The Trip

It was a nice sunny day which was just perfect for a barbeque. Roy and Joanne were known far and wide for their annual Memorial Day barbeque and today was the day that everyone had looked forward to for weeks. Johnny had volunteered to help Roy clean and set up the back yard while Joanne prepared the food.

"I really appreciate you helping me out, Johnny. You don't know how big a help it is." Roy thanked his friend as they set up the tables and chairs.

Taking a second to wipe some sweat off of his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt, Johnny shrugged off Roy's thanks. " No problem, Roy. I'm glad to help. It's the least I can do seeing that I'll probably be eating most of the food."

Roy laughed at Johnny's remark knowing what he had said was true. " You got that right, Junior. For a skinny guy you sure can eat. I just hope that there will be enough food left for everyone else."

Pasting an innocent look on his face, Johnny prepared to defend himself when Joanne walked through the sliding door and out onto the patio. " Hey, guys everything looks great. I was just starting to prepare the salads when I realized that I was out of somethings. Roy, is there any chance you can go to the store for me?"

Roy looked up from the chair he had just set up to look at his wife. " Sure honey, we're almost done here anyways, besides we could do with a break, right Johnny?"

"You know it, I can't believe how hot it is, and it's only May." Johnny dropped down onto a chaise and closed his eyes. " I'll just stay here and take a little cat nap until you get back, Roy."

Roy walked over to where his friend was now sprawled out on the lounger. Kicking the bottom of the chair, Roy laughed at the look of suprise that come over Johnny's face. " I don't think so partner. If I have to go then so do you, besides if we both go it will go that much faster so that we can get back here and finish setting up."

Slowly Johnny rose up from the lounger sighing at the incredible misjustice. "Fine, I'll go with you. Jo, do you have a list of the things that you need?" Johnny turned towards Joanne with a pitiful look on his face, hoping that she would agree that he deserved to stay and rest.

" I sure do, Johnny. Now don't worry, I really don't need that many things, it shouldn't take you two that long." Joanne handed Johnny the list that she had written dashing his hopes that she would take his side.

Roy grabbed Johnny's arm and pulled him towards the driveway know that if he didn't get the man moving right away then he never would. " Come on Johnny, lets get going so we can get back before the other guests start arriving." Turning towards his wife, Roy waved with one hand as he kept his hand on Johnny's arm so that the man could not get away.

Smiling at the two men's antics, Joanne waved, " Just make sure that you guys get back in time to start the barbeque."

Being that it was Memorial Day the traffic was so horrendous that the drive to the supermarket took twice as long as it usually would. Glancing at his watch Roy frowned at how long they had already been gone. " I can't believe this! We've already been gone 30 minutes and we still haven't been able to get to the supermarket. Boy is Jo going to be mad if we don't get back in time to get the grill going."

"Joanne won't be the only person that will be mad if we don't get back in time. If you had only let me stay back at the house I could be starting the grill instead of sitting here in this car with you, sweating." Johnny pulled his sticky shirt away from his chest as he looked out his window at the cars that were all going as slow as they were.

Beating his hand on the steering wheel as the car came to a complete stop once again, Roy snorted at Johnny's attempt to make him feel guilty for making him tag along. " I didn't think that it would be this bad, Johnny. How was I to know that every Tom, Dick, and Harry would be out clogging up the streets."

Johnny opened his mouth to reply when suddenly he heard the car's engine sputter and then die. " Oh man. What's going on? Why has the car stopped?"

Turning the ignition, Roy frowned as the car failed to turn over. Looking down at the gauges it dawned on Roy what the problem was. " Um.... Johnny. I think I know what the problem is. I think it's out of gas."

"What?!!! You've got to be kidding me, Roy. How can it be out of gas?" Throwing his hands up in the air, Johnny looked over at his partner. " Now what do we do? How are we going to get to the supermarket when we are stuck in the middle of the freeway?"

Looking out his window to make sure there weren't any cars coming, Roy opened his door and got out to stand beside the car. Bending down to the window Roy told Johnny what he planned to do." Idon't know about you, but I'm going to start walking. It's not that far and it beats sitting here."

Sighing loudly, Johnny slid out of the car and began walking alongside his friend. "Well, I guess we can call Jo to come and pick us up at the store. I can't wait to hear you try to explain to her how you ran out of gas."

*****

After walking for what seemed forever, Johnny and Roy finally arrived at the supermarket and went to a pay phone to call Joanne. After several attempts without any success due to the phone being continously busy, Roy tried to call each one of his crew mates which was met with even less success.

" I can't believe this! First your phone is busy and now we can't get a hold of any of the guys. Well, Roy, now what?" Johnny looked to his friend for an answer his patience having already reached an end.

Dropping the receiver back on the hook, Roy stepped away from the phone. " Well, we might as well get the things that are on the list, and then come back out and try again. Hopefully by the time we are done we'll be able to get someone."

Being a holiday, the supermarket was packed with people picking up things for their own barbeques. Picking up the items on the list took just a couple of minutes, but as they approached the check out, Johnny cried out in dismay at the size of the lines at all of the registers. " Look at this, Roy. It's going to take forever to get through the line. Why don't we just put everything back and go try and call someone to pick us up."

" We can't put the stuff back, Johnny. Joanne needs all of these things. We're just going to have to stay in line and wait." Roy stepped up to stand in line with a sigh.

After standing line for another 30 minutes it was finally the two men's turn. As the cashier rang up each of their items, Roy reached into his pocket to pull out his wallet. Rifling through each of his pockets, Roy swore in disbelief as he came up empty. " Johnny, I forgot my wallet at home. Can you pay for this and I'll pay you back when we get back to the house?"

Looking as if he wanted to scream, Johnny put his head in his hands and shook his head. " I don't believe this." Lifting his head he looked over at Roy. " I left my wallet back in the Rover."