WILL
THEY EVER RETURN………….2 Aril
2004
A
song from the 50's (Kingston Trio of 'hungry i'
fame) was reborn in real life by a band of
marauding Red Nose faithful, hereinafter known
as the "Magnificent Seven': Tom O'Rorke SR., Jim
Strawn, Dave Swaney, Bob and Nancy Johnson, and
Hondo and Donna Ondrick. (The reader will note
that there are no SR's. or JR.'s after Strawn,
Swaney, Johnson and Ondrick. This should not,
however, raise questions concerning known
parentage or perceived family stature. It may
simply be an omission or we simply don't
know.)
The
Magnificent Seven embarked one dark cold evening
in Washington D. C. to reenact that fateful trip
on the legendary MTA. (Note: The purpose of the
trip was to attend a dinner party hosted by
fellow Red Noses, Billy and Judy Adams,
departing from our Hotel in beautiful downtown
D.. C., to their beautiful apartment in
beautiful Arlington, VA, via the beautiful
Metro.) Just beautiful.
The
saga began at the JW Marriott Hotel, focal point
for the mini semi-annual Red Nose reunion 2-5
April 2004. Acting upon our leader Tom's
judgement that it was right to be "fashionably
late", the Magnificent Seven scurried from the
hotel bar a tad behind schedule, (but ahead of
the bar bill) only to find the walk to the Metro
a bit longer and colder than anticipated. This
anticipation was somewhat blurred by three
separate and distinct verbal directions and
visual reference to a hotel map. Being of
fighter pilot mentality they pressed on to what
had to be the right way to go (everyone knows
the expression "as the crow flies" is nothing
but bunk. They fly in circles just like fighter
pilots). As the circles expanded, they found the
Metro.
At
the Metro, one is required to buy tickets. Easy
enough for a bunch of fighter pilots. to handle
However with no flight manual or simulator to
guide us, it took a bit longer for us than the
many Metro "scabs" they had rushing through
ahead of us. Undaunted, Dave and Bob found
belatedly that the only change you could get
from a twenty dollar bill was five dollars, all
in quarters, and fifteen dollars worth of, ride
for life, Metro tickets. Tom and Jim were
obvious ringers and purchased two dollar
tickets. Bob thought the problem was easily
resolved by merely passing his ticket through
the gate, entering the Metro and then passing
the ticket back to Nanc for her to reuse.
Fighter pilots always think ahead. Dave, with a
pocket full of quarters, Tom, Jim and Bob (also
with quarters), were now safely through the gate
- awaiting Nancy, Hondo and Donna.
Meanwhile,
Hondo is still busy at the ticket machine
cursing the NATOPS directions as being all
wrong. Donna is checking the large Metro map (we
never determined why unless: 1) trying to
disassociate from Hondo; or 2) trying not to
kill him). But now back to Nanc. With Bob's
ticket in hand she finds she cannot get the gate
open. We are on the Metro side of the gate and
she is on the other…with Hondo and
Donna.
Remember
"fashionably late'?
Astonished
by the failure of the Metro to accept his ticket
twice, Bob rushes to Metro Management (the
little guy in the black booth as you enter) for
an explanation and an apology. After a
prolonged, in-depth discussion on the need for
each passenger to have his/her own ticket, Bob
accepted the apology (or would have had it been
offered) and they managed to access Nanc around
the gates but Bob was advised she could not get
off the Metro without permission from Metro
management (black booth) at our destination.
Bottom line is "no tickie, no
travel…everybody must have tickie.".
By
this time, Hondo has passed his NATOPS at the
ticket machine and Donna, ticket in hand, has
quickly passed through one of the gates. Six out
of seven so far. But where is Hondo? His ticket
won't work at the gate he is at. After pooling
the collective wisdom of our fighter pilot minds
we slowly concluded that he was trying to enter
through an exit gate. Problem resolved, the
Magnificent Seven were finally on their
way.
Seated
and recanting our astonishing ordeal in loud
voices (noted amongst Red Noses) the surrounding
passengers too were astounded by our adventure,
as seen by their smirking and rolling of their
eyes. Noticing this, Nanc suggested to Tom that
he tell them who we really were (I think she
meant fighter pilots) to which he loudly
announced, quite seriously, "We're Postal
Workers!".
The
Magnificent Seven finally arrived, really
"fashionably late".
Post
Mortem: In an act of contrition and in an
attempt to maintain our integrity with our
fellow passengers on the Metro, Tom later
suggested we add to our tour the next day, - the
National Postal Museum.
More
on the magnificent dinner.later.
|
Robert
(Bob) Johnson
|
|
Alvord,
Texas
|
|
11
April 2004
|
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to mini 2004
