THought we’d skip the pub, where alcohol can be involved, it being only lunch, and ate at an old favorites. They changed everything: mine turned out to be chicken with cabbage, not a great combo, and Jane’s had something wrong with it..

And then..we got home to find a horrid scream coming from Jane’s tarped car that has been sitting on the in-yard drive all winter. Like a burglar alarm. We tried to cut off the alarm system. We tried pulling the battery cables. The neighbors from a street away are concerned and asking. We tried pulling fuses. No joy.

We called the fire department, now convinced it couldn’t be the car. Bounced from station to station, nobody knowing what it could be but promising to come have a listen…the fire department having much more important crises….

Theories ranged from a nearby transformer to the pressurized street lamp nearby…

Then Jane found it. In the basement remodel—a water leak alarm had gotten tossed out. It had rained. And water finally reached it. Nobody had pulled the battery. And yep—can be heard on the next block.

We both decided, yes, we want supper, as in food, but we’re not hungry and I’m not cooking. We went for a drink and dessert at our local Italian pub: Jane had creme brulee and I had tiramisu. And we went home and vegged.