Leaving the light on #2

It was another one of those nights! He Who Can Fix Anything woke up at midnight to see that the kitchen light was on. "Where's K?" he demands, nudging me out of the Land of Nod. "Up the road", I mumble. There followed a lengthy discussion on what time is appropriate for people to be in bed, how nobody phones after 9 at night and how nobody gets out of bed and goes out to the pub just because their friends have phoned them to join them. How quickly one forgets one's youth (and older) when that kind of activity was the order of the day and time was of no consequence.

"Phone her!" Sighing heavily, I do the dirty deed, knowing that she will not welcome a call, but there is no answer; in fact, there is a little black lock on my screen. Not knowing what that meant, I tried to go back to sleep and shut out the noise in my ear. But it carried on, so I got up to make tea and try again. In the meantime, he has phoned her and got no answer. I have no idea exactly what it is he is worried about, but I will give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he thinks she has been kidnapped. I personally feel that anyone foolish enough to do that will return her within 15 minutes after having suffered a tongue lashing of note.

The next thing, he is up and dressed and down in the garage getting the car out. I tried to phone again to warn her, but still no luck. Back to bed I go to do some light reading while the circus plays out under the waxing moon. It did occur to me that she might have gone down to Cape Point to look at the big fire that's been burning all day and night and that she might be out of range.

A car comes down the driveway. She is home! I tell her that Father is on the warpath and she says she never got my calls - I check my phone and it is faulty - it needs to be turned off and restarted! So then she gets the missed calls. They have been down at the beach looking for the Lyrid meteor shower. How far removed is that from whatever it was that's going through Father's brain?

He comes home and there is a lively discussion on whose car was parked where, etc., culminating in a demand to see her cellphone, at which point she did the right thing and went to bed, completely ending that conversation!

We have now come to an arrangement whereby she will check in with her location every time it changes and she is particularly looking forward to smsing us at various times in the wee hours of the morning! I suppose a parent's concern for his child never expires! I wonder who else has their parents roaming around trying to track them down?