I sometimes fill the urge to get out, to interact. But usually I come back disappointed. Yesterday was one of those days. As Grover, a former co-worker of Krl's use to say, "People just ain't no damned good".

Don't take that personally. You may be the exception to the rule, I hope I am, as I hope you are.

The morning was back in the office. It's coming together. I just get impatient. I keep telling myself that there is no reason to rush. Shortly after lunch, Krl and I left the house. I had finally convinced her to make an appointment with a dentist. We made a brief stop at the post office on the way to the dentist. We had no particular reason to select this dentist. I had attended college with a cousin and a sibling of the main dentist, there was some name recognition and they could get Krl in quickly. We arrived early expecting to have to fill out paperwork since Krl was a new patient. The girl at the window acknowledged Krl's arrival and we sat down and began reading the newspaper we had brought. I kept hearing conversation from the other side of the desk, and I whispered to Krl and asked, "Do you think there is a problem?" She nodded in affirmation. The next time the girl was at the window Krl asked if there was paperwork she needed to fill out as a new patient. "Sure", the girl replied and disappeared to reappear with a clipboard. Krl finished the paperwork and turned it in. In a few minutes the girl reappeared and asked "Which dentist did you have an appointment with?" Krl told her she didn't know, they didn't say. After a few more minutes the girl and a nurse appeared and told us that we were at the wrong place. Right building, wrong entrance. Turns out we were at the dentist office we had made the appointment with, but we walked in through the "Medicaid/Medicare" entrance. We were told to exit and walk around the side of the building to the other entrance. Similar signeage, and I even saw some of the same nurses and technicians from the other end. I guess they just didn't want us to inter-mingle.

About the only difference I could readily see is that we now had a television and DVD player in the waiting room. Krl was busy filling out duplicate paperwork, and I was trying to finish the newspaper. Already they had gone past the appointment time, but shortly they called Krl's name and she went back. There were only two of us in the waiting room, me and a young woman with a doo-rag who was counseling co-workers and off-spring via her cell phone. That was entertaining in itself. It was one of those "they don't pay us enough money for that!" Seems she or one of her callers was short in her cash box after a recent day of work. She had counted and signed off, her supervisor had counted and signed off but the book-keeper cried foul. "If they want us to be exact, they are going to have to give me another dollar an hour!" was the mantra of the conversation. "We handle $340,000 a week, $18 short is acceptable to me, it should be to them. Hell, that's a half million dollars a week, two mill a month, that is $72 short for two mill! What's the problem?"

Surprisingly, I didn't enter the fray. I'm sure I just smiled and continued what I was doing. By this time I was through with the paper and had an old issue of "Highlights" from the magazine table. I had already read Goofus and Gallant (it was about recycling. I don't recall ever reading about recycling in Goofus and Gallant when I was growing up.) and had moved on to the "hidden picture page". I was disappointed to find some earlier reader had circled all but one of the hidden items. A candle with a flame on the tip was what I was looking for. And I looked and I looked. I became so engrossed that some time later I looked up to find I was alone in the waiting room. I was very disappointed that I didn't find the candle, I can't believe that a children's publication would fib to kids! I know there wasn't a candle or I would have found it. I use to be good at this! My next waiting room activity was a Su do Ku puzzle. At the seasonal jobsite Frank, the plant Superintendent, got into these puzzles, and occasionally I would find one that had been abandoned. My biggest problem is getting the puzzle started, but once past that I find them entertaining. I looked and looked before finally beginning. Next thing I knew I was proofing the completed puzzle. I only had to make a couple of adjustments.

Just about this time Krl walked through the door. I could tell she was fuming. I surrendered her purse and walked to the window with her. All through my time in the waiting room there had been constant office chatter, very little of that had to do with office business. We spent ten minutes trying to let the dentists and the office staff figure out their new work schedule and most of this time the little girl at the window was still on the phone. When she got off, they had to educate her and she gave Krl a card with her next appointment on it. Krl asked, what do I owe today? "Oh, let me see", the girl exclaimed. "$130" she exclaimed. Harrumph, I didn't see anyone in that other office doling out cash. We were probably the only cash customers they had all day long.

When we walked out I glanced at my phone and found it had been three hours since we left the house. You can be anywhere in Abilene in fifteen minutes, so we had an extended stay at the dentist. Krl told me that she waited and waited and waited and finally got up and started for the waiting room when they noticed she was leaving. This was probably about the time I was engrossed in the hidden picture. They immediately began trying to coax her back, another dentist finished with a patient and acted as though she was Krl's dentist. She wasn't, she was just doing damage control. Krl said they clinked and dinged on her teeth, cut the inside of her mouth with inserts for x-rays, they even wanted to do an ice cube test to see which tooth was tender! Finally told her that she had been the victim of shoddy dental work. Duh! Now they were telling her that for immediate relief they would have to do another root canal on a tooth that supposedly has already given at another office.

Krl told me that she had never been to an office as unprofessional as that one. When we were at the window, the attending dentist and the owner of the practice were very apologetic, and told Krl they would call in an anti-biotic and pain pill. Krl repeatedly told them which pharmacy and what location. One last time she asked them, "You will call the medication in?" She was assured, they would. I decided since we were across town I would check on a truck project and when we left there Krl asked if I wanted to get something to eat. Since both of us had been wanting Mexican food and since we knew it would take the pharmacy a while to fill the medications we decided it would be a good diversion. Actually, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't exceptional. Good salsa, the guacamole was generic, the margaritas were "perfumey", but there were plenty of frioles and molten cheese. My plate included a taco and I will never understand why they lay the taco down and then pour beans and rice around it.

One last stop on the way to the house. The grocery store and the pharmacy! We were flying by the seat of our pants because we left our short list at home. Krl would think of what was on it and I would direct her through the store to where it was. We ended up one aisle from the pharmacy. Of course with our luck, there was someone at the counter and they wanted to get extra cash and all sorts of baloney. I was surprised they didn't check to see if all their pills were facing the same direction. This person was really anal! I entertained myself by checking my blood pressure and looking through the reading glass display. Luckily it was one of those rotating cases. Hhhmmm. I wonder how fast it would have to be spinning before it's contents would begin to succumb to centrifugal force. The person at the counter must have felt the impending doom because they completed their business and vacated the premises. Krl stepped to the counter and told them she was there to pick up her meds. "We have no meds", the girl said. I reached for my phone because I had witnessed the dental practice owner giving Krl a card, and even though it was after hours we were hoping for an answering service. No luck. The attending dentist had given a card to Krl and had written her cell phone number on the back. No answer there either. Krl left the dentist a message. We checked out and went home. Shortly before the pharmacy was to close Krl gave them a call, still no meds.

I'm going to the dentist's office this morning. They are open until noon. I am going to pick up Krl's records and x-rays. I hope they have their heads up their butts like yesterday, because I will probably tell them to call 9-1-1 now because this is probably going to be quite painful for them when I extract their heads from their brains!

Yep, Grover was an optimist.

I asked Krl why she would subject herself to such an ordeal. She simply told me that she was hopeful that it would get better.

And who said slaving at your desk is bad. I did. But it's safe! I'm going to stay close and stay low.

Today they are having Holt's birthday party. I called Rian and told him we weren't coming. He said they understood. Besides he continued, "We have tickets to the Lady Raiders game Saturday afternoon."

I've got anything I need for entertainment either on my remote or on my 'puter.

And with that I'll say, "have a day!"

FATHER, ' need some help here!