maybe she is safe, unless she is with me

so today . . . i got bonus ice cream. for free!

actually all the ice cream was free, because diandra bought it for me. she wanted to go to el pollo loco for dinner--and when i say dinner, i really just mean food. her plan was to go get food and bring it home and eat it while doing whatever else she was doing. i said i would go along, but she would have to get me ice cream. because, you know, el pollo loco has the absolute best soft-serve ice cream on the planet! she agreed, and off we went.

we had javier's car, because diandra's jeep is a "security free zone." (that means she can't lock anything inside, since the doors come off and the windows and roof are basically plastic.) and she needed to be able to lock up her purse and phone a few days ago when she went to visit one of her teens who is spending some time in a secured facility (no, they are not all perfect all the time, but she loves them anyway.) she had been unable to return the car and get her jeep, because javier's mom and dad were out of town, and they had her keys. so there we were, on our way to el pollo loco in javi's car.

he drives a pretty nice honda and takes good care of it, so it was a nice ride. (i thought it was an especially nice ride since hauling my body up into diandra's jeep is like taking an exercise class!) we got to el pollo loco, went through the drive through, and ordered our food.

or at least, we tried to order our food. i usually get an ice cream cone, but i ask for it in a cup. i like it that way, because i can eat it slowly and add the necessary dark chocolate m&ms. but apparently not too many people ask for it that way, and my usual cashiers had the night off. when we tried to take possession of our food, the girl at the window started to hand me an ice cream cone--dipped in chocolate! this was almost completely wrong. we explained again that we wanted the ice cream in a dish, but she just kept trying to give me the now beginning to drip ice cream cone. finally she understood us (we thought) after we said, "no chocolate" several times, but before she went to get me some plain ice cream, she asked if we wanted the chocolate dipped one. for free. "otherwise i'll just have to throw it away," she said.

ok, well it wasn't what i ordered, but i've never been one to turn down free ice cream. even if it is dipped in chocolate.

she put the new naked ice cream in a cup for me, but there i was, in javi's car, holding a melting chocolate dipped cone. while diandra was driving, and i was trying to slurp up drips before they hit any surfaces in javi's car, i was reminded of a conversation we had a few days ago . . .

diandra and i were in my car on our way somewhere, and i was telling her about what happened to me when i went to buy and mail my dad's father's day card. and as i spun my tale, she kept laughing. and then she said, "how do these things happen to you? stuff like that never happens to me!" i didn't agree. i'll bet stuff like that happens to her all the time--she just moves too fast to notice. but a few days later i went to the post office with her. there was no line. the postal worker just took her money for postage and we left--no big conversations, no up-selling, we just mailed her package and left. so, i thought to myself, maybe stuff doesn't happen to her.

but that was several days ago. today when we were driving home in javi's car with dripping ice cream and 50 cent sour cream (i didn't tell you about that!) i decided that stuff does happen to her--but maybe only when she is with ME.