The Gambler!

Yesterday, Kinky had asked Tony and me to please give him a wake-up call at 5:30 in the morning, because he was doing an early radio show with Bob Cole, at KVET 98.1, in Austin. At 5:30 this morning, while I was feeding our dogs, Tony called the Kinkster. “Kinky, this is Tony. If you don’t get out of bed, and pick up the phone—I’m going to come over there and kick...”

“I’m up! I’m up!” Kinky said. “Thanks, for the wake up call. Tell Nancy to come over and drink some coffee with me, when she can.”

At 6:00, Tony took off for Medina—to drink coffee with his friends, at the Old Timer. At 7:00, I booted up my laptop to listen to Bob’s show starring Kinky. The two of them are great friends, and they had me laughing throughout the entire show. When the show ended—I drove over to Kinky’s for a quick cup of coffee and a short visit.

After pouring myself a cup of coffee, I said, “Do you know that Dan Fogelberg died today? He was fifty-six—the same age as me.”

“Yes,” Kinky answered.

“I’m really sad about it. I really loved his music,” I said. “Creedence Clearwater Revival was one of my favorite bands.”

“Nance,” Kinky said. “Dan Fogelberg was great, but he wasn’t in Creedence...”

“Oh, yes he was!” I stated. “I just saw a show about Fogelberg, on how he really got cheated by his record company. It was on 60 Minutes, or one of those shows—a while back.”

“You’re crazy, Nance,” Kinky said. “I’ll bet you one hundred dollars, right now, that you are wrong.”

“Fine,” I said. “I’ll bet you one dollar that I’m not! So, if you win—I’ll pay you a dollar, and if I win—you’ll pay me one hundred dollars. Deal?”

“Deal,” Kinky said. Then we shook hands on it.

“I’m going home to prove I’m right,” I said.

“Okay, that’s fine, but first, play me one game of pool.”

Our game took less than three minutes—The Hummingbird Man won, and I went home to win our bet.

As soon, as I walked into the trailer, I googled Dan Fogelberg. Then the phone rang.

“Nance, it’s Kinky, pick up the phone! John Fogerty was in Creedence—not Fogelberg. Call me.”

As soon as I heard Kinky’s words—I googled John Fogerty, to discover that I now owed Kinky another dollar! I then phoned Kinky, and asked him to add a dollar, to my long running tab with him—which is now up to eight dollars. When it gets to ten dollars—that’s when I pay up.

After that phone call, I googled the Dallas Morning News, to see if I could find Rodger Jones’ article, about Kinky nominating Lance Armstrong and me, for this years, ‘Dallas Morning News—Texan of the Year’ award, but I couldn’t find it. So, I then started calling every place that I could think of, in Kerrville—who might carry the Dallas Morning News paper. The last place I called was Albertsons.

“Hello, Albertsons, how may I help you?” she asked.

“Do y’all carry the Dallas Morning News?”

“Yes, we do. Please hold.”

“Hello, Albertsons, how may I help you?” another woman asked.

“”I was just put on hold and wanting to know if y’all carry the Dallas Morning News?”

“Yes, we do. Please hold a minute.”

The third woman said the exact same thing to me, and also put me on hold. So, feeling reassured that I could buy a few copies of the paper—I hung up the phone. I couldn’t wait to read the article! And, then I became worried that the newspapers might sell out before I could get there!

So, around noon, I phoned Wolfmuellers. Mary Jo answered the phone, and then put Jon on the line. I told Jon about Albertsons carrying the Dallas Morning News, and he offered to run over there to buy a few copies for me—before they were sold out!

Ten minutes later, Jon phoned, to tell me to take our time getting to Kerrville, because the Albertsons, in Kerrville, doesn’t carry, or have the Dallas Morning News—I was disappointed.

An hour later, Tony and I showed up at Wolfmuellers Books. Mary Jo was holding down the fort, because Sandy had gone shopping, and Jon had gone to the post office. Tony and I visited with Mary Jo, for about as long as it took, for Aaron Neville to sing two, beautiful songs, playing softly, throughout the store’s elaborate stereo system. “Mary Jo,” I said, after the second song had ended, and Aaron was beginning his third song, “when this song ends—we’re outta here.”

Like magic, Jon opened the backdoor and walked in! “Hi, Tony and Cousin Nancy!” Jon hollered, from the back of the store. “I’ll be right up there.”

“Jon, thank you for driving all the way over to Albertsons for me. I’m sorry, you made the trip for nothing.”

“It’s really no big deal,” Jon said. “Actually, Sandy was over at Albertsons shopping, and all I did was call her on the cell phone, to ask her to buy you some copies. Then five minutes later, Sandy calls me back, because she couldn’t find any papers, and she wanted to know if you had told me HEB—instead of Albertsons. I told her that you had said Albertsons.”

We visited for about five minutes, and then Tony and I headed back to the ranch.

Thirty minutes later, I was home— checking the answering machine. “Nance, it’s Kinky. Call me, please.”

I called Kinky. He wanted Tony and me to come over to shoot a couple of games of pool with him. I declined his invitation, because I always lose, but Tony told him we would be right over there—and we were.

The Hummingbird Man won the first game against The Medina Bulldog. The Medina Bulldog won the second game against The Hummingbird Man. And, the last game was a really close match, until The Medina Bulldog Won! The Medina Bulldog is now the reigning champ, for all of what’s left of December 17th! And,tomorrow will be a brand new day, and who knows who will become the reigning champion for December 18th. I’m betting on the Bulldog, but not putting any money on it. I’m not a gambler.

Lastly, I loved Dan Fogelberg's soft rock music, and I send my sympathies and prayers to his family.