Perhaps I shouldn't have gone to the Smiths & Kamerons Friday Fiesta, but I did.
I needed to be with my brothers and sisters-in-law.
I had missed them on Wednesday night, as a big thunderstorm had knocked out the power at their church, canceling that night's "At The Movies" session.
(Sigh)
So, to Jalapenos I went.
Sure, I wanted some sympathy for the loss of Barbara, and I wanted to talk to Tony and Laura about why I had landed on their porch...
and I wanted to let them know about the visitation coming up...
and I needed hugs.
Yeah, that's not what I got.
Tony was all over me about the right - no, the NEED - for people to have guns.
He missed the point.
The proximity of a pull-and-shoot weapon turned a momentary lapse of reason into death.
Seriously.
No one rallied to my side on the issue, either.
We had a new waitress tonight and she didn't help matters.
When I ordered "sopapilla", she asked me, "Beef or chicken?"
Seriously.
I just looked at her until she realized her mistake -
"Oh, that's a dessert" -
then she took Laura's order.
When my order finally came, about ten minutes after everyone else's, it was wrong.
She had ordered ice cream to the dessert.
At least it was on the side, so I didn't have to send it back.
Laura said perhaps she added the ice cream because she mistook the sweet for one of the entrees, so I gave Melissa a break.
So, while talking with them about the missed movie, I asked if it was to be shown Sunday.
It would indeed be, at 9 AM and 11 AM.
That's when I said I'd probably go to that later one as Reverend Billy was on his summer hiatus and had a string of substitutes in his place, so I was blowing off Asbury.
I added that the only one I cared to hear was Rabbi Haas, but he had spoken the Sunday that I was in Florida...
and that's when Tony stepped in about a Jew preaching at a Christian church...
and I countered with all the Old Testament-based sermons on hope and faith...
and he was adamant that Jesus should be the focus of every Christian sermon.
Seriously.
He became even more incensed when I said that in the past we had an Imam preach.
Seriously.
Laura tried to intervene, asking questions about the other religions, but Tony was not deterred from his talk of Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, talking as if Jesus was God.
Seriously.
I thought of reminding him that Jesus was a Jew.
I thought of asking him to see Billy's sermon on the misuse of John 3:16.
I thought of referring him to the lecture from Brendan Murphy at SJCAF3.
I did not, though.
When bills came at meal's end, mine was wrong, as I'd expected.
Melissa had charged me for the unordered ice cream.
Nope, that needed to be fixed.
Sure, it was just a dollar, but that wasn't the point.
I had not ordered that addition and it needed to be removed.
She also had Laura's bill wrong.
Laura requested a change to hers, too.
When we got our new bills, hers was still not correct, but she paid it anyway.
After all, Melissa was Eddie Strother's wife and they had grown up knowing Eddie.
Mine was correct, so I gave her my NFCU card to pay.
When she came back, she just dropped off the receipt for me to sign and walked off.
I took one glance...
WTF?!
It was for $61.28, but my bill was only $3.28.
WTF?!
She gave me the wrong credit card receipt?
Yes, she had, but she had charged the amount to my credit card!!!
WTF?!
Receipts in hand, I went chasing through the restaurant to find her on the other side of the bar, near the register.
I yelled at her, "What the f*ck is this? I'm not paying for someone's alcohol!!! I want this charge off my f*cking card right now!!!"
She was about to stand up to me, but the anger on my face stopped her.
Cowering, she said, "You don't have to yell, I'll fix it..."
and then she called for the manager to help do that.
"I want a receipt showing that charge voided, too", I spat out, standing right there, in front of the kitchen and the bar and anyone there, waiting for the error to be fixed.
And by the time the right charge was made and the wrong one corrected, the Kamerons had all fled, Jimmy, Betsy, Mark, Addison, Becca...
all of them.
Even Smitty and Mary were already outside, with Laura going as I went to the table to sign my charge slip.
WTF.
It was as if I was in the wrong instead of this friend's wife who waited on us tonight.
WTF.
Only Tony stayed behind to wait while I finished up.
At least I got hugs from the four of them.
I realize that I'm on edge from Barbara's death.
I've thought about texting her several times this week.
Want to go to a movie?
Want to eat at Jason's Deli?
How are things going with Kal?
Your A/C fixed yet?
WTF.
Now, I've taken out my anger on the wild cherry and resurgent oak outside my bedroom.
Right before I'd gone to Kal's on Saturday, Lynn Nash of the City of Savannah had come by.
She had photos of two areas that needed to be addressed by August 13.
I thought she was talking about my grass, even though I knew it was okay.
Sure, it was a bit shaggy from the rains, but it wasn't over the allowed height.
I spoke to her about the "jackleg" down the street and how unhappy he was about my yard since I wouldn't hire him to cut it and "straighten it out".
Lynn Nash looked at my magnolia tree when I spoke of him having a problem with the patterns in the lawn.
She said, "is that a crop circle?"
WTF.
"No, it's a spiral. My great-grands love running in it!"
Clearly, Lynn Nash needs to watch the History channel and get educated on crop circles.
WTF.
So, just what had been her complaint with my yard?
The grass growing over the front curb and into the street was "blocking the flow of water to the storm drain"...
yes, she did say that, silly as it sounded...
and the "unruly vegetation" in the side yard.
The trees???
That were chopped down less than a year ago???
Well, fine, I've remedied that right now.
The thunderstorm this afternoon had cooled things off, so when I got home from the "fiesta" and needed to vent, I took that anger out on the yard.
An hour later, I had three new piles by the street and I felt calmer.
Damper from the water shaken from the branches as I worked, but calmer.
Now to find something to entertain me.
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