This is Why Genius Wants to go Away to College

Genius and two friends went to a movie Friday evening. Not a regular Backroads movie at the nearly-local fourplex. A movie in a city up north. Halfway between Backroads and the BigCity. He didn't plan to be out late. They met up right after school, and headed off to a 4:45 showing. I was a bit apprehensive, what with it being a Friday night. But Genius has been to the BigCity by himself, so I let out the apron strings a bit.

I didn't even command Genius to call me when he got there, and when he was leaving. The Pony and I scurried around so he could feed the goats and chickens. Then I took him back to town so he could spend the night with his grandma. Hick was still in Massachusetts. So I had the homestead to myself. I was happily cruising the information superhighway when the phone rang just before 7:00.

"Mom. There's been an accident. We are out of the movie, but we can't get on the road. The police have it blocked. There are ambulances coming."

"You're not sitting in traffic?"

"No. We're on the parking lot of a gas station by a mini mall. We're just standing here watching. They're letting one lane of traffic through."

"You need to be careful. Know your surroundings. Don't get robbed. You all look like country people. Don't let anybody take advantage of you."

"You're crazy. We don't look country. We're fine."

"Just be careful. Call me back in twenty minutes, or when you are leaving."

Yes. I'm overprotective. But Genius is naive. He will object when he reads this. But it's true. When I worked in the BigCity for the unemployment office, down by the Bevo Mill, a coworker said the same thing to me. Hick worked near Tower Grove and Chouteau at the time. So we rode together. He had to be at work at 7:00 a.m. My supervisor didn't show up until around 7:20 to open the building. I told Hick to let me out so I could wait. I never thought anything of it. There were not many people around at that time of morning. Just those driving by on the way to work. Hick picked me up after work. We both had overtime back then. My supervisor assigned me extra filing to pass the time. When he left, I was sometimes alone for a half hour until Hick was ready to go. At least I could wait inside the office. The door locked on its own when I left. The only time I got scared was when a guy walked from narrow window to narrow window, pressing his face against the glass, watching me. I went to the windowless break room to spoil his fun. Still, I felt safer with this arrangement than dropping off Hick and picking him up later.

The phone rang again at 7:15. "Mom. We're leaving now."

"From the parking lot?"

"Yeah. We think there was a drug deal going on behind the gas station. So we got back in the truck."

"I TOLD you to be aware!"

"We're fine. You overreact. The coolest thing ever happened while we were waiting! There's a Domino's in this strip mall. A guy sitting in his car stuck in traffic called and had them deliver a pizza to his car. It was great!"

"I'm glad you were entertained."

"Yeah. Well, we're going to Steak and Shake. Then I'll be home."

"Be careful. It's the opening night of deer season. Drunks will be on the way to deer camp. Look out for the other guy. Like oncoming traffic."

"All RIGHT! Bye."

Yes. I'm overprotective. But I'm sure the people in the accident never planned on colliding that night, either. You never know. All my blathering might have delayed them just long enough to avoid an unfortunate mishap.