So out of the blue..,

the 28 year old step daughter calls at 7am and asks me if I can come see her that morning. She's an hour drive away, but I say sure. All I have to do is finish my coffee, find the cat I let outside a half hour earlier, then get dressed.

Okay an hour later I am on the last part. The cat hadn't been interested in coming when called, but I figured out from the complaining of crows whereabouts in the woods he probably was and sure enough, I found him there. So, back to the house with the cat over my shoulder and getting dressed. Then a pause. I needed a shave. So I shaved, and why not a shower too? And I did that.

Now I had the problem. She hadn't said what was up or what was planned. Should I dress for hiking in the woods, fixing her car, or visiting a shopping mall or meeting her boyfriend's mom? Should I wear dungarees, shorts, slacks or a business suit..?

Yes, I could call her and ask the itinerary, but what fun is that? Si I wound up with dungarees, a new pair of wolverine short boots, and a short sleeved Van Housen shirt. My thought was if it looked dirty I could take the shirt off.

Soo she opens her front door fresh from her shower with her hair in a towel and a house robe on. She explains while painting her nails.



Then she puts on what I can only describe as a summer party dress. Thin with a print, something suitable for a picnic at a church



and off we go to her college bookstore to find a text book for next semester. Sigh. They aren't in stock yet. So off to the Walmart. Then we visit an Indian food buffet and O fill my plate 3 times. Then back to her house with the packages. Again she changes clothes and now it is flip flops, hot pants and a T shirt with sneakers and off we go to the C&O Canal for a 7 mile walk while I learn the latest in her world and offer fatherly advise. Just as we get back to the car summer thundershower begins. So we go to the mall where she shops for new sunglasses, earrings and we visit a store where the manager is from her old country. Namistae, Namistae, Namistar. I give him the exalted owner greeting and he looks at me weirdly. Yeah, he is 20 years younger than me, but it is his place. Whatever.

They start jabbering away. She is trying to recruit him to be a volunteer for a tooth cleaning next semester at school. He is like, will it hurt? Maybe 5 minutes into the discourse he turns and apologizes in English for speaking their native tongue. I look, smile and with a wave of my hand tell him 'Tee kay chaa' (it's okay) and that I am going to the food court for a coke. I buy a Pepsi for her too and sure enough she is maybe 2 minutes behind me. Smiling. He agreed to let her practice on him at school in October. She still needs a person under 24 but over 15, and another senior citizen with at least 6 opposing upper and lower teeth but she has filled most of the 20 patient slots she needs to fill.