Fact Checking

One of us carefully checks the Mastercard bill when it arrives in the mail. The other one doesn’t. It’s been thus for many years now.

There’s nearly always an issue. And it nearly always turns out not to be an issue because the Mastercard people are usually right. Still, questions often arise about one or more purchases. What does this mean? Where was that store? Did you really buy two e-books from Amazon on the same day?

Recently, the one-who-checks spotted a movie-rental charge that he was sure was incorrect. The one-who-doesn’t-check happened to overhear the one-who-does, on the telephone, trying to get a refund on the movie that had, in fact, been rented.  Just not remembered.

The one-who-doesn’t-check whispered in the ear of the one-who-does that we had, indeed, rented it. We just hadn’t watched it all the way through since it was about people in their early twenties doing things neither of us could even remotely understand.

Ten minutes later, the one-who-checks was still on the phone. I assumed he had ignored the one-who-doesn’t and was still making his case for a refund.

How wrong I was.

Turns out, as is so often the case, he had made friends with the Mastercard person.

Somewhere during the refund conversation, he learned that the Mastercard person lives in Indiana, is around our age, had visited Bluffton years ago, had been inside the church next to our house, had wandered into our yard, remembered the porch on the second floor of the house and had been curious about the cannon that sits in our backyard.

They weren’t talking about refunds. They were discussing cannons.

I guess if you let it, life can lead you down interesting paths. Or at least provide nice material for a blog.