Adams Road
"Sure." Captain Dither blushed. "I was just thinking about this regular customer I had. The address was on Adams Road..."
-story start-
I don't remember the actual house number.
-interruption-
"Are you sure it's 'Adams road'?" Nick grinned from ear to ear. "My name is Adams. If you are trying to tell a story about me to gain favor, I would suggest that you make it a good one." Nick winked at the group.
Captain Dither returned with an awkward smile of his own. He was still new and not sure if Nick was being serious or not.
In the background, Mama Witt rolled her eyes. Uncle Bob was buried in his phone.
-continue-
No, the road was definitely Adams.
Adams was this old dirt road off of 2nd Avenue heading South. 2nd Avenue was part of a bigger thoroughfare and paved. Adams Road was a dirt road. Dirt road can be a pain, they get these lines of individual little divots that are impossible to avoid and stay on the right side of the road at the same time. Potholes can be murder on a car's alignment. As a delivery driver, my car is very important to me, for my business and my livelihood. I hate potholes...
-interruption-
"I don't like potholes, either. I think the city avoids fixing them on purpose!" Mama Witt snarled.
-continue-
Yeah, I have to put up with potholes on city streets. People's driveways, though, can be just as bad if not worse, when it comes to craters. Like this house on Adams Road...
-interruption-
Nick and Miss Jay giggled when they heard 'Adams'. Captain Dither smiled. He knew that he would have to power through the rest of story or at least find some way to avoid mentioning 'Adams', again.
-continue-
This one house on Ad-... um... on that dirt road. Had a very long gravel/dirt driveway. It was full of holes every few inches. Three back to back to back going the entire width of the driveway. There was no steering around these things. One side of the driveway was this fence and gnarly hedge. Long thin branches stuck the fence scratching, snagging, grabbing anything that got close.
(I've been snagged at least half a dozen times.)
Anyway, I didn't feel it safe driving my car down a driveway that bad. Axels are expensive to replace. I didn't want to break my car.
Gotta protect my money maker. You know!
-interruption-
"I heard that right!" Uncle Bob roared
-continue-
I am not the only one that hated that driveway. Some of my coworkers and fellow delivery drivers were also not happy going down that mess. My coworkers didn't care. They wanted to get the delivery done as quickly and as soon as possible. My coworkers drove on the lawn of the customer to get his food to him.
-interruption-
There was an audible gasp followed by a shocked silence.
"I agree." Captain Dither explained. "Not very professional and disrespectful to the owner of the property. I don't think it's right to be willful and destructive just because the guy's hungry and has a bad driveway."
"What did you do?" Those were the first words Miss Jay said to Captain Dither.
Captain Dither smiled at her childlike mannerisms. "You'll just have to listen and find out," Captain Dither said to the whole room, "Along with everyone else."
-continue-
Some of my fellow drivers drove on the customer's lawn to get the guy his food. Not me. I'd pull into his driveway, park my car, and walk the length to the guy's door to get him his food.
Technically, we're supposed to park on the street and walk the length of the driveway to the customer's door, anyway. But, to save time and steps we park, temporarily in driveways. This driveway was too long and bumpy to trust to my car. My feet were a little more sturdy.
So I pulled into the driveway of this customer. I parked my car. Got out. Made sure I had everything I needed for the order. I took my keys with me. I made sure to lock the car up and went. Over hill, over crater, off to the front door I go. Like I said, this driveway was long and bumpy. It was a schlep. I made it all the way to the customer's door. I completed my delivery. I smiled. I thanked the customer for their order. Then, I flipped a peace sign and started the long trek back to my car, at the end of the driveway. When I got to the end of the driveway, I noticed a car parked on the street. A woman sat behind the wheel. I assumed the lady and the car belonged to the customer at the end of the driveway. I tipped my hat to the lady and got in my car. I drove away waving a peace sign out the window.
-Story End-
"Well?" Captain Dither asked.
"It was nice." Mama Witt quipped as she buried herself into her phone.
"Weren't you worried about the customer's food getting cold?" Nick asked.
"That thought occurred to me," Captain Dither replied. "Saving my car was more important. If I bust it up on one delivery. I don't how much it'll cost to fix or now much downtime I'm going to have where I am not earning. I need to work to keep a roof over my head. I need to work to eat. That's all there is to it."
"I see." Miss Jay pursed her lips in thought. "Thank you for telling us your story."
"Miss Jay and I will put our heads together to decide the final scripts. I'll be emailing them to everyone. And..." Mr. Nick said. "If there's no further business. This meeting is adjourned. See you next time. Same crazy time, same crazy place."
Dedication
Dedicated to Dave
Dave
Dave's Not Here, Man
Your Dave
May your Dave be safe and all right.