I spent a bit of time with family last night; it was unexpectedly disrupted.

It seems that while I was doing a bit if impromptu Christmas shopping, one of our houseguests called home. He had unexpectedly wound up in the hospital, and needed a ride. Another of our houseguests fielded the call, which was overheard (one of our phones is a speakerphone only, so many conversations are overheard). He left the house, and it was assumed that he had gone to pick up the friend in need.

I got this information some time later, after I returned home, when the stranded patient called again to find out where his ride was. It seemed possible, though, that the knight errant had decided to accomplish other tasks on the same trip. We called his girlfriend to see if she knew anything, and she denied having any such knowledge. We waited to see whether there would be any word.

In the end, sometime after midnight I made the half-hour drive to the new Regional Medical Center, waited half an hour while the release of the patient was organized, and drove back half an hour. I watched the sides of the roads for any evidence that the previous ride was stranded somewhere, but saw nothing. He did not return last night; his son made it to the bus unaided this morning; we are now going on twenty-eight hours without any information as to his whereabouts. We’re not terribly happy about that, as you might imagine; his son has special needs which he is supposed to be addressing, and he’s not supposed to leave the boy unattended without making arrangements for his supervision. On the other hand, we are a bit worried that something might have happened to him, and are unsure how to begin investigating the disappearance of a person on whom we have no real claim, who might just have decided to play hooky from life for a few hours.

When I got home and was getting ready for bed, I opened up the Multiverser Triple Play draft of space scenarios, and did a bit of reading. I realized that the opening summary of the first included world failed to mention something rather fundamental to the setting, so I added that to it. That, though, is about all I can claim to have accomplished on my light day.

Well, perhaps that is not all. It happened that Collision did not exactly rehearse–Baxter was sick, and Brittany’s mother was hospitalized for surgery–but Adam and I put some time into getting the first three songs a bit more solid on his end. I also practiced a lot of the vocals in the car on my various errands. I saw Brittany today (she works in one of the larger stores I frequent), who says her mother is doing well, and she will be here next Thursday.

I’ve got to figure out supper now. I’ll be back.

–M. J. Young