A Temporary Loss of Marbles

Can I just tell you how wonderful it's been to have Jed home?. I know he loves his work, and his clients adore him, but call me selfish – I just love waking up each morning next to that man!

Our trip to Brevard was so much fun. Between checking out the street festival, eating amazing food, and looking at all the white squirrel souvenirs, we came home pretty tuckered out. But considering how things went the last time I was there with Clare, well, I certainly prefer coming home tired than scared witless.

See, here’s what happened:

Remember me telling you about how Clare and I witnessed a murder at the waterfalls? Well, a few days later, after reporting the incident to the police, we decided to take our minds off of the incident by doing a little retail therapy. I figured a trip to Brevard would do the trick, because of all the cute shops there, not to mention some fabulous restaurants.

Clare has never been one to shy away from the prospect of eating out (kinda’ reminds me of Mary in that regard), so I didn’t have to twist her arm to come along. I wish I could tell you that we had a genteel, ladies-who-lunch type of meal, but…we each scarfed down a huge helping of quiche, plus all the sides. Our server must have thought we hadn’t eaten in weeks.

Anyhow, as we left the restaurant I remembered we probably would need to put more time on the parking meter. Just as I was putting in the quarter, I looked up and froze. There, right down the street, was the guy we saw at the falls! I would recognize that tattoo anywhere.

When I told Clare, I thought she was going to have a case of the vapors right there on the sidewalk. I hustled her butt into the car and tried to figure out what to do. It seemed the best thing would be to call the police, which I did, all the while trying to keep Clare from getting her panties in a twist. Unfortunately, because we were a little distance away from the guy, I couldn’t give them a detailed description of what he looked like, except recognizing the tattoo. The dispatcher told me they would try to have an officer swing by soon, but I wasn’t feeling too confident he would be able to find the guy with only a tattoo to go on.

That’s when, at least if you ask Clare, I temporarily lost my marbles, because I decided to go and get a closer look at him. Okay, maybe not the smartest thing I’ve ever done, and I knew Jed would have a cow when he found out (which he did), but for love of Mike, he was right there!

I wrapped a scarf around my head, pulled up my hoodie, got out of the car, and proceeded down the street. When I got right up next to him, I “accidentally” stumbled into him and got a good look at his face. Let me just pause for a moment to say what an ugly, mean looking guy this was. Really, his face wasn’t one that even his mother could love.

After growling at me for being so clumsy, he started walking away and got picked up by someone driving a gray truck. Just as he was out of sight, a police cruiser swung by and I waved it down. Between the physical description and the license plate number I managed to memorize, the officer took off like a shot to track Tattoo Guy down.

Needless to say, when I finally got back into the car, Clare was way past having vapors and was as close to hysterical as I’ve ever seen her. She finally calmed herself down long enough to read me the riot act for being so nuts to pull a stunt like that. To say the “air was blue” would be an understatement (I must say though, that girl can get real creative stringing cuss words together). Guess I kinda’ deserved it, but a girl’s gotta’ do whatta’ girl’s gotta do.

We did eventually find out that the police caught the guy, so hopefully there’ll be no chance for me to do something so bone-headed again. But now you can hopefully understand why I have mixed feelings about the town of Brevard (but I will say, their quiche is to die for!). Go here to find out how my adventure began.