operation: memory recall

A Sofa Story:

[sometime in 2004 or possibly 2005]

Curtis and I were moving our old sofa out of the house to make room for our new one. The plan was to haul it to the in-laws so Curtis' brother could use it at his home. We carried it out the front door and loaded it in the truck.

"Don't we need to secure it with tie-downs?" I asked.
"No, it will stay," replied Curtis.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah."
"Even with the tail-gate down?"
"Yeah, it's fine."
"Are you sure?"
"YES."
"Ok" (said apprehensively)

So, with the sofa in the back of the truck (just sitting there...with no tie-downs...and with the tail-gate down) we headed down the road.

So far, so good. Then...we reach a busy intersection and get stopped at the light. The light turns green and we take off. That's when I looked behind me to see the sofa falling out of the truck.

thump, thump.

There our sofa is sitting in the middle of the intersection.

We hurry and get out and try to put it back in. I am laughing too hard to be of much help.

A guy pulls off to the side of the road..."do you need help?"

"No, we're fine. Thanks though."
"Do you need straps?"
"No, I think we're good."

This time we put the tail-gate up and rest one end of the sofa up on the tail-gate.

We get back in the truck and take off again.

Just then, I look back to see the tail-gate drop down and the sofa fall out...again...same intersection.

This time I'm really of NO help at all. One just doesn't have the strength needed when trying to hold back the laughter all while being stared at by passersby.

Same guy shouts from the side of the road..."are you sure you guys are ok?"
"Yes, we're fine."
"I have straps you can use."
"We're really fine...thanks though."

Again, we lift the sofa into the back of the truck. This time Curtis makes sure the tail-gate is securely latched.

We get in the cab, and ever so slowly hit the gas.

I look back....all is good....tail-gate is still up...sofa is still in place.

I laughed my head off the entire drive (about 20 minutes) to the in-laws. I couldn't help it. I kept envisioning the sofa falling out of the truck...twice...and then I kept replaying our conversation of me asking Curtis several times if we should tie down the sofa. He just laughed with me.

Oh, the memories.