that I kept it up for an hour.
After work, I took the bus south again on Congress, and as it pulled into my stop, I was seized with the idea of, instead of making up the remaining half hour with Banks, veering off down Oltorf and picking up Popeye's Chicken for dinner. I don't know if this offer is nationwide, but at least in Austin they have a special every Tuesday -- 99 cents for a two piece dark. You would think I'd lived through the Depression, the way my eyes light up at the thought of that, but God in heaven, 99 cents for a meal? I jumped off the bus and high-tailed it the five or six blocks to Popeye's, picked up two boxes for Jackson and me, then walked the remaining eight or so blocks home, in my clogs. Jackson took Banks out for his nighttime walk.
Tomorrow's Wednesday, I still haven't taken my day off, and I feel stronger than ever.
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