A Continent Of Incontinents

Sis' fiance and his teenage son, Young'un, were at Bro's birthday dinner last night. The Man bowed out as the dinner was a last minute affair and he had already made plans to visit his mother.

After dinner, Fiance had the job of driving Mom, The Boy and me home. Out in front of the restaurant, I heard Fiance say he would get his car from the back of the restaurant. A bit later, I heard Young'un say he was going to meet his dad in the back. Mom, The Boy, and I stood around seeing Bro off, and seeing Sis tuck her kids into her car.

After a while, I saw Fiance's car drive up. He went into a parking spot near us. Uh oh. Young'un was not in the car with him. I went up to his car, put my hand on the handle and was about to open the door when Fiance jumped out of the car from his side. I stood up and said, "Did you see Young'un?"

The man looked at me leaning on the passenger side of his car. He was not Fiance at all. He was much older, but someone who drove the same colour car, had a similar built, and wore a similar coloured jacket as Fiance. "Oh, sorry, I made a mistake," I said, backing away.

"Did you want me to drive you somewhere?" he teased something to that effect.

"Oh, there she goes again, always trying to get into strange men's cars," called out Sis.

Oh well, no harm done, I made a mistake.

Along came a second car, also in a light colour. I wanted to wave it down, thinking, for sure this was Fiance. The Boy said, "No, no, don't wave at strange cars, mom." So I waited to make sure. Sure enough, the car contained a single driver who drove right by us.

Finally, a third car came by. This time, I recognized Fiance in the driver's seat, and Young'un in the car with him. When he pulled up beside us, I said to Young'un, "Look how you get me into all kinds of trouble."

The Boy told Young'un what happened and they had a good laugh. I don't mind that. I think teens like to know they are the cause of adults making fools of themselves and I was glad to be the instrument of their merriment.

But the bigger issue at the time was, where was mom? She had completely disappeared. Had she gone off with Bro? Or with Sis? I walked around the restaurant and could not find her. I decided to go back inside the restaurant. Maybe she had to use the washroom again. Sure enough, there she was, making her way back to us through the dining room.

I said, "You came back inside without telling anyone."

She chuckled, "It was too funny and I peed my pants. That man even wore a jacket the same colour as Fiance."

Oh, so she saw the whole episode too. But that proves my point. It was easy to make the mistake that I did. Not that I thought Young'un had been kidnapped. But it was a cold night and I didn't like the idea of him wandering in the dark looking for his father. But who knew mom would wet herself over that.