Morning Palpitations In Hillmomba

It was a chilly Wednesday morning in Hillmomba. I sat on the short couch at 9:30, under the fleece throw that The Pony left for me when he moved to town, watching People Puzzler with Leah Remini. I mean, she's on the show. Not that she was watching with me. We are not that familiar! My superior game-playing was interrupted by a text from Farmer H.

"Looks like your Pony didn't go to work"

"Hope he's okay. Or his car isn't broken."

Of course that took my mind off of people-puzzling. I was seeing the Hillbilly-Mom-Signal in the sky! Even though the morning was bright and sunny, crisp and below freezing. The Pony must need me! Darn my disabled helicopter! 

I debated on sending The Pony a text. What if he was sick? He'd been off the day before, but I hadn't talked to him. He just finished taking an antibiotic for a previous ailment. What if he had a relapse? What if he had a delayed reaction to the antibiotic? It was one that I am allergic to. What if he slipped on his wood floor, and cracked his head open? But what if his car wouldn't start, and he walked to work. He might be sorting his mail, unable to check his phone. Or driving on his route, and shouldn't look at the phone. I didn't want to get him in trouble or distract him. But maybe he was sleeping after calling in, and his phone was on the charger...

I sent The Pony a text.

"Everything okay with you?"

Then I tried to call Farmer H, to ask why he was near Pony House. My phone wouldn't connect. Farmer H has a replacement phone ordered. I figured it was his problem. Then I tried to call The Pony, since he hadn't responded. My call wouldn't go through! I did a restart of my phone. It took a while. Then it had a box pop up that said it was notifying the server of my new update. PLEASE WAIT. While I was waiting, my phone buzzed with a text.

Now what? Did I keep waiting? Or cancel that notification thingy? It's hard living in the middle of nowhere with barely any phone reception. Though we could send men to the moon numerous times in the 1960s(!) with less technology...

After 20 minutes, I gave up. I cancelled that notification thingy. I had to find out if Farmer H discovered something, or if The Pony had responded. It was The Pony!

"Yeah! Why? Walked to work this morning, if it's Dad saying my car's at home."

"Yes. That's what he said. I thought maybe you had car trouble."

(No need to tell The Pony all my dark thoughts!)

"Nope! I just like the cold. Even my carpet was cold this morning. I need to find where I stashed my fuzzy slippers back in April!"

"I hope you have your heat on!"

"Duh! 66 or 68 usually. Just the floor always being cold."

I was so relieved. I sent Farmer H a text. Just to let him know he was wrong about always assuming that The Pony is shirking work. I'm pretty sure none of those other scenarios entered his mind.