Beth and I had a big discussion
tonight on how to get to Nottoway Park in Vienna, the site of
her coed soccer game. I was doing my best to give her
lousy directions and she was doing her best to confuse me.
"Okay, you go down Route 123 and
then take a right on Courthouse Road or maybe it's Old Courthouse
Road," I began. "It's right after Oakton. You know where Oakton
ends?"
"Oakton ends?
No," she said.
"Oakton......it......I dunno, it ends where it ends.
Kind of abruptly. Between there and Vienna is just trees and a
few houses," I explained. I wasn't doing very well.
She screwed up her nose at me. "Huh? What does
that mean? I know where that little outdoor store
is."
"Yes, yes, yes!
That's right where Oakton ends," I said. Now we were
getting somewhere.
Her eyes lit up
in recognition. "And then take a right on Old
Courthouse!"
"Yes, you
know where that is, right?" I asked.
"No."
"But you just
said 'Old Courthouse' like you knew where it was!", I said.
"That's because
you just said it!", she said,
pointing a finger at me.
I
pressed on. "Alright, after that little outdoor store, go about a half a
mile and then Courthouse, or Old Courthouse, or whatever, will
be at a light. Take a right."
"Okay..."
"Then
Courthouse Road curves sharply to the left and go down a mile or
so until you come to a four-way stop." She began to
nod a little bit. "Ring a bell yet? You've been
there before."
"Yeah, I
seem to remember that," she said, nodding a little
more. Now we were rolling.
"Well, after that four-way stop, Nottoway
Park is about a third
of a mile on your right. Go in the park entrance, pass
some basketball courts, a volleyball court, and then the soccer field
is right there. The men's softball team played there last
year." That one hit it smack on the
head..
"Oh,
yes! I know. I got it now."
Bingo. Case closed.
Twenty minutes after she left, the phone rang. It was her
on her cell phone.
"Honey,"
she
said, "could you check the schedule on the fridge? I
made it here fine, but there's no one else here."
I checked. The game was at
Wakefield Park.
