rchb76

Well my mom came to visit for the week & I desided to go back to VA with her. So, I'm in PA right now and will be leaving to head to VA shortly. Haven't had a road trip for a while. It's been fun and I should be in VA by dinnertime. Hope all is well with everyone! See you when I see you. 

My friend Jill was doing her laundry next door to my house and asked if I wanted to keep her company. We were sitting in her car chatting about life, when she decided to go in and check on her clothing. As she opened her door, her brand new cell phone slipped out of her pocket and out the door. This would not have been much of a problem if she hadn't parked over a storm drain! As Jill cursed up a storm, I looked down the 20 foot drain. I could see the phone only because it had flipped open and activated the light on the screen. Jill started thinking of things she could tell her husband Tim. "I'll tell him I got mugged" she said. I kept looking at the square drain cover trying to think of some way we could get the phone out. "Public works is closed on Sundays" She rattled on. I really didn't think they would come out for a lost cell phone anyway. Then I got an idea.
            As Jill went in to check on her laundry, I headed for the basement of my apartment building. Brian, was down there putting some boxes away. As I braved the spider web infested stairs, I kept thinking I needed to find something to pry open the storm drain. When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I noticed an old broken shovel. The end of the shovel was flat instead of curved. This might work! I ran back up the stairs with Brian close behind, trying to explain what happened. As I used the end of the shovel to lift up the grate, Brian pulled. We managed to get the grate off and looked down. Now, how were we going to get 20 feet down the hole and get back out? Jill came out of the laundry mat and looked at me with shocked joy. "Now all we need is a real big ladder" I said.
            Back to the basement we went. There were 2 ladders against the wall, we grabbed the first one and headed for the parking lot. When we got to the hole there were two problems. The ladder was 4 feet too short and the larger ladder was chained up in the basement. Ok, I thought, there has to be some way. We had gotten this far, I wasn't giving up. I looked at Jill. "You don't happen to have 4 feet of rope do you?". I explained that if we had some rope, we could lower the ladder in the hole. Then when it was stable, we could lower someone to the top rung. They could then go down to retrieve the phone and we could pull them up when done.
            Jill went to the car and came back with a pillow case. She started ripping the fabric into strips and tying them together. "It's like breaking out of the asylum" Jill joked. I kept thinking that this had to work. When the strips were all tied together, I tied one end to the ladder and began to lower it down. It took some work to get it down there without crushing the phone. Then, another problem. I realized I was too short to be lowered to the ladder. Jill and I both looked at Brian. He was just the right height!
            Anyone who does not know Brian should be made aware that he isn't the type that goes out of his way to get dirty. Which was why, I was suprised that he had no problem getting into the dirty, muddy drain. Brian made it all the way to the bottom, picked up the phone and called up. "I have a problem." Jill and I looked at each other worried. "I don't have a Signal" Brian joked. We all got a good laugh as Brian got on the ladder. As he was part way up there was a Huge clap of thunder. "Oh shit, get up here" I yelled. All I could think was the rain would start and would run into the drain. That would make it harder for him to get back up and the ladder might get stuck.
            Just as the wind picked up Brian's head appeared. Jill and I grabbed an arm and helped him up. I grabbed the pillow case rope and pulled the ladder out, just as the rain started to come down. As Jill joked about how she could now tell Tim what really happened. We put the grating back over the hole and picked up the ladder. Jill ran for her car and we ran for the house. The rain was coming down so hard I was completely drenched by the time I got to the basement door. After putting the ladder away Brian and I headed upstairs to clean up. I was sweaty and drenched. Brian was sweaty, drenched and covered in mud. I think he used three different types of soap to get clean.
            So now I sitting here thinking about our little adventure. What a great story, if anyone will believe it.