Jim was our statistician at Command Flight Safety. He was a civilian, but had flown P-51s in WW II. He was a gentle, quiet man, but when he spoke, he was very knowledgeable. Often what he had to say was very enlightening. Most days he sat in the back of our office, keeping to himself, entering or pouring over flight safety data.
I saw Jim answer the phone one afternoon. He just listened, without comment. When he hung up, he just sat there for a moment, staring at his desk. Then he got up and told us he had to go…
The next morning when Jim showed up, we asked him if he were ‘okay.’
“Oh, I’m okay,” he responded, “I’ve just got the dumbest kid in the world!”
We all looked at each other, then at Jim.
He went on to say, “Seems yesterday my kid drove up to a drive-in window at the bank just off base. He was behind in his $128 car payment, so he hands the teller a note, demanding $256! He tells her he has a gun, and that this is a robbery! At the damned drive-in window!
The teller is astonished. She gets busy doing this or that, after initiating the silent alarm. My kid just sits there.
After a few minutes or so he tells her to hurry up, that he doesn’t have all day! And soon the cops do show up. After 10 – 12 minutes or so! The dumb-ass kid sits there for 10 minutes – for $256!”
Jim is just bewildered. The poor guy. We all are kind of speechless. What can you say to something like this?
The kid eventually went to jail – for $256. I don’t know if Jim ever did get over it… he was such a good man, but he did have a dumb-ass for a kid.