The phone and the scheduler

Growing up, we had one phone that was attached to the wall in the kitchen.  The cord had been stretched long enough so that if you pulled it, you could sit on the top of the cellar stairs and close the door and talk.  Not too many people could hear your conversation; except maybe my mom who seemed to live in the basement doing laundry all hours of the day and night. Most of my siblings were close to my age so we were always arguing about who was going to use the one bathroom and who was going to use the one telephone. Mark, being the analytical-thinking guy under that cowboy hat, came up with a schedule for us.  Promptly, and I mean PROMPTLY, at 7:00 pm, he would call me every night.  We would have anywhere from 15-20 minutes allotted for our talking time and then someone else could use the phone.  Night after night, the phone would ring at 7:00 pm.  My brothers and sisters were already having a field day making fun of this guy.  They laughed about his car, his loud music, his clothes and that HAT (oh how I wished Mark would get rid of that hat!)  Underneath it all, everyone loved Mark and he always took the teasing in stride and never let it budge his behaviors (darn!!).  One day, my brother Bob had an idea to put a cereal bowl out on the counter with a piece of paper and a pen next to it.  He asked everyone who was interested to bet when Mark would call and throw a nickel in the bowl with their time; closest without going over, would win.  Seriously??  My family, including my parents, believe it or not, thought this was so funny and a fabulous idea.  People were writing down 6:59 pm, 7:00 pm, 7:01 pm, 7:02, 6:58, etc.  Nobody put 7:10 because they KNEW that Mark would never wait that long.  This went on for a few days before they got tired of it.  Mark was so predictable, that every night the 6:59 or the 7:00 or 7:01 person won!!  I thought it was adorable, until, of course, I realized that he is always prompt and I am always not-prompt, and he would sit in the car over the years with it running 30 or 40 minutes early while I still had to take my shower and get dressed yet!  Ha ha ha…  It was this scenario of waiting for me in the car that made that man smarter and smarter because he had lots of extra time to read.  So all of you people out there who have benefitted from Mark’s genius, you can thank me for being a procrastinator!  I miss him so much.