We left Tamale this morning about 6:30. The plan was to be back in Yendi before the Child Center opened. Well, things did not go quite as we thought they would. After our on-time departure, we stopped and got diesel. I was in the lead driving the red truck and Steve was behind me in the van. I had not gone very far before I realized that I could not see out of my back window. The truck has a cab; if the wind blows just right when it is raining water leaks into through the seals around the windows of the cab. Not only was the window dirty from all the dust but the moisture had gathered inside the cab and fogged over the back window from the inside. Steve got caught by a light so he was not directly behind me when I decided to pull over and clean the window. I found a clear spot and pulled off onto the edge of the road and put on my emergency flashers. We always carry toilet paper with us so I used the toilet paper on the inside of the window first so my paper was wet enough to wipe the dust off the outside of the window. I thought I was very clever! Well, I expected Steve to pull up behind me at any time but he never came. I did not think that he could have passed by without seeing me in all my glory! After all, many fluffy white women do you see standing behind a bright red truck with flashers flashing while washing the windows of the truck? When he did not come, I got worried and of course when you are worried you always imagine the worst! I thought perhaps the police stopped him or worse; that he had an accident. I could not call him because I did not have a cell phone so I decided to head back to the center of Tamale and retrace my route back to the gas station. I did not see him so then I decided I needed to find someone that would lend me their phone so I could call him. The lady in the gas station store was very kind earlier in the morning so I decided to ask her if she would call him for me. Next problem is that I do not know his phone number. But I carry a list of all the phone numbers in my billfold just in case of emergency. I looked for the list; remember my purse was lost and so was my billfold. I sat there for a few minutes trying to decide what to do when I remembered I had my American cell phone with me. It will not work unless it is on Wi-Fi but I knew it had some Ghanaian phone numbers stored in the contacts. I was so excited that Steve’s Ghana number was among the contacts. I wrote the number down and went into the store and asked the lady to please call him for me; when I told her I had lost my husband and had no cell phone she looked at me like I had 2 heads! Crazy Americans! He answered straight away! He was as worried about me as I was about him. He said he would come back to Tamale and meet me. I told him that was silly; he should just stay put and I would meet him. The lady at the gas station was so concerned about me! She was worried that I did not know how to get back to the road leading to Yendi! It is a legitimate worry because I can’t find my way out of a paper bag! Ha! I met up with Steve about 15 minutes later! None the worse for wear! The Child Center opened at 9:30 instead of 9:00 because Zorash and Meri were running late too.
Take care and enjoy your day!
In His Service,
Steve, Kandie and Skeeter
The Monkeyshines
Mom has a teething ring that she keeps trying to make me like! There is just something too odd about that thing! Mom says it is a nice toy! I don’t believe it is a toy! It is bright green and is filled with water! Whenever it moves the water sloshes around and it makes an odd noise. Today, Mom was so determined that I was going to play with it that she put it in her mouth and pretended to chew on it! She even tried to hide it under the covers with my real toys! I do not even want to touch the thing. It is interesting but I think that the color is what is putting me off; it is sort of a neon green color; what’s with that water anyway? Is it even safe to consume? There are so many things wrong with it. I am not sure that I will ever get used to looking at it! This toy may go in the bag with the bristle type building blocks. Mom has been trying to get me to play with those for over 2 years. She keeps introducing them to me and I keep jumping away from them; I just can’t stand to look at them. Mom just knew that I would love pulling them apart but it is not happening! She needs to sanitize them and give them to some child!
Here is my question to you. Is there no quality control on these toys? Has anyone ever presented these toys to a panel of monkeys to see if a monkey even wants to play with them? Personally, I don’t even think babies and children will play with them!
Where is the quality control when you need it!
Love, Skeeter
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