Yesterday I was supposed to go back to my apartment so I could start the new semester, but by the time I wanted to be on the road I was felt too tired to make the 3 hour drive. So I did what any sensible sleep-loving individual would do and laid down for a good ol' fashioned nap.
I can not exagerate the wonders of the nap, but that is another topic for another day.
Anyhow, I woke up around 8:30 semi-refreshed, but mentally debating whether I should leave then and get to my apartment around 11:30 - 12:00 or stay the night and wake up early (Say 4 or 5am) to make the drive then. Leaving that night meant ALL night driving of which I'm not a fan, I like to be able to see police though I don't speed more than 5 over and it is less boring when you can see more of the outside world. Plus it would be around 2am Meags Standard Time before I could call her for the night, and that is all sorts of no good when she has classes in the morning. Driving so early still means mostly darkness, but there is more light and I still get to talk to Meags that night so I took Door #2.
Around 9 or 9:30 my mom told me that somebody she had met at the hospital sometime (She has had to take my grandmother who lives in an apartment attached to the house to the hospital a fair number of times and she meets a fair number of people) needed us to pick them up. It was an elderly couple, the old woman was stuck in a wheelchair and the man walked with a cane. Both had been waiting in the cold lobby of the hospital for over 3 hours waiting for a cab that never came. She wasn't positive we needed to go, but within 15 minutes she told me they needed us - good thing I was around I suppose!
I didn't know about the wheelchair, so I wasn't entirely sure why she needed us, but I wasn't going to argue over such a small point. But since I'd already jammed my truck full of clothing and game systems and such I asked her why she wanted me to follow her in the truck when I would be able to fit any other passengers. She told me they had a wheelchair and the thought hadn't occurred to me that a wheelchair could be folded down and put neatly into her trunk.
On the way I called Meags on my cell phone thanks to the handy calling card I so dearly love and let her know what was going on. She pointed out the wheelchair collapsability dilema and I didn't really have an answer as to why my truck was needed if it could be folded into a trunk. Soon I had my answer as I arrived at the hospital though, it wasn't just any wheelchair, it was an electric wheelchair. A heavy one I'd soon discover.
The old couple emerged from the hospital doors with thankfulness lighting their faces. My mom parked alongside the curb and opened the passenger side door, the old woman drove her electric car to the door and with minimal help managed to slide herself right on over. The old man decided to take it upon himself to take the wheelchair over to my truck, with one little problem. The wheelchair was closely surrounded by curb, car, and car door and rather than backing up he decided to try turning the vehicle around right then and there. A few bumps against my mom's car and several polite-as-can-be protestations from my mom kindly offering that "he didn't have to do that, we can get it for him" and he had managed to turn it around. He then shifted gears to become a 10 year old in a bumper car, wheeling it toward my truck and quickly spinning it around in a 360. The guy was quite old, but he knew how to have fun.
The man's fun ended when he got to my truck and he had to get off, a male nurse and I lifted the contraption into the back of my truck, and we were all set for our taxi service to begin operation. I followed my mom as best I could (While I limit my speeding to within 5 miles of the posted limit, she sometimes "forgets" the meaning of the word limit) and managed to make it to the apartment complex without losing her.
The old man got out and disappeared through a locked gate to get the main gate open for our cars to pass through. Finally he succeeded in this task and my mom drove through, I followed her thinking I would have plenty of time before the gate shut.... and I would have had plenty of time if she hadn't decided to take her time in parking the car. I followed her inside the gate when her car stopped and she didn't move, eventuallly the gate began to close. She started parking as it hit the rear of my truck, making a nice black scrape to remind me of the incident. I still don't know why she decided to take forever to park, but I do know that this little rescue mission was becoming hard on the cars.
We got the old woman back in her carriage and were coaxed inside by the couple, they wanted us to wait for the brother or son or whoever it was that was supposed to be there soon. We needed to get out of there though since I needed to be awake in 6 hours or so to make my long journey, so we made the excuse for a quick escape from certain never-ending conversation doom. My mom was sucked in twice more, once because the lady wanted to get her information written in the address book she carried and once to give my mom the old lady's contact information.
While my mom was busied with the old lady the man tried telling me something or other about how grateful they were. It was really hard to understand him as he seemed to be missing most of his teeth and he had what seemed to be a nervous speech impediment, I felt bad that I couldn't offer more of a response than "Yeah" and "No problem, glad to help" but those were the best I could come up with when I could barely decipher what he was saying.
Eventually we were free and on our way back, good deeds for the night done.
Posted by Michael at January 18, 2005 11:44 PM