It’s Not That Long, Is It?

It is about 2:50 PM on Saturday October 20th and I am pulling my Civic into the Chemistry Lot on the campus of Duke University where we will conduct our tailgating festivities before the epic Duke-Carolina game at Wallace Wade that evening. In the Civic I am joined by “Big Bro” Rich and sister-in-law Lora who came down for the weekend from Manassas, VA. Behind me are my three sons driven by youngest son Chris in his 1995 Toyota Corolla.

When we departed Hillsborough about 15 minutes earlier, Rich had offered to pay for parking that day, so, as I approached the Friendly Parking Attendant Lady, Rich handed me a $20 bill which would cover the $10 per vehicle fees. Here was the conversation.

• Friendly Parking Attendant Lady: Good afternoon, welcome to Duke. That will be $10.
• Me: Hi. Here is a 20 – I would like to pay for my vehicle and the car after me.
• Friendly Parking Attendant Lady (after glancing back): Oh, OK. I’ll be sure to give her a parking pass and I’ll make sure she doesn’t pay.

Chuckle. Chris has been growing out his hair quite a bit (in the style of Atlanta Hawk Kyle Korver or “That ‘70s Show”-era Ashton Kutcher). The ‘do is quite lush and apparently threw off Friendly Parking Attendant Lady’s gender detection skills.

Since I am a gracious host, I let Uncle Rich handle the initial ball-busting honors after we had parked.