By Obie Oakley
...you know.....UNPUNISHED.
When I got the distress call from Warren, I immediately went into action.
, I spoke to Neil in the hospital and he wanted an electric razor. His instructions were for me to go to a Wal Mart and buy the least expensive one I could find. He said he was feeling like Rutherford B. Hayes!
Then I recalled that one had relocated to a site close to the old Coliseum. Sure enough, there it was. Question, have any of you ever been to a Wal Mart on a Sunday afternoon lately? Not only that, it was Mothers Day. If you want a cross section of humanity, try it sometime. Jammed with some of the strangest folks you don't ordinarily see.
I did find a razor and went to check out and guess what? The gift card wouldn't work. OK, I paid for it with cash.
I was pretty lucky in hitting the traffic and got to Memorial Hospital and even found a parking spot.
Got the the desk and the "gentleman" informed me that there was no Neil Jones listed. I went through my spiel about talking to him less than two hours ago and he still insisted there was no Neil Jones listed.
There was a supervisor standing close by enough to overhear our conversation; she intervened and called the number I had used earlier.
It worked, she found Neil and told me that he was not in the Charlotte Memorial Hospital but the Memorial Hospital located in Monroe!
All was not lost, I did get a "Get out of the parking lot" free pass.
On the way back home I stopped off at Lowe's to get a couple of items and am now safely back home.
Closing chapter, after getting home, I discovered I had been on this epic sojourn all this time with my fly unzipped.
-OO
-OO
(Epilogue: This was on May 8th. Neil died on June 3rd, 26 days later of pancreatic cancer.)
