“They Will be Ready Thursday”

I loved it when I discovered how to make “phone patches” from the UHF radio in our C-141s to local phones at air bases!

One Saturday afternoon we were overhead Mt. Home AFB, ID on our way to Elmendorf AFB, AK.  From there we were heading on “down range” – into Southeast Asia.

At the time, Sue’s folks were stationed at Mt. Home.  Col. Mead was the Vice Commander at the time.  So, what the hell… I dialed them up!

As it turned out they were hosting a party!  We chatted for a bit, then I mentioned we were headed for Yokota AFB, Japan the next day.  Bobby and Jean (Mead) had been stationed in Yokota, maybe 10 – 12 years earlier.  Out of the blue Jean asked me if I would have any time at Yokota.  I told her we had maybe an 18-hour layover, or something like that.

She then asked me if I was going off base.  I told her I suspected I was – we often had to stop by “Pony’s” for the latest in stereo equipment.  Then she asked me if I would mind checking on a pair of shoes she had left in a repair shop to.  Apparently she had forgotten about them before they left Japan, and had carried the ticket around for 10 – 12 years!

Well, sure I would check on them for her.  So, she gave me the ticket number, and off we went.

When we got to Japan, it didn’t take long for me to find the little shop – her directions were ‘spot on.’  I walked in, and handed the ticket to the shop keeper.  He looked at it, a little ‘confused’ at first, then went into the back room where I overheard a flurry of “chatter,” and then a rustling of boxes.  Then I saw him open the curtains, smile at me a moment, then back into the back room.  And again with the “chatter.”  After a couple more minutes or so, he returned through the curtains, looked up and smiled at me – then he proudly remarked, “Will be ready Thursday!”  YGBSM!

You gotta love the workings of the Oriental mind!

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