The Masters

"What? Are you kidding me? ... Of course I want two tickets to the Masters. I'll pick them up in ten minutes, thanks!" Chad hung up the phone. Man oh man, tickets to the Masters... surely my boss will let me off work to go to this.

He picked up the phone and dialed... "Hey, Ginger... is the boss in?... Yes... I'll wait... Hello, Mr. Knowles? I was wondering if I could take the day off today, you see, I just-- Well... it's just... Yes Sir... I got two tickets given to me to the Masters today and I've never been to a Pro tournament, and this being Friday and all, I thought I could take off for a three day-- ..." he listened.

Chad slammed down his desk phone. Why do I have to be a stupid dock supervisor anyway. I have a Masters degree in business, and I'm a licensed CPA. What am I doing on my father-in-law's truck docks anyway? "So you can learn the business from the ground up," he mocked in a high soft nasal voice. He grabbed his keys and stomped for the door hoping he hadn't woke up his wife when slamming the phone.

The cool morning helped settle his mood, he enjoyed the morning air when he cranked the engine over in his truck; and quickly made two blocks to the Quickie station where he met his friend Steve and picked up the two golf badges for the day. He thanked him aggressively for the gesture. The drive to work was traffic free as usual due to the early five o'clock hour. Surely he could get the trucks unloaded and reloaded for the weekend line haulers; it was his only hope.

As he pulled up into the lot at work, he saw Mr. Knowles already on the dock. He took his time getting there, by putting his lunch in his locker and giving Ginger, the dispatcher, a good morning wave and picking up a cup of coffee. Normally he didn't drink coffee. Then with nothing else to do he walked out to the docks.

"I had the trucks moved for you Chad, they weren't lined up for an easy transfer, so I think this will work out better for you."

"Thank you sir," Chad replied attempting to hide his anger. He sipped his coffee and began looking over the manifests without speaking anything further. Mr. Knowles stood a minute then wandered off. It wasn't too long until Chad and two other dock workers were running fork lifts driving onto the trucks and unloading them. About halfway into the shift, he became doubtful time would be left over at the end of the day to use the badges. At lunch, he called his wife, Jessica.

"Hi Jess, I thought I'd tell you that I'm trying to get off a little early to go to the Masters today. Steve gave me two badges. If you can find someone to watch the kids, we can go together. Would you like to do that?... I know... you are a people watcher... You wouldn't see one bit of golf, would you? It'll be fun... I'm really working hard to get off early so, I'll try to be off by three... you be ready then ... bye."

Chad got right back to work, driving the fork lift with noxious exhaust fumes. He slid pallets of freight back into trailers, and rerouted manifests for what seemed like hours. It was so time consuming he was going crazy in his race to finish...

About two thirty Mr. Knowles came by the docks. "Hello Chad, how are things going?"

"Real slow. I thought I might be able to finish early so I would get to go see some of the Masters, but it doesn't appear that I'll be through until about six."

"Well... you've worked really hard. Why don't you go on and take Jessica to the Club, and I'll finish up here... Okay?"

"What?... You really mean it?"

"Yes, now get out of here before I change my mind."

"Yes sir...!" Chad ran into the break room and called Jessica. She too had a few issues, and needed some help. Chad tried to rush home but traffic was a bother. The slow traffic was because of two wrecks, and had his blood pressure up, but perseverance played out well and he was finally home. He parked his truck in front of the house against the curb, then went inside and helped Jessica finish her chores. They finally boarded the family van and began picking up kids from school to take to the sitter's.

They went to the Elementary school and picked up Angela, which took only a few minutes, then to the Middle school, where they parked and listened to the radio while waiting to pick up Celia, and Joshua. Finally, at four o'clock, the bell rang and they were on their way back home to get something Jessica had forgotten.

When they turned the corner onto their street, something didn't look right at their house. Then Chad realized that his truck had been moved. Chad's truck was backed into the driveway of the house. Chad knew he didn't park the truck in the drive, but there it was! A neighbor was waving at Chad pointing down the street behind them, yelling something... but Chad kept driving toward the house and the misplaced truck.

Then he saw it! The entire front end of the truck was caved in on the drivers side. Someone had hit the front of the truck, lifted it off of the ground, turned it ninety degrees, and knocked it completely out of the street into the driveway! Chad turned around and looked behind him and saw a light colored vehicle rammed head on into another car in the next block. Then, he realized what his neighbor had been pointing to... the hit and run vehicle.

The police had been called, and located the driver in one of the houses. As it turned out the driver was diabetic and had a seizure while driving. Someone had given him a cola to bring him back around before the police arrived. Chad shared information with the officers investigating the accident, who released the driver to his older brother.

But the scary side of the story? On any other day, Jessica would have picked up Angela from school and come home, where Angela would have been riding her bicycle in front of the house until time to pick up the other kids. Angela would probably have been killed if things hadn't played out exactly the way they did.

Chad never did go to the Masters, but it was okay. He and Jessica were thankful the family was safe.

If you can't be content with what you've received, be thankful for what you've escaped.
~Author Unknown

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