I Wake Up Screaming

I had a nightmare last night that my mechanic had not done any work on the camper since the initial spurt of activity when I returned home and discovered nothing had been done while I was away. This was probably due to the fact that had I dropped by the garage two days ago to check on the progress and… nothing had been done. Argghh! I realize there’s a good chunk of time left before I plan to hit the road, but you weren’t around when my Falcon was up on the lift for three months waiting for… well, I can’t remember exactly what his excuse was then, but it cost me an entire summer of convertible-ing around the countryside.

“So, Bill, what’s the status on the camper,” I asked.

“Well, you know you can’t just pull brake pads off the shelf for this…” blah blah blah.

“I know that. But what about the other things that could be worked on? The pull-out step, the propane tank holder? Installing those stabilizing jacks in the rear of the camper?”

“We’re getting to it.”

Pause.

“So, when do you expect it to be done?”

“When do you want it?”

“Well, you said it would be finished August 1^st.”

“Yeah, and it’s August 4^th.”

Pause.

I cocked my head. Did he somehow just win that argument with some weird logic? Is this a technique I should remember: simply shrug and state a quasi-non-sequitur with enough quiet authority to confuse the hell out of your opponent?

I left the shop and drove down the road muttering comeback after comeback to myself.

So you can imagine my relief when I dropped by yesterday to find almost everything was done. I don’t even care that Bill asked me about the new taillights (recessed vs. flush-mounted) with a tone in his voice that said “you’re holding me up on this until you give me a decision, y’know.”

As I said, his work is worth waiting for, even if your hair turns gray in the process.

But why dwell?

Tickets for the NYC premiere of “Canned Ham” are officially on sale. Yikes! No backing out now, I guess. The Dixon Place ticket ordering site is here. I don’t want to influence anyone, but I think there may be some sort of post-show shindig after the Wednesday performance.

The tour schedule is starting to come into focus. It’s still mighty blurry but I’m beginning to get a sense of what might be going on with this for the next 6-8 months or so.

Now if I can only decide which accordion to use in the show (I have two, naturally.)

(Oh, and did I mention you can buy T-shirts here?)