|
 Bob
and Carol Burchell pulled into their driveway during the snowstorm,
and were surprised to see their daughter, Katie, along with her
boyfriend, Randy Jones, sitting on the porch swing, wrapped in a
blanket. Both were shivering and smiling.
They followed her parents inside, and in minutes had some hot soup
inside them. Randy and Katie watched a couple of television programs
together, and then Randy said goodnight and walked home.
“Randy seems to be a really nice boy, Honey,” Carol said.
“Thanks, Mom. I like him a lot.”
Bob sat quietly, sucking on a cup of evening coffee as though it
were dessert. He had a puzzled look on his face.
“Everything OK, Dad?” Katie said.
“Oh … sure.” He took another sip. “It’s just … well, I think maybe
one of you doesn’t show a lot of good sense.”
Katie looked surprised. Bob explained. “You
see, it’s one of those what’s-wrong-with-this-picture things. Here
you have a perfectly warm house, you have a key to the house, and
here are two seemingly intelligent young people wrapped in a blanket
to keep from freezing to death, sitting out on a frozen steel porch
swing. Is that a smart thing to do?” [to top of second
column |
“No it isn’t,” Katie said.
“That’s what I told him. I said we could go in and get something to
eat where we’d be comfortable. All he’d let me do is get that
blanket.”
“That was his idea, freezing on the porch?”
“Yes,” Katie said, smiling. “Randy said if we went in the house
before you two got home, it might hurt my reputation, and he wasn’t
willing to risk that.”
Katie went into the other room. Bob looked at Carol and smiled.
“You know,” he said. “I think I kinda like that boy.”
[Text from file received from
Slim Randles]
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