Caught in the Act

I leave a few minutes early for lunch to make sure I will be back in plenty of time for my 1 pm reference desk shift. I am driving along listening to NPR news on the radio and glimpse a scrufty looking character walking along side the road in shorts and no coat. Idiot, I think, then do a double take. Wait a minute. That's Drew! Where on earth is he going? I know he has a day off of school, and that he and his friends are going to see a movie, but is he walking over to the pizza place to get lunch?



I pull into the apartment complex, park and text him. He responds that he is walking to the movies. What??? No way. That theater is a good 10 or 12 miles away. I text him that I will pick him up and we connect. Yes, the silly goose was thinking of walking clear across Rochester for a 4 pm movie. He thought my port flush (a 5 minute process) was a chemo day and he didn't want to bother me. Sweet boy, but nothing doing.



Instead, I take him to lunch, and he calls another friend and they agree to meet a bit earlier than the original plan calls for. I will drop him off. It means I will be late for my shift. Doggone. But there is no way I want my son wandering about even if he is menacingly tall and rugged. He is precious and I will not gamble with his well being.



I think he got the idea. We have texted on and off all afternoon, just to be clear that I am available should he ever need help. We are not islands (look it up). And I do an inventory. I tend to be very self sufficient, to my own detriment. I told him he was as ridiculously stubborn as his mother. He laughed. But we both got the drift. No more lone rangering.