dodging rodney
I got a call a curious call from Rodney the other day.
"Hey, what's up buddy?" it began.
"What's up, Rodney?"
"Hey, you still got that flip phone that Matt gave you a couple months back?" (Rodney had sold the phone to Matt before he gave it to me).
"Yeah, I'm speaking on it," I said.
"Well, I just remembered I got this extra battery for it that you'll probably want to have. I figured I'd give it to you so you'll have a spare."
"Cool......thanks," I said.
There was a pause for a couple of seconds and then,
"Hey, I'm gonna be moving into my new place this weekend, I'm closing Friday. Then we're gonna have a big keg party and I want you to come. You can bring whoever you want too, it'll be a blast."
"Awesome," I said.
"Okay, buddy, I'm gonna get you that battery so you'll have a spare and then I'll see you at the keg party," he summarized.
"Sounds good," I said.
The call left me with kind of a funny feeling so I asked Matt about it the next time I had him on the phone.
"Oh, he probably wants you to help him move," Matt said. "So he's throwing you a little favor on the front side."
"That is it, isn't it?" I said.
"He already asked me, but I told him I have to work," Matt said. "And I really do have to work," Matt added.
"Okay, thanks for the tip," I said. "I just won't answer Rodney's calls until after the weekend. That way I won't even have to say "no" or make up an excuse or anything."
"Good plan," Matt said.
Sure enough, I got three or four calls from Rodney over the next few days. I cupped my hands over the phone to drown out the ringing and the guilt. It felt a little like suffocating a kitten.
A couple days later I talked to Matt again on the phone.
"Man, I've been so caught up in this Richardson bullshit that I haven't had any time to write my stories for the blog. I've got three or four, like how I'm dodging Rodney so he can't ask me to help him move."
"Oh you don't have to worry about that one," Matt said. "I think the closing fell through. Something about property taxes."
"Really?" I said. "Maybe it's best that I didn't say anything then. No reason to let someone know you were dodging a favor that they didn't ask anyway."
"Exactly," Matt said.
The next day I was counting up a bunch of cash for the workers at my tree business. I had about three thousand dollars spread out on the front seat of my car, trying to work out payroll and make change etc. The phone rang and I picked it up. It was Rodney.
"What's up, Rodney?" I said.
"YOU'RE FUCKIN' NUTS MAN! You put a picture of yourself naked on the blog! Fuck, man! I didn't want to see that!"
I just laughed.
"Oh well," I said. "Hey can I call you back a little later? I'm counting up a bunch of cash and I don't want to lose track."
"Okay, man. You're fuckin' nuts. I'll talk to you later."
I talked to Matt again on my way home from work. I told him that Rodney finally got through to me, but I couldn't really coudln't talk because of counting the money and whatnot.
"Well, look out," Matt said. "I guess the closing went through afterall. Rodney got the house and their moving this weekend."
"Oh shit," I said. "Thanks for the tip."
8:54:38 AM 
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