So, the plans to hit the cheap movies at the new multiplex collapsed right about the time we saw the line snaking all the way around the attached mall.

After lunch and  a quick trip to the bookstore, we headed home.  However, since Andrew’d been such a good kid for the morning, Mary hadn’t been, and Colleen was just plain tired, The boy and I took a drive over to our preferred theater to catch a show ourselves – that, for some reason, seems to have become our bonding ritual this summer.

Fantasic Four 2 it was (we wanted to see it, and Transformers showtimes weren’t convenient), and really, it wasn’t as bad as the reviews said – kinda hokey, sure, and way too much product placement, but the Surfer was really cool, and if you squinted just right, you could kinda see the outline of a giant guy in a toga and a big helmet in the Galactus cloud.

Of course, somewhere between checking the time while the boy and I were in the popcorn line and settling down to the cool Golden Compass (the one with the armored polar bears!) trailer, my cell phone disappeared.  Ack!

I immediately checked with the desk people at the theater to see if someone found it (figuring I missed my pocket when I put it back) – no dice.  After the film, I did another scan, amongst all the commotion of people leaving, of the theater itself, and checked with the desk a second time.  Again, no joy.

Andrew and I headed home, intending to call the phone immediately, and should that effort not result in a rendezvous point and/or hostage exchange, I’d see about getting the phone company to cancel service before midnight, when all the calls to Fiji the punk who stole it was certainly making would start counting against my bill…

Luckily, as I pull into the driveway, Colleen comes outside and tells me that my phone is calling her.  Some nice theater employee found it and called the last number called.  So, we truck back to the place, and Colleen, who so kindly volunteered to run in and get it (as the parking situation was garbage), had her own adventure trying to retrieve it, because apparently, there’s no unifed “lost item” policy, and employees never actually speak to one another.

But, that’s her story….

Now, we’re just looking foward to a week of being avoided while we try to get our bathroom working again.

it must be gnomes,
-chuck