Does Hick Need a Shorter Leash?

Hick and I had plans to go vote yesterday, at 11:30 a.m. Yes, I know I'm barely out of bed at that excruciatingly early hour, but I made sure Hick gave me a wake-up call at 9:30 so I could get ready in time. Not that Val is high-maintenance, of course. But there are medicines to take, and blogs to check, sometimes communique with The Pony. A text for my sister the ex-mayor's wife to call me back. Shower. Anyhoo...turns out we didn't go until 12:30. I could have slept in!

At 11:45, Hick called.

"I'm on my way to my storage locker to see a guy about a gun. I'll be home by 12:30."

Fair enough. He'd said the night before that he might not be here exactly on time, because he had some work to do for Back Creek Neighbors Bev and Nick. Hick does odd jobs for them now and then. They pay well, and sometimes GIVE him stuff that he can re-sell. Like the most recent gift of FREE wood flooring, when they put in carpet. He only had to remove it.

Imagine my surprise when I heard the pertinent details.

"I really hated to go put back Bev's baseboards for free. I didn't know that was part of the deal. But I figure they DID give me that flooring, so I went. I was all done, ready to leave, when Bev got to talking to me. She said she had a video she wanted me to see...

[STOP IT! Stop that boom chicka wow wow PR0N music running through your head!]

She used to be a videographer, you know. She'd put together this video about Indians, and different religious groups. I was wondering HOW I was gonna get out of there! But then my buddy sent me a text about that gun, and I heard my phone, and told her I had to make a call, and that I had to leave to meet a guy. Whew! I was really lucky on that one!"

"So let me get this right. You were supposed to come pick me up so we could go vote, but you were WATCHING A VIDEO WITH BACK CREEK BEV???"

"Yeah. But she made me do it. She's LONELY, Val. She's got a lot of wacky ideas like you. You'd probably like talking to her."

"Well, she won't leave her house. So I'm not going to make house calls to entertain her. And YOU shouldn't be doing that either! All you had to do was tell her you were done, and it was time to pick me up to vote."

"I DID. And she started in about how voting doesn't matter, it's all rigged, she gave it up years ago! I had to hear that before she started the video."

Seriously. Hick is a grown man. You'd think he could get away from a housebound nutty lady.