Mattie

I drove Mattie to Erie today, a little over an hour away. As usual, we found a lot to talk about. She had never been to the place we were going to and neither had I. I relied solely on the GPS and ended up in very unfamiliar territory. I kept my misgivings to myself, but continued following the directions. Happily, we ended up right where we wanted to be, but it was a bit of a puzzle to me, because looking out across Lake Erie, I knew right where we were. I also knew that I'd have come a whole 'nuther way. 

"We're taking the route home that I know," I said. She placidly said, "You're the driver." 

I'd brought my latest Britain magazine and was set to read in the car, but much to my surprise, she said, "I don't know this place. I didn't want to come by myself. Levi said that you'd probably come with me." 

"Of course I will." And I gathered up my magazine and we went in. We found our way. 

On the way home, I told her the joke that I'd played on Tim. Tim has been chomping at the bit about the new house. Now that he's got the excavator and the concrete crew to pour the basement, he is anxious to dot all his i's and cross all his t's. Saturday afternoon, after our big storm, when our power was still out, while we were watching other smaller storms rolling in and back out, Tim took it in his head to go up and ask Levi a question. It wasn't a pressing question. It could have waited. Downed trees everywhere. They live at the top of a mountain, on a dirt road that is slick when it is muddy. 

I was trying to discourage him from going without saying, "You are NOT going and that's final." So I said, "Don't be ridiculous. Our power's out. I'm sure that theirs will be out too." 

It took Tim  15 seconds or so before he caught my  joke. Levi and Mattie are Amish. They don't have electricity. 

Mattie laughed. She told me her joke. When the bus driver dropped off the children on Wednesday, the bus driver told Mattie she was headed home before the predicted big storm hit. (You know, the one that didn't hit?) She was going to run a bathtub full of water and fill jugs. She was going to make sure that she knew where he lanterns were and that her flashlights were ready. She was not going to be taken by surprise in case of another power outage. 

Mattie listened and said, "You lost power at your house? That's strange. We never lost power here."

The driver looked surprised. Like I said earlier, they live at the top of a moutain, and however fierce our wind was in town, it was worse up there. The bus driver stared. It took her a few seconds to get the joke as well. They never lost power because they never had it to begin with.

I laughed. Mattie laughed. 

Just funny that we both have the same sense of humor.