The call came at 10:40. On this, my first day of annual leave. One of the office managers from Regional Town, reporting that she had one of the folks from our Capital City office on his cell phone.

He's run out of gas. Four miles east of our town.

Could I be kind enough to bring him some?

No problem. Wasn't doing anything, anyway. Be good to get outside. Heelers were certainly excited about the chance to go.

So I shave and get dressed (I'm on vacation now, you know), scrounge a gas can from the garage, and we're off. Buy four gallons at the truck stop (Didn't fill the five gallon jug because I didn't want gasoline slopping all over my hands as I poured it into his rig. Didn't make any difference.) and head east.

Had his cell number, but what's the point of calling when you're only four minutes away? Can't be too many green outfits stalled along the side of the Interstate.

Right at four miles there's the green Explorer, across the highway. Wait for a gap in traffic, and it's a quick dash across the median and pull up behind. I can see he's not alone. Three gals from the state office, two of whom I haven't met, all coming back from the same meeting.

Lots of good-natured jabbing at Dave and gratitude to me as I pour the gas in. I had to push him back to let me do it, since I'm in field clothes and he's in a suit.

Gas poured, I follow them back to the truck stop, and am treated to a slow cup of coffee after they fill up with gas. Good to visit with Dave again, been a few years. He used to be a field guy, started working for the outfit several years before I. Retiring this month. Just a little on the crazy side.

Could not believe two of the gals had never heard the stolen truck story. I'm sure Dave's tired of it, but it just won't die. Not even after almost 20 years.

I certainly didn't let it die today.

Seems he was in charge of the big division-wide meeting in Jackson that year. And stayed out late partying with guys he hadn't seen for the previous year, as was normal. And then, around 0200, he decided to go back to the motel early (he was supposed to be running the morning meeting at 0800, you know).

And couldn't find his truck.

So he returned to The Wort, found our high-up boss amongst the folks who were still reveling, and reported his truck had been stolen. And the two of them reported the theft to the sheriff's office, getting the vehicle on the nation-wide system. And then went about canceling all the vehicle credit cards, one by one.

Have no idea how much sleep he actually got before convening the morning meeting. If any. But somewhere in the course of the day, someone reported to Dave that they had found his pickup.

Parked right where he had left it. It just helps to not be inebriated when you're looking for it.

To this day, Dave still contends that someone palmed his keys and moved his truck, and then swiped the keys again the next day to put the truck back.

I got to hear a story that apparently everyone else knew, but never got around to me. Seems when one of our members retired many years back, to quickly get away from it all and his newly ex-wife who had just divorced him, he used the outfit's rig to move himself. Lock, stock and barrel.

To Texas.

Really.

And then called his former boss and told him they needed to send somebody down to get their truck back.

Which I guess they did.

Regarding today's lack of fuel. It seems Dave knew they needed gas when they went through our community, but he ran into someone he knew at the convenience store. (He's one of those people who makes friends everywhere. Turns out he knew the cashier at the truck stop, too.) And visited for a quarter-hour.

And then forgot to buy gas.

Fourteen miles later, when he found out the gas station at the old fort exit was closed, he wisely turned back to our town. And ran dry four miles short. Might have made it if it wasn't for the headwind.

The youngest gal, his assistant, was now able to report to me that a full tank of gas in an Explorer is good for 438 miles.

No more.

When he was gone, pumping gas, the gals conspired to change all Dave's retirement party decorations and announcements. They had all said "Dave's Gone Fishing," but now they're going to say "Dave's Run Out of Gas."