Where have you been??!!
Two brothers (Bill and Jim) lived in Los Angeles and they both lost their jobs on the same day. They looked for jobs for about a month and were dangerously low on money so they called their uncle in New York about a job.
After talking for a while it was decided they would pool their resources and move to New York and share an apartment to get some breathing room as they restarted their lives. On Friday the day to move came and they planned to drive both their cars across country. The plan was to drive straight through to get there and start the new job as soon as they got there. They weren’t sure how long it would take but they would go as fast as weather and police would permit.
But.
Bill had a girlfriend and while he had tried to tell her he was leaving he just could not bring himself to do it. He procrastinated the whole time they were planning and said ‘I’ll tell her tomorrow’ but he never did. Procrastination is like that. We don’t tell ourselves that we’ll never do that important thing. We tell ourselves we will do it, just not right now. I’ll do it tomorrow.
Now Bill had to tell his girlfriend. He just could not up and leave without telling her. Bill told Jim he would to tell her and leave the following morning and catch up.
The plan was all in place and they already had the new address of the apartment so it looked like it would all be ok. Jim got in his car and started out. 4 days later he pulled into New York and found the apartment. No problems, no worries.
He arrived at work the next day with his uncle and explained that Bill should be along tomorrow and everything seemed perfect.
But.
The next day came and no Bill. Two days and he still wasn’t there. Jim called the girlfriend and she said he left on Saturday as planned but he was no where to be found. Days went by. No word, no call but there really was nothing for Jim to do. He had called the state police of the planned route to see if any leads could be found. He tried everything he could there was no word.
Routine settled in and he was working every day for his uncle. Long days but satisfying work so he came home tired, made dinner and crashed to get ready for the next day.
One night, a few weeks later a knock came at the door. There stood Bill with a grin on his face. He looked tired, scraggly and with a full beard that he didn’t have when they left. Jim just exploded through the door to give Bill a big bear hug.
They got Bill’s stuff in the apartment and Jim said an explanation was in order. He asked what took so long and Bill looked a bit puzzled. He looked around and realized that Jim had been there a while. He told Jim he came as fast as he could. Not sure how to explain the difference in the trip times, they kept talking. Was there car trouble? No. Did you get lost? No.
Finally, Bill said ‘it must have been all those signs!’.
What signs? said Jim.
‘The ones that said ‘Stop here! Clean restrooms!!’ I have never cleaned so many bathrooms in my entire life’ said Bill.
Ba-da-bump
I first heard this one over 30 years ago on a radio show in California. They called it a ‘shaggy dog’ story. Funny but a ‘groaner’. Take the thoughts about procrastination because it might be the only redeeming element.
Thanks for listening,
Jerry Robertson