saved a thousand ways

I was playing chess with Jemima yesterday afternoon when a phone call distracted us from my impending victory. It was Jay's mom to tell us that he was stranded at the Raleigh airport. Apart from the given facts that he had no money, hadn't slept in thirty hours and that he was delirious--we knew something had gone wrong. He'd left for Ecuador before Christmas and wasn't supposed to be back until the 5th, to go climb -- Mt. Chimborazo, if I'm not mistaken. Anyway, Jemima was making ready to go to work so I was the one left up to the task of rescuing Jay. "Don't ask him any questions, just pick him up"--Jemima instructed in her fussy momish way; I hate it when she patronizes me. Because you know me, I'm just the sort of person who'll bombard you with questions and bubbly chatter after you've gone through possible trauma *sarcasm*. As I was driving Jay back to his house, Jemima called and began fretting again in her usual 'make a mountain out of a molehill' manner--and I simply couldn't resist. "Oh my God Jemima. Jay is--oh my God! He's out of control! He's foaming at the mouth and screaming out things like, 'the horror! the horror!'--" "Kareen, don't worry, just try and keep him calm!" I burst into laughter and glanced over to Jay who was grinning with glee because Jemima is so incredibly gullible. He was only "dehydrated, hungry and badly in need of sleep" but other than that, he was fine. From the bits of details he chose to give me, he'd been riding around with idiots all week, which would explain why he was so paranoid with my driving. His mountain guide had also been stabbed with a fork. Always lovely. As to what exactly made him turn around and leave so soon he didn't say and I didn't ask.

01.02.03 - 6:04 p.m.