The Dreaded Early AM Phone Call

So it was a perfectly peaceful July 5th here in the leafy tropical suburb. I walked the strange rescue dog, came back for a swim, and then settled into a lovely afternoon nap to one of those true crime shows. My cell phone woke me, and it was Jeff, who made me feel good about myself, as always. Whenever I start to think I'm getting old and unexciting, for example spending July 4 in a restaurant, Jeff outdoes me. His family couldn't even muster the energy to drive to an invited fireworks show -- they stayed home and watched it on tv. Then Wifey and I decided that since we missed out on a barbecue, hot dogs were in order. Well, I decided that, and Wifey agreed to go to Fuddruckers for dinner. As we pulled out of the hood, Norman called -- he and Deb were headed to Cheese Course, the gourmet sandwich place. I swung by and fetched them, and it turned out that Norman, on my same wavelength as usual, had ALSO wanted Fuddruckers. So we drove to Sunniland Center, and Wifey suggested Wagon's West -- where she and Deb got Dolphin Rachel sandwiches, and I got my hot dogs , and Norman a patty melt. From there, it was the nitrogen ice cream place, and then to drop off Norman and Deb. And then, if the evening wasn't exciting enough, Dr. Santi, our great neighbor, came by to drop off a goldfish that had grown too big for his little pond. We sang "Born Free" as he dumped the little guy into our much bigger pond. Santi, had, I could tell, pond envy... And then we were fast asleep, when that dreaded ring came. It was near 1 am. In my paranoia in the middle of the night, I fully expected to hear a thick NY accented NYPD detetective on the other end, telling me of some tragedy involving the Ds. Nope -- I immediately heard Creole, and knew it was about my father in law at the MJH. He had fallen, again, and opened a gash on his forehead. He seemed fine, but since he had Medicare, Mt. Sinai needed to have him for CAT scans and other wallet biopsies... Wifey mostly slept through the conversation. Ah, to be able to live with much less worry... So this am, Dr. Barry and boys are driving down to LOL, for breakfast. At some point, Wifey and I will drive to Mt. Sinai. There's no such thing as a quick discharge from that place -- Wifey already called, and though he was brought in at midnight, they still haven't really evaluated him. AFter 6 days out of MJH, my mother in law has to pay $350 daily to keep her husband's bed for him. Medicaid rules, which is nuts, since usually Medicaid people are poor... At 7, I fetch the Ds, and will hear of their great several days in NYC. It's better to deal with the young than the old.