Excess Travel, part two

M.C.: I thought I heard someone knocking at the door.
But, you know what?
I was in bed, and I didn't care.
K.T.: Yeah, I figured.

So went the knocking at 0715, then the sitting outside D.C.'s and M.C.'s door. A touchy situation, if you've ever been trapped in it. You know they should be awake, but because of how early it is, you don't want to push it. What's the point of waking someone up? Generally, unless really important, you should let them sleep, for we get too little sleep as it is. No need to rob them of their daily little reward.

A.W. arrived a few minutes after 0730, but he also came bearing donuts, of the Dunkin variety. O, blessed angel, o, stolid messenger, o, bald A.W. Wait, A.W. shaved his head?

K.T.: What the f*ck?
What the f*ck?
What did you do to your head?
What the f*ck is going on?
What did you do to your head?
I'm sorry, this is too much this early in the morning.

Think of a peach left sitting in the sun a little too long, the skin paling and reddening. Oh, also draw a goatee on it. I wanted to rub the hell out of that stubbly scalp, once I got over the initial shock. It had been a few months since last I saw them, and my shock showed. Also a long time since I'd been around B. and C., as their saliva and fur caused my eyes to swell and my nose to surrender like Vichy France.

M.C.'s S.U.V., our sunshine-colored chariot, lay in wait, a cactus character wrapped around the antenna. We stowed our gear, piled in, and set off. And it is here that my record thins, for there is something about cars that makes me nod off. I swear, I tried to stay awake, but I just blissed out, and when I woke up, eighty or ninety minutes passed like that. There was hope that caffeine would've staved off impending sleep, but then this would have filled my bladder to exploding, causing multiple stops along the road. Not a good idea.

We're not really on time for the meeting, per se. Some might even say we are late, but we did our best. D.C. and I roll out, check in, and go to lunch.