Date:         Mon, 5 Aug 1996 22:04:22 EST
From: gilbertsmith <gsmith@social.chass.ncsu.edu>
Subject:      WIAST 16
To: Multiple recipients of list WORDS-L <words-l@uga.cc.uga.edu>

WHY I AM STRESSED TODAY 16

So I have bought a sofa-sleeper and a loveseat-sleeper at the
Goodwill and a very odd looking <recordplayer>/tuner from the early
sixties at the Salvation Army, a weird thing up on a chrome stand, in
what looks like real walnut, with speakers in walnut boxes on each
end and a roll top in the middle, like a rolltop desk, which pulls
down over the radio/turntable thingie.  Very strange indead.  But I
have to get these things out of there by Friday and I have no truck.
So I negotiate with my departmental secretary, who has a truck, or
who has a husband who has a truck, to use their truck while they are
away for the weekend square-dancing.

Saturday I pick up the truck in Wake Forest and they have left a note
warning me about the brakes, which only work when pumped vigorously.
This is like a 72 Ford, painted bright red, with a vanity plate
saying something about square dancing and a sign on the back window
proclaiming "Glad To Be A North Carolinian" and another with a couple
square-dancing.  It is revved up real high, so if you take your foot
off the brake, after pumping it, while stopped, it starts to speed up
to about 10 mph.  I am tooling down the road into Raleigh, past the
El Dorado and natalie's motel, and I decide to stop at the American
Way Thrift Store, where natalie turned her car around, to see if
there is any program furniture that I want, since now I have a truck
to haul it.  There isn't, but I do buy about 40 drinking glasses,
because I have a big party coming up and the MEotM has packed up
almost all the glasses as if they were her own.

I come out to proceed to the SA and the GW, and the truck will not
start.  So I call AAA, wait 1 1/2 hours, and the guy arrives to give
me a jump.  All he can say is:  "Nice truck....  nice truck."  I
start talking country because that's what I do in this kind of
situation.

It is now too late to get the furniture and I am afraid the truck
will not start if I stop to pick it up.  I drive back, 15 miles
north, and return the truck to its resting place in their driveway.
I am drenched in sweat.  It has been a peak experience, driving this
big red Ford truck and talking country.  A peak.
--ggs