It happened several years ago… all right, many years ago… let’s go with “a long, long time ago.” It happened before I got married.
I was teaching school in Konawa. I also drove a bus route for the school because even back then, they had a hard time finding bus drivers. It was in the winter. And the meteorologists (by that I am referring to Gary England) were saying it was going to get icy overnight.
Being the trustworthy kind of individual that I am, I decided that I should probably get up earlier than normal that next morning. That way, if it did ice over, I could get my truck cleaned off and make it to school to drive my bus route on time.
The house I was living in was a three-room deal with all three rooms in a straight line. The first one was the living room. The second one was the kitchen. And the third one was the bedroom.
When I got out of bed the next morning and started toward the living room, when I realized that linoleum floor in the kitchen was probably going to be some kind of cold. So, I stopped long enough to put on my white socks on. One of the benefits of always wearing cowboy boots is you can wear white socks every day. If you had colored socks, you would wear different colored socks. You don’t even have to wear socks. But I put on a pair of trustworthy white socks for my quick walk through the kitchen to the living room.
When I got into the living room, I reached up and pulled the string which turned the light on. I never said the place was fancy. But it was inexpensive, which was just my style.
After turning on the living room light, I took the couple of steps to the front door, grabbed the window shade and pulled it back just far enough for me to see if there was any ice outside. As soon mas I pulled the shade back, I spotted someone
standing on my front porch.
In one giant leap, I was back in the middle of my living room. My heart was beating out of my chest. I was on the verge of hyper-ventilating. My mind was racing with different actions I could take. Then it dawned on me.
If I saw him standing on my porch, surely he saw me looking at him. And if he saw me, surely he was gone. So, I started creeping in my best Ninja style back to the door. I carefully got hold of the blind and ever so slowly pulled it back. I looked out of the window and the guy was still there. On my front porch at 5:00 in the morning. In the freezing cold.
I leapt back into the middle of the living room. I was close to just all out panic at that time. But as I stood there in the middle of the living room in my white socks wondering what brand of idiot it was standing on my porch, it dawned on me. The guy on my front porch was wearing white boot socks as well. At 5:00 in the morning. In the freezing cold. Outside on my porch.
And then it hit me like my mama used to. There wasn’t a guy in white boot socks on my front porch at 5:00 in the morning in the freezing cold. It was my reflection I was seeing when I pulled the window shade back. So, I crept back to the door, pulled the shade back, raised my left foot first and then my right foot. Sure enough, my reflection did the same thing. After all, a guy just needs to be extra cautious sometimes.
Here are a couple of things to consider. First, being cautious ain’t all bad. Second, if you can’t recognize yourself in your own reflection, you might want to get your eyes checked. Third, if you have the right footwear, white socks are always in style.
