I was invited to the cookout today

It was the perfect spring day
sunny, but not to bright
warm, but no breeze to cool things down
a couple of days before Spring Break
and the timing was perfect.

My second oldest son called first
to let me know
it would be "ok" to come by
which normally would have meant
that I was supposed to buy the hamburger meat
chips and beer

But I told him
I had already had plans to go to Chicago
to meet a friend for dinner
and had to take a rain check
and he sai that was "ok"

On the highway down to Chicago
I stopped to fill up on gas
and noticed I had missed a couple of calls
from my oldest son
who was the principal cookout organizer

When I called back
he asked for my old neighbors
cell phone number
and I asked
"why do you want that?"
he got quiet for a second

"Well, the propane tank
on mom's grill is empty
and I wanted to know if Larry would
let us borrow his?"

"No, don't call him just go to the hardware store"

"Those tanks are twenty bucks!"

and before I could answer
my cell phone got disconnected
and either he must have figured it out
or he figured it out
because he didn't call back.