5.5.99 It was either the Puerto Rican food, the Vietnamese food, or the nachos I had last night. Today, I awoke with a slightly queasy stomach, and not much of an appetite-which in this case is too bad, because Elizabeth and I have decided to head up to Toronto to browse through wedding invitations. And, I love the food in Toronto, finding the Asian cuisine much more authentic than Rochester's.
I call and leave a message for the realtor notifying him that we were heading out of town for the day and that it would be okay to show the house if there were any last minute appointments; being Saturday, this is quite possible. We ensure the house is in order, grab the dog, pile in the car, and head outwards in our pseudo-family daytrip.
It seemed rather ironic. There were crystal blue skies perfect for traveling, along with the temperature being where we could have had the windows rolled down and it would have been neither too hot nor too cold. There were unforeseen obstacles leaving Rochester. One out-of-place characteristic was the higher ratio of unaware drivers. There was an incident where I was attempting to pass a certain point in a parking lot. Normally, my day time running lamps would warn other drivers that my car was nearby, but not this one driver. No. She missed seeing my car and nearly backed into me. Not once. But three times. I was slightly taken. Nuf said, onward.
We venture only a mile further before I find my stomach relaxing soon to follow by hunger pangs. Let's grab some breakfast, I declare. Elizabeth, feeling slightly anxious, suggests that we go to a drive-thru. We both glance at Beejing and realize eating food in the car while driving with a hyper dog was probably similar to chewing gum while doing the crawl stroke at the Olympics. We decide against this and pull into a nearby diner.
I have the typical carnivore special, with bacon, while Elizabeth orders the more carnivoreless special. Moments after finishing my dish, I eye hers for she eats at a slightly less accelerated pace, and I wind up finishing hers too. Satisfied, we pile back in the car, and attempt to head out of Rochester.
I open the door for her, walk around, and enter on the driver's side, being careful not to allow Beejing to anxiously jump out of the car. I am careful to look in all directions backing the car out of the spot and outwards to the street. We drive up to the corner to the first light and sit there waiting for the light to turn green.
It started slowly, just a tinge, and spread instantaneously covering the upper abdominal area. The pain was incredible. I found myself doubled over in my seat. Both Elizabeth and Beejing looked at me in shock not knowing what to do.
I was going to pull the car over when the light turned green, but soon after the pain starts, it subsides again. Something is not right. It just is not right. Fortunately, we had not traveled but three miles from the house, and it would only take a couple of minutes to get back. The cramps started again. It occurred to me that what was inside of me was not going to remain inside.
Pulling into the driveway, I wait until an intermission between cramps, rush out of the car fumbling keys in hand, enter the house, and pave a way to the bathroom. It will not be a bed of roses, so I turn on the fan. Although it will not rid all the fumes, it is better than not having the fan on at all. Grab a seat, and wait. At this point, I will spare some details, but it is similar to this-After the first five minutes, I thought it was over, but it was soon followed by a less severe set of cramps minutes later…
About fifteen minutes pass, when I hear a raised voice approaching the doorway that resembled Elizabeth's. All I could hear was muffled tones passively mixed with the running bathroom fan followed by departing footprints.
She runs back exactly one minute later, stopping behind the door, and repeats her muffled tones. Hold on, I call back as I lean and reach for the fan switch. One can feel the vibration on the floor as she stamps her foot emphasizing her repeated anxious mufflings once again. I finally reach the switch and as the fan winds down her words become crystal clear as the sun that shines currently outside. …and they are coming in the house right now! There are people coming in to see the house!
I clean up as much as possible. I look in the cabinets and find no evidence of a Lysol can and I know that to be one of my three wishes if a genie were to appear at that very moment. But, there was no genie. And, no Lysol can either.
I exit the bathroom, close the door gently behind me, walk to the next room, and greet our new friends. I intuitively know that the bathroom needs at least ten minutes of air time before making a blessing of a good first impression. I watch helplessly as the guests start heading towards the direction I had just come from. I wanted to call out, but felt shy as to explain, instead I bid them an over the shoulder good day, grab Elizabeth's hand, and we run outwards quickly without turning back.
Oh, and we had a great time in Toronto.
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