Short Notice

"I'm headed your way. You gonna be home?"
He'd be at my doorstep in two hours.
"Yes sir, I certainly will be! Be safe. I'll have a cold beer waiting for you."
It was my own darned fault. When I'm off work I've begun to isolate myself-
The cell phone rings and I let it go to voice mail...
I'll listen to that when I take a notion.
The hard-line phone rings and our answering machine takes a message. Ditto.
I guess it's a sign I'm really retire for retirement...
When I'm off work, I don't want to be bothered. But that attitude leaves me open to this sort of thing...
Tool's shadow will grace my doorstep in two hours.
Odd that I had just called TwoDogs that morning and learned Tools had been in Indy. So I at least was prepared for the idea I might hear from him. It was Sara Jean that finally heard his voice on the answering machine and told me I needed to call him for details.
"Yeah Tools, I'm home for the next couple days and you're welcome for as long as you want to stay."
He said he wasn't on a tight schedule and would play it by ear.
Same old Tools...
A few more character lines on that face, but the smile and booming voice were unmistakable...
"Hey brother, how are ya?"And as you might expect, the next few hours were spent catching up on the "new" news before we started lying to one another about our exploits back in the day.
He's fine. His better half is fine. He sat in retirement for over a year de-stressing before he realized he was going stir crazy and needed something to do other than watch grass grow. So he took a bunch of tough tests and became a licensed insurance adjuster. All these recent Spring storms with hail that has knocked out windshields and made your hood look like someone took a ball-peen hammer to it? Tools is your man for getting that fixed. When the hurricane season hits in full force, Tools will be on his way to the disaster areas to begin helping folks rebuild and heal.
And you know darned well he'll be great at it.

After a few beers we went and ate Chinese and then after a little more visiting he went to bed early.
Coffee and more chat on the patio in the A.M., we then rode the GoldWing to the next town West of us and ate breakfast at a little spot so much like "The Beehive" it would make you smile.
We then stopped at that town's High School and I showed Tools their gymnasium...
A cookie-cutter version of our old gym, except the color scheme is robin's egg blue and white.
Memories.

He's been away from home three weeks. A call to his mate and he said, "Well, if I get on the road right now I'll be home before midnight. I need to start that way."
And so he did.
I see him about once every five to ten years, but between us we have that "CG foundation" that all VK's understand. It takes about 30 seconds to get right back into that Trojan comfort zone.

I'll call today to insure you made it home safe buddy.
God Bless ya.
I love ya.