It’ two o’clock in the morning, and I’m pushing through the crowd to get a glimpse of the parade going down Main Street in my hometown. It’s 1970 again. I see Larry, the drum major, leading our high school band. There are the majorettes. Janet, Ava, Gail, Candice, Dinah. . .

Suddenly, I hear BING! BING! I wake and realize that I’m getting a text. I grope around for my phone that’s on the nightstand beside my bed. My eyes won’t focus.

Tina says, “Hand me your phone and I will read it for you.”

I’m stubborn. “No. I’ve got this.”

I stumbled across the room to find my glasses. All the time I’m thinking there must be an emergency. My granddaughter hasn’t been doing well since she had her wisdom teeth removed last week. The first night she had a seizure and ended up in the ER. Yesterday, I took her back to the doctor because the swelling hasn’t gone down and she’s in a lot of pain.

My mind was racing as I opened the text. Finally, my eyes honed in on the message:

Dear Rick Algood. This is Joe your FedX driver. I have missed you at home a couple of hours ago. I have your package in my truck ?? and I wish to deliver it to you! When should I come back? Please confirm it here.

I groan.

“What is it? What happened,” Tina asked in a panic.

“It’s Joe, our FedX driver.... again. He’s still trying to scam us.”

She groans. Not in a good way.

I lie down and pull the covers up thinking, somewhere over in Nigeria there’s a little guy hacking away on his phone who has no idea what time it is in Kentucky.

Yesterday, he called three times wanting to help me with my student loans. He hasn’t a clue I’m pushing seventy and never had enough money to finish college.

I Hope Something Good Happens To You Today. That’s the window decal on my granddaughter’s car. I thought about that before I drifted off to sleep.

Perhaps it did. It wasn’t a real emergency. Just some guy with no clue about time zones.

_______________
Rick Algood
April 20, 2021