I want you, right this minute, to go get your road atlas. Under the index for Texas I want you to look up Reno. Now go to the map of Texas and pinpoint the town, just to the east of Paris. Got it? Good. I was hoping to end my last week as publicity director for Culpepper & Merriweather Circus in a blaze of glory, or at least without a massive fiasco. But Reno, Texas, plunged me into buffoonery once again.
I called the sponsor, a volunteer firefighters organization, and set up an appointment for Saturday morning, at the fire station. I'm there plenty early, as usual. An hour goes by. No sponsor. I leave said sponsor a voice message, regretting etc. Said sponsor calls me back on Sunday, saying he was out at the fire station but didn't see me. Not one to call another man a liar, I complacently take the blame -- must've just missed each other, blah, blah, blah. We agree to meet Monday morning at the fire station. I'm there bright and early. Again no sponsor. This time I start to boil. So I decide to go right to the top. I call the fire chief at city hall. He is affability itself, sorry to hear I missed my connection again. He agrees to meet me at the fire station in two minutes. So I wait. And wait. And wait. Thirty minutes later the chief calls me back to ask if I am at the fire station, as he hasn't seen me. I'm right in front of the cotton-pickin' station, so I start to bang on the front door.
"Can you hear me now?" I holler into my cell phone.
No. He can't.
I bang louder.
"I'm right here! Just open the door and you'll see me!"
"I'm outside right now . . . "
We continue in this Abbott and Costello vein for a few more minutes until the chief asks "What county are you in right now?"
Oh oh.
Lamar County, right outside of Paris.
Well, partner, Reno is a suburb of Fort Worth. There are two Renos in Texas.
Pause here, cherished reader, and try to imagine my feelings at that moment. My face glowed with a plutonium-grade blush.
Luckily the chief was a forgiving soul. So we agreed to meet, this time in the right town, this coming Saturday. Pray for me, readers. Pray for me.
Can you find the hidden words? Take a break and play Seekadoo! Play now!
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