I had been working at the Fellowship less than six weeks. My head was spinning. I stepped into the office manager position ready to share the mission, and every day there were a 1000 new questions: What does BVCAN stand for? How do I print an oos? (How do you say that?) Who are the people who come on Sundays? Where were the extra matches?
The person I was coming to know best was the person who was onsite most weekdays, Robyn P., the ‘Ships facility caretaker, who later became a beloved friend. At this time, we were virtual strangers to each other. To him, I was his second boss in his first six months on the job.
On this particular day, I was navigating back to the Fellowship from the Lafayette post office through the neighborhood streets for the first time. Commuting from Lyons for this job, Lafayette was new territory in every way.
I had just passed the stop sign on Caria at Waneka Lake when my cell phone rang beside me. I picked it up (still driving!) to hear Robyn, “When will you be back here Carol? When will you be back? Something just happened. I just, don’t, can’t I don’t want to say but you are needed back here.” His voice was loud and to my ear, frantic.
“My God, what’s happened? Tell me.”
“When will you be back?”
“In two minutes! I’m pretty close. What is this about?”
“Carol, there’s DOG POOP in the sanctuary!” And he clicked off.
OMGosh! I’m gonna get fired! Just then, I looked in my rearview to see lights flashing behind me. I was going to be later than I promised Robyn. The cop walked up to my window and said, “Do you know you were doing 32 in a 25?”
“Officer, I’m so sorry. I’m just so sorry. Can I tell you what’s going on?”
“Lady, I have heard it all. Now I’m not going to charge you the full amount because…” He let me off easy on the mileage but still gave me a ticket.
Actually, Officer, I’m betting you have not heard this one. But now, the rest of you have!
Thoughts: I did not get fired. Robyn cleaned the carpet thoroughly, and it’s been cleaned by professionals many times over the last seven years. Dogs are beloved companions at the Fellowship. There were two dogs at the ‘Ship that day, and I made the management decision not to send a sample in for DNA analysis. To this day, we can only surmise who was — on the run.
Sharing the story, Carol Pranschke