Thursday, an LLV (Long Life Vehicle) parked next to me at one of my regular errand stops. I recognized the driver as someone I'd spoken to before, who sometimes parks where I do, to have break. Once inside, with the Posty in line behind me, I said
"Hope I didn't park in your spot!"
"No, no. That's okay."
"My kid works for the Post Office."
"I know that. We miss him today."
"He's not at work??? I'll have to get to the bottom of this! I wonder if he's sick. He has migraines."
"Don't say who told you! But we really could have used him."
Well. This was news to me. Farmer H is usually my tattletale source, from driving by and seeing The Pony's car still at home. It's not that I'm nosy. I was just worried. So at my next stop, I gave The Pony a quick call.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I vomited this morning three times all over myself in the shower. So I figured I probably shouldn't go to work."
"Are you sick? Is it snot? Like from allergies?"
"No. It's from eating Little Caesar's over in Bill-Paying Town, I think. I had it on Monday and Tuesday. They just let their marinara sauce sit out at room temperature."
"Huh. Well. I hope you feel better."
The Pony reported on Friday mid-morning that he was at work. That he'd vomited again on Thursday around 3:00, and again that evening, but felt well enough to go to work. Oh, and that his poop stomach was rumbling, but he was okay. And that, in fact, he had signed up to work some overtime on Sunday, to help out, because he felt bad about leaving them so short-handed on Thursday.
"I said I could to two routes. They are long streets. And one is my neighborhood. So it won't be too bad."
That's gonna be some good work karma for The Pony. And also overtime.
It should be illegal to leave sauces sitting out at room temperature! How dare they! I hope The Pony is completely better by now and happily delivering mail again.
ReplyDeleteRiver,
ReplyDeleteYes! I'm not sure that's the actual poisoning item. Marinara sauce is pretty acidic. It's possible that The Pony had the pizza for lunch, and drove the leftovers around until the end of his shift around 4:30.
Then again, he might have picked it up at the end of his shift and took it home. The problem is that he orders online, and Little Caesar's has some kind of food locker that the order is put in, which The Pony opens with a code after paying online. When he was still living at the Mansion, I drove him by there a couple times at the School-Turn Town location, and he ran in and got it. So I guess maybe this one has the sauces sitting out, rather than dipping them fresh when ordered, to include with the order in the locker.
Yes, The Pony has recovered!