Let's see--leave Excelsior Springs at 4:30, meet Jessica at 5:30, drive to Lawrence and arrive in time to get a BBQ sandwich at the arena before game starts at 7:00. Good plan.
Here I go....need to get gas...uh-oh, it's almost 5:00...better hurry. Take short-cut through Liberty at rush hour, only it's rush hour on short-cut, too.
Almost to Kansas. Better call Jessica. I'll be about 15 minutes late. Exit onto K-10. Uh-oh, big traffic back-up. Accident up ahead...helicopter hovering. Guess I'll exit on Renner Road, go to College Blvd., turn right to Woodland, then take Woodland straight to our rendezvous point.
Bad idea. Everyone else thought of it. Another traffic jam. Better call Jessica. I'll be even later.
Meet Jessica in Price Chopper parking lot. Left her phone at home today. So much for messages. She was ready to leave...thought we got our signals crossed.
On the road again. Uh-oh, big traffic jam outside DeSoto. Better take Kill Creek Road exit, go through DeSoto, then meet up with K-10 on down the road past the hang-up.
On the road again. Uh-oh, big traffic jam outside Eudora. No exit to take for avoidance. Oh, well, still have 45 minutes til game time.
Drive through Lawrence. On the road two hours. Must find restroom.
Arrive at Pete's parking. Pete and Jessica elated to see one another. Jessica didn't attend games last year. Pete thought Jessica had died. It was knee surgery.
"You know, Jessica, as you get older you'll have lots of things go wrong with you."
"Thanks for the encouragement, Pete."
Get tickets out of purse. Get out of the car. Lock it. Open trunk. Put purses in. Slam it. Walk toward arena. Halfway there, discover one ticket gone. Walk back to car. Unlock trunk. Look through purse. No ticket. Pete thinks someone is breaking into trunk.
Walk toward arena. Go to ticket office. Wait in line. Explain dilemma. No problem. New ticket printed. Better hurry. Game time.
Go to front door of arena.
"Welcome to Allen Fieldhouse."
Tickets won't make the machine "ding".
"You must go back to the ticket office. You can't get in with these tickets."
"We were just there. They gave them to us."
"Sorry. We can't help you. We don't have anything to do with the ticket office. You must go back there."
Back to ticket office. Explain dilemma. No problem. Tickets reprinted. Better hurry. Game is well into first half.
"Welcome to Allen Field House."
Machine "dings". Eureka! We're in.
Search for BBQ stand. Not on first floor. Go to third floor. BBQ is on second floor. Game further into first half.
"There's only one more thing that could go wrong--no BBQ sandwiches."
"Jessica, go on in and sit down. I'll track down the BBQ stand and meet you at our seats." Game stopped for injury. Crowd is quiet. Game inching toward half-time.
Go to second floor. Find BBQ stand. Buy last two sandwiches. Pay $20 for two sandwiches and two cokes. Put pickles and BBQ sauce on sandwiches.
Go to third floor. Find seats. 7:49 and almost half-time. Look at floor. Sixty percent of team is either injured or are being disciplined. Recognize two players on the floor. Whose team is this?
Game over. Twenty-nine point win by strangers. Walk to car. Look on floor-board. Ticket laying there. Oh, brother.
"We have no place to go but up the rest of the season."
"Right."
"Do you hear a funny noise?"
"Yes."
"When we get to your car, let's take a look and see what it is."
"Sounds like something flapping."
At Jessica's car. Open doors. Get out. Jessica pulls tomato plant from underneath car, with tomatoes on it.
"Thanks, Pete."
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