Messin' With Mom

Sometimes a situation's ripe for exploiting. I found myself in such a situation the other day and my inner "little shit" took advantage.

It had already been an odd county fair experience for several reasons (not the least of which was my stint as a canned goods judge) but on Friday night we went back to the fair with plans to meet up with family and friends. Brady took off with the neighbor, Jonathan hooked up with a couple buddies, and Rob had an appointment to do business with a concession stand owner.

Well, you know what they say... Nothing like topping off a day at the county fair with a little insurance quoting! Or... something like that. So I tagged along.

We went to the man's first concession, the elephant ear stand, and asked to see the owner. He wasn't there, "probably at his other stand," we were told - clear across the fairgrounds, of course.

We went to the man's second concession, another elephant ear stand, and asked again to see him. He wasn't there. "Probably at his home," we were told.

Well, that's that, I thought, no business tonight, when the vendor started pointing us in the direction of the trailers that house the carnival folks. "Just go on over there and knock on the door."

We weren't sure if that was prudent, but Rob told the man he'd stop in so we carried on. The owner and his wife invited us in and offered us sodas, and we hit it off famously. We talked business and elephant ear flavors and capital gains taxes and kids for a while, and then I noticed we'd missed a cell phone call. Explaining I need to be available to the kids, I excused myself. The call was from my mother, who was to meet up with us. And this is when inspiration struck. I called her back.


ring ring

Me: Hi Mom!

Mom: Hi honey, Where are you?

Me: In a trailer. With a carnie.

silence

Mom: Wait... what? You're where?

I'm pretty sure that ranks somewhere high on the list of "Things a Mother Doesn't Want to Hear her Daughter Say." So naturally, I just couldn't resist.

The elephant ear vendor insisted our kids have free elephant ears so he offered us a ride to find them. We hopped onto his golf cart and got a motorized escort through the fairgrounds. As we parted the red sea crowd of fair-goers, I asked if he had a tiara I could wear? Or perhaps a sash that reads "Miss Canned Goods 2007"? He did teach me how to do the beauty queen wave to the passersby. "Never above the crown," he instructed.

People we know would see us, stop and stare, and shake their heads with that look of "What in the world are you doing now?" Ah you know us, always gotta be attracting attention. (This was actually the second golf cart ride for us during the fair. A fair official gave the kids a ride after explaining the ticket booth we were waiting for wasn't going to open anytime soon, but he'd be happy to take us to another booth.)

We found Jonathan and pal, who were quite happy to oblige the vendor with his elephant ear offer.

And later, when we hooked up with mom and the rest of the family, she just shook her head and said, "I got off the phone and said to Jackie, Your Sister!!....."

But I kindly pointed out, "Hey, better to hear it now than when I was, say, sixteen, right?"

*grin*