The Ride Home - Part 1

So some years ago (read, about 20) I was without a vehicle for a while. Well, I had one, but it wasn't working right then. I had started working for the post office, but it was a different office, than the one I'm in now. This one was right in the town I was living in at the time. There came a day that I needed a ride home, to my parent's house. A friend of mine, my best friend at the time, was doing some work on the house, and I called him for a ride. He took the call downstairs, but then moved to the upstairs extension so we could continue working while we talked. I told him I'd need a ride in a while, but I wasn't sure exactly when I was getting out of work, and he said just to call back whenever I was out and he's come pick me up.
Perfect.
So I got out of work, and I called the house.
Busy signal.
What? How could there be a busy signal when we had call-waiting? Maybe someone else was calling at the exact same time and I was getting bumped? Hmm... it was possible. So I waited a bit and called back.
Busy.
I called back in 5 minutes.
Busy.
I was waiting for another 5 minutes when I was struck by a thought, and sighed. I slumped. I grabbed my work-bag and started walking. I thought I had it figured out, but I was dreading the confirmation.
Eventually, I made my way across town to the house. I opened the door and walked into the kitchen.

Confirmation.

There, on the kitchen counter, was the phone my friend had originally answered my call on. He had, as I said, moved to the upstairs extension so as to be able to talk while he worked, but once our call was over he never came back down to hang up this phone! With a phone off the hook, no calls could come in, including mine.
I sighed.
I shook me head.
I did both at the same time.
I went upstairs, where my pal was working in the bedroom with the radio blasting, steaming the walls and bopping to the music. I was behind him, and he didn't know I was there, so it was up to me to open the conversation.
"HEY!"
He almost steamed his hand off.
"What are you doing home?"
"I live here."
"But, how did you get here?"
"I walked."
"But... I thought you were gonna call for a ride?"
"So did I."
"Huh?"
So I brought him downstairs and showed him the telephone in the kitchen. I arched an eyebrow.
"Did you forget something?"
I was unaware of just how red embarrassment can make the human face.

Now I know.

That, as I said, was about 20 years ago.

To Be Continued...