The Case of the "Left Behind Sombrero!!!"
Recently my brother in law, Christopher visited us here in San Diego. He lives most of the year in a home that he and my sister Laura built just east of San Jose del Cabo in Baja California Sur. Unfortunately my sister Laura passed away in March 2011 due to complications from MS.
We spent a few days in San Diego and then he and I were off to Ensenada to see some friends and buy a new hat for a wedding that he was attending shortly after he returned to the San Jose area. In Ensenada we found this great store on Calle Ruiz that had exactly what he wanted so he bought a very nice Stetson white cowboy hat.
The next day he was flying back to Los Cabos at 3pm and I had a business meeting in San Diego at 2:30pm. I dropped Chris at the Tijuana airport at around 1:30 and said, "adiós cunado"...and he was off. A few minutes later he called me from his cell phone and asked, "where are you"? I told him that I was just about to get into the line at the Otay border crossing and asked, "why"? He said that he had left his new hat in the backseat of my car and wondered if I had time to get it back to him.
I quickly pulled out of the line and onto a very busy street near the Otay border crossing. I called Chris back and said that I don't think I have time to return to the airport and then be on time for my meeting in San Diego. I told him that I needed a moment to think and that I'd call him back soon.
The street I was currently parked on was quite busy with three lanes of traffic going both ways...cars, trucks, buses, and taxis just whizzing by....wait...did you say "taxis"? Hmmm...what if I hire a taxi to run the hat back to the airport....now that's an idea. I called Chris to run my idea by him and he said, "go for it"....
I got out of my car and within three or four minutes a taxi pulled over and I shared with him my dilemma in Spanish explaining our situation and describing my brother in law so he would know to whom to give the hat. I also told him that Chris would be paying him once he received the sombrero. He agreed so I gave him the hat and he was off to the airport.
I called Chris telling him that an orange and white taxi number 3710 was enroute to the airport with his new hat. I, in turn, headed to cross the border because I still wanted to be on time for my San Diego meeting.
About ten minutes later my phone rang. It was Chris telling me that he had gotten his hat back. I asked him what the taxi driver charged him and he said, "I dunno....I just gave him a $20 bill". I said that was very generous of you....what did he say? Chris replied, "Feliz Navidad"!