He Owes Us!

It is turkey hunting time in Kansas, and my brother, Bart, usually comes out for a hunt.  This past weekend was the appointed one, and he and his friend, Art, drove in from Albuquerque on Thursday.  The weather on Friday was not real good . . . foggy, cold, wet . . . so Bart and Art did not get any turkeys that day.

Friday night, Don and I drove down to Winfield for dinner with the two men.  Joey and Morgan joined us at Neives' Mexican restaurant.  The real reason for the trip down there was to pick up a case of Duran's chile that Bart brought to us.  (On the way home, we got caught by a train in Winfield - waited over 20 minutes to get through the intersection.  Kept us from getting to bed as early as we had hoped, since we were leaving at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday.)

After our day in Manhattan on Saturday, Bart called us just as we got home.  Art had bagged one large Tom, but he didn't get a second one, so he was going to hunt again Sunday.  Bart needed to get back to Albuquerque, so he asked us to come pick him up and take him to the train station in Newton.  We drove down, ate dinner with Art, and then came back home.  We arrived in Wichita at ten, but the train didn't leave until 2:45 a.m.  Bart and Don decided to stay up and talk, but not me!  I went to bed.

About 12:15, Don awakened me.  He and Bart had decided that we should take him to the train station so we could come home and go to bed.  We headed to Newton and drove up to the train station . . . the dark, empty train station.  Although it opens at 12:01 a.m. on week days, it doesn't open until 1:30 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.  We had 45 minutes to kill . . .at 1:00 a.m. . . .  in Newton, Kansas . . . on a Saturday night.  Where to go?

I knew there was a McDonald's downtown, though the bar right across the street from the depot was also open.  The bikers were there, however, so we opted for McDonald's.  Amazingly, the lobby to McDonald's was open, and there were about 20 other people there.  So we bought ourselves a drink and sat down to talk.  At about 1:45, we went back to the train station, which was open by then.  Bart was the first person to arrive, but we knew others would be along soon.  (Ultimately, a group of 20 middle school students arrived to go on their trip to Chicago . . . Bart said that was entertaining!)

As we left Newton, we were surprised by the number of people walking around the town that late at night.  The drive was uneventful, and we arrived home about 2:30 a.m.  Didn't take long for us to get to sleep, and Bart said the train trip was pleasant.  But he owes us!  At least, that is what we are going to tell him!