September 12, 2009

A Coincidence

A month and twelve days ago, on Vanessa's birthday, I gave her a scented candle, perfume, and a note folded into a paper swan, promising The Distillers' self-titled album on vinyl, just as soon as it was shipped to the record store. I was very unsure of the record store's ordering process, having dealt with an ignorant student employee and a back-pedalling store manager on the phone.
A month went by, and no word. Vanessa, always polite, didn't mention it. Until September 8th. We were on our way to Ann Arbor. We planned to stop by the record store and give them a piece of our mind.
In the parking garage, my cellphone rang, a number I didn't recognize. I answered, and there was silence, nothing, so I hung up. Again, on the street, on the way to the record store, it rang. A different number this time, still unfamiliar to me, and still silence, dead air, void. Passing the bookstore, it rang again, and Vanessa began to get curious.
"Call it back. Call it back."
"No, if it's important they'll leave a message."
Coming to the intersection of the record store's block, my phone rang again. A third number. I didn't answer this time and shortly after it ceased vibrating, it chirped with a message. I stopped to listen to it while the light changed.

"Hello Kyle, this is ----- from Underground Sounds. The Distillers album you ordered came in today. We will hold it for a week. If you need more time to pick it up, give us a call."

At the record store, the manager said it was the fastest anyone had ever picked up an order. We coyly said 'we were in the neighborhood.' It's one of the single biggest coincidences that has ever happened in my life. But it had happened to both of us, and that was the interesting thing about the whole thing.
We left Ann Arbor with the album and drove straight to the Shell station at the end of our street. I filled the tank, while Vanessa went inside with a dollar to buy a lottery ticket. She came back out to tell me the ticket was two dollars, and he had already pulled it. With some persuasion, I drove home to my car, removed a dollar from my stash, drove back to the gas station, and we purchased the ticket. Possible $30,000 grand prize scratch off.
We used a dime I had gotten as change from the parking garage... and we won...

...two dollars.





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7 Comments:

Blogger JHitts said...

To avoid future hassle from inept college record store employees, I might suggest ordering from Insound.com. They send you stuff, like, a week before the release date.

September 12, 2009 at 11:37 PM 
Blogger K. Janke said...

I don't know man...I think you may have missed the overall direction of my story there.

September 14, 2009 at 4:51 PM 
Blogger Ceptures said...

Kyle, Itunes gets you the music almost immediately. No need for loser store clerks and old-fashioned records.

Hope this helps!

Tim

September 15, 2009 at 1:46 AM 
Blogger K. Janke said...

Yes, and the translator's note to "The Brothers Karamazov" is my favorite novel.

September 15, 2009 at 9:56 AM 
Blogger Naomi said...

No way! Wow. That's almost creepy. Thanks for sharing this most amazing coincedence.

Also, in the same vein as these other somewhat irrelevant comments, way to buy from a real store.

September 15, 2009 at 1:15 PM 
Blogger JHitts said...

The coincidence was pretty amazing. I felt any comment I had for that would have been superfluous (for example, exclaiming "Whoa! Sweet dude!" and adding nothing to the conversation).

The comment I did make, however, can be considered a public service.

Sure, no good stories to tell had you used Insound. Just music in a timely fashion with none of these "coincidences."

Guess we know where my priorities are.

September 15, 2009 at 10:15 PM 
Blogger Daniel Silliman said...

Going to have to rename this The Sad Blog. You have to post more than once a week to earn your bear, people. Earn the bear!

September 20, 2009 at 3:08 PM 

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