39¢

Okay, the coffee mug has been down for a while.

Em was trying to show someone how glued-on it was and it popped off in her hand. She was pulling on it pretty hard. Hard enough to rock the car.



I debated about gluing it back up, but it had gotten to be kind of a drag. It had been a couple of months, so the joke was kind of old to me. But to everyone noticing it, it was brand new. They had to tell me. Including the various cops who pulled me over to tell me I had a coffee mug on my roof. Then they'd tug on it and go, 'Oh.'

Including the Highway Patrol goon who really,really, should be bright enough to figure out that at 70mph, anything on my car is there to stay.



So I didn't glue it back up, but I couldn't let the tube of adhesive go to waste.

No one has commented on my thirty nine cents on the trunk lid. Maybe because I did a sloppy job and you can see the glue. I've thought about adding more money, being careful to cover my glue gobs.

But that's not what I'm here to tell you about.



I'm here to tell you about going to dinner at Bob & Dee's Restaurant tonight with Grampa Calvin. We met there, and for starters, I'm in sandals and a Hawaiian shirt because I thougtht it was going to be warm today. I heard a forecast to that effect, but apparently it was a dream. One of those really lucid dreams that seem like things you've experienced. It's like 39º and windy and I'm dressed for the beach.

The wait for dinner was a bit much for Mo but she did okay all things considered. After we ate, though, she kept asking me for a quarter. She'd seen a gumball machine by the door, and I didn't have any change. Nada. I had some folding money (it's payday after all) but no coins. Then she's fussing and whining, and I'm definitely not going to feed the bears when she does that.



Grandpa even asked if I wanted her to have one. Well, no, not at this point. If I cave to the screaming mimis, the terrorists have won, right?

So then Mo bolts in the parking lot, and I'm screaming and running and finally catch her at the trunk of my car trying to pry off the goddamn quarter on the trunk lid. When I pulled one hand off, she grabbed with the other. When I pulled that, she dove for it with her face. I swear she'd have popped a tooth out trying to get the quarter off my trunk.

I know, it's like the hand of God has told her to get a quarter, the whole OCD component of autism, but damn. Those times when a shock collar is not only appealing but probably one of the more humane impulses you could indulge.