Mystery solved, apologies, a call from an old friend in Istanbul.

Friday, December 2, 2016

This morning at 7 when I took Gunther out to do his business he snatched up something between the back and screen doors:  a piece of beef, about the size of a golfball.  He gagged so I reached down his throat and grabbed it.  I tried to throw it over the back fence but my throw was short and it bounced against the gate.  I tried again and pitched it into the alley.  Poor Gunther!  Where did the meat come from?

Walking, I figured out what had happened.  As Gunther got down on his haunches to do his duty, I recalled that our niece Becky came home late last night from a Christmas party and cut her finger on a gift basket she had won.  The basket had a bottle of Tanqueray gin and some vermouth and a couple martini glasses.  P. got up in the night when she heard Becky crying and talking on her phone.   Becky cried because her finger hurt, she said.

No blood. So P. tossed Becky a couple tissues and returned to bed.  Wait.  First they checked the gift basket and couldn’t figure out how she cut her finger.  Possibly a paper cut. That part remains a mystery.

Anyway, I figured out that the meat was a clue.  I checked the fridge after I got Gunther back into the house and sure enough.  A styrofoam food take home box had just the baked potato.

My mood was good.  Agatha Christie has been a good teacher.  But then I got a call from Charter Communications, our cable company.  A poor soul there noted that we had missed one of our payments and offered to take our payment then and there so we could “avoid a break in service.”

Sweet Jesus!  I explained to her that we’ve been customers for the past 11 years and only missed making two payments and NOW they are threatening to pull the cable service!  I got after her with my usual tirade about how I wished I could go ahead and stop receiving service now!  We mailed our check yesterday!  I asked the young lady if she would call me back to apologize today or tomorrow after our check arrives.  She said she “can’t.”

Then, realizing the error of my ways, I apologized to her for ripping into her, that she was just doing her job, probably the toughest job in the building.

She said with a hint of resignation that it was “okay, it happens all the time.”

Then the phone rang again and this time it was “Private Caller.”  It was my old carpet selling friend from Istanbul, Metin!  What an honor to be called by such a carpet selling friend!  I got acquainted with him a year or two ago in Turkey because Rick Steves recommended his store.

Metin said he will expect to stay with us in Billings because I owe him a glass of Scotch!  What a great conversation we had.  Then I called my daughter and my mood soared as I described my interaction with Metin,  my sleuthing re: the mystery of the cut finger, then my remorse at getting after the young woman who called me about our cable bill.  My mood was low by then.

I attempted to call Charter back to apologize to the woman, but I got a mechanized answering service that offered to take my payment right then and there.