Uncivil Defense
Wednesday - March 10, 2010
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Del.icio.usGood thing the recent tsunami alert didn’t amount to much at all. I think we’re all thankful of that, and certainly we can’t take things for granted. In fact, now we can look back and even make jokes about it. At a meeting I attended last week, it was referred to as a “pseudonami.”
Still, for a number of hours that Saturday, my family took it quite seriously, especially my wife. She tends to get excited about stuff like that, which is good because I’m exactly the opposite. I think being in the newspaper business and, for a time, in fire and rescue, has tempered me.
It was 2 a.m. that fateful morning when I received a call from our pressroom. I immediately turned on the TV and radio, which unfortunately also alarmed my wife. She bounded out of bed and was riveted to the television. After I set up a game plan at the newspaper, I joined her to wait and see.
She immediately started taking stock of our disaster supplies, assembling lanterns and candles on the chance we lost power. She paced the room and I told her to calm down that we didn’t know the full extent of the warning. Then they announced that sirens would go off at 6 a.m. and all heck broke loose.
My wife decided she was going to run to the store and get food supplies. I tried to talk her down, but she wouldn’t have it. Twenty minutes later she came back with a single small plastic bag. She explained that all the stores were packed so she decided to hit 7-Eleven.
I looked in her bag and all there was were two Cup-O-Noodles and one can of Vienna sausage. I couldn’t help but tease her: “Great, honey, that should last us until 8 a.m.” It was 7:30. She started to explain, but I was laughing so hard I didn’t hear what I’m sure was a reasonable explanation.
Being the wise guy that I am, I added, “Now all we need is our son’s old Power Rangers flashlight and our daughter’s Hello Kitty radio and we’re set.” I continued laughing at my own jokes and my wife stormed out of the room. You know the rest of the story, as the tsunami was merely a ripple.
That evening I realized that we hadn’t done our weekly grocery shopping, so there was literally nothing to eat in the house. My wife and daughter heated up the Cup-O-Noodles and fried up the Vienna sausage - for themselves. For my dinner, I had to eat my own words.
Ron’s WEBSITE of the week www.richardbarberguitar.com
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