...more adventures with MzYBee

some of my early readers may remember...
my first adventures while "driving MzYBee"...

since then, I have taken her back & forth to Ahnoldtown...
for many more doctor's appointments...
at the People's Republic of Davis Med Center...

as well as numerous early morning excursions...
or middle of the night forays...
dropping her off or picking her up at the Ahnoldtown Airport...
[on the north side of the city...]

not to mention numerous, "in town" trips...
today was one of the latter...

because her impending birthday meant that MzYBee...



had to visit that very special place...the DMV...

and in Mudville,[aka,"Someplace Special"]
it's sort of, well, downtown-ish...
hard to find, if you don't know it's there...
and hasn't really changed in 40 years...

the reason I was involved was that her friends...
had filled her mind with horror stories of long lines...
losing your place if you had to go to the restroom...
people crowding in line, cancelled appointments...
dreadfully long waits and after all the waiting...
doors being closed in people's faces when it was 5 PM...

so I was there to provide a "place keeper"...
if they cancelled her 9 AM appointment...
and made her go wait in line...
or for when she had to go to the restroom...

she said, "Bring a folding chair & meet me there at 8 AM"...
so I borrowed a chair from the church & got there about 7:30 AM...



as I drove in, the line was already around the corner...
but there was MzYBee sitting in her chair, right near the door...
grinning like the Cheshire cat...
which made me wonder if she had arrived at 6:30 AM...
to be so close to the front of the line...

I parked in the last space in the lot...
grabbed my coffee, left the chair in the car...
[she was so far to the front, it couldn't take that much longer, could it ?]...

my question was soon answered...

people around her were cheering her on...
but since the office hadn't opened yet...
she'd have to wait until 8 AM to find out...
if appointments were being honored this day...
or if she'd have to wait in line...

so I told her to stay & find out...
and call me on my cell when she knew...

I would go stand in line...
just in case...

so I made my way back towards the corner...
and observed that the line now extended around the next corner too...
by the time I got there, the end of the line...
was more than half-way down the backside of the building...

so I got in line, with people falling-in behind constantly...
the lady behind me only needed to get a truck driver's handbook for her son...
so when we got around to the side door, she stepped inside...
coming back out with the handbook she needed, & was on her way...
having wasted only about 30 minutes of her morning...

when the doors opened, the line began to move...
slowly, but steadily around the first corner...
past the side door, when MzYBee arrived, chair in hand...
to tell me that they said her appointment would be honored...
[I have no idea why she didn't just call me...]

so she was hopeful, but since there were still...
more than 30 minutes to wait before we would know for sure...
I told her I'd stay in line, just in case...
so she went back to her spot, dragging her chair...

eventually, after I had to listen to WAY more...
of the conversation around me... [yo...m*f*...etc...]
than was interesting, uplifting or beneficial to me...
the line oozed around the 2nd corner & along the front of the building...

at this point, I amused myself with watching people...
[the wanna-be, gangsta rappers behind me had finally shut up...]
and the expressions on people's faces when they realized the line they faced...
ranged from total annoyance to resignation, mostly the latter...

finally, I was even with MzYBee's spot...

we chatted for a bit...
she complained about her borrowed chair...
how it was worthless... flimsy junk...
that she was afraid it would come apart under her...

then she asked me if I wanted to sit in it for a while...

since I'm going to squash any chair she'd break...
I declined...more than a bit incredulous...
stating, with a chuckle, that I didn't really want to end up on the ground...

she didn't seem to understand why I didn't want to sit...
and no one around us was laughing...
so I chalked it up to MzYBee had just been in "gripe mode"...
[her default position] & hadn't really heard what she was saying...

at that point, I suggested that she encamp to a spot right by the door...
since the line was moving & I was now past her spot...
and that I'd ask the clerk about her appointment when it was "my" turn...
since it was around 8:30 AM then & her appointment was at 9 AM...



once inside, but still in line, it would be my turn when I reached this sign...
and the only technician, said,"next..."



as I waited, behind me were those who had "gone before"...
and had the first part of their waiting done...
they had been given a "number"...
they were, however, still, waiting...



waiting to see their number "posted" on the screen...
telling them which window would "help" them...
aka DMV Bingo...

but finally, after an hour in the line, it was my turn...

the technician was very nice, pleasant almost...
and when I told her my situation...
she looked at the clock & said...

"why don't you ask your friend to come in and wait...
over there by the appointment window...
and I'll take care of her at her appointment time..."

so I stepped back through the door to get MZYBee...
who had trouble folding her chair, but finally made her way over...
chair, handbook & practice test firmly in hand...
and stepped through the "looking glass" into DMVland...

she unfolded her chair, plopped her backpack on it...
& asked me to watch her stuff while she went to the restroom...
and I did...[that rotten chair just never moved either...]

on her return, we chatted a bit & then I took my leave...
the last thing I saw was her, happily sitting on that chair...
waiting for her appointment & studying her test...



outside, the last thing I saw was this...

that...and the driver who wanted my parking place...
so he followed me in his car...
as I walked all the way to the far corner of the lot...
then waited while I got into my car & left...

MzYBee showed up at the church later...
to announce that she'd passed the written test...
but that she had another appointment in May...
to take the driving test...

but those appointments are always kept...
or changed by phone in advance...
so she doesn't need me for that...

I'm so glad I can still renew online...
I'm NOT looking forward to my own visit in the future...
hopefully, a L-O-N-G time in the future...