Grant left a voicemail for me this afternoon while I was in a meeting. Knowing mom was moving today, I went ahead and listened as the others in the room talked. They had called earlier in the week wanting to know how to start the lawnmower, so this call may have been critical, too.

Grant’s message was slow and carefully spoken:

THE PIGEON HAS FLOWN THE COOP. (Repeat.)

THE PIGEON HAS FLOWN THE COOP.

Secret code! I repeated the message so those in the room could hear the secret message. Heather immediately asked, “Did he find your knife?” That cracked me up. No one else understood, so I had to explain.

I left my red pocket knife hidden at the airport a few weeks ago on the way to a management meeting in Orlando. (This is about the fourth or fifth time I’ve forgotten to leave the knife in my car, so I hide it.) Mom and Carol were driving back to Atlanta from Lakeland and called me at the Orlando meeting to find out if I wanted to drive up with them on Saturday instead of flying back Friday. I said sure, so they picked me up for an overnight stay.

The rest of the managers, including Heather, were flying back that Friday afternoon. I asked her to retrieve my knife. She was nervous about getting arrested. I told her I would have our best lawyers take care of her if anything happened. (I also explained it is not illegal to have a knife in the airport. You just can’t take it past security.)

I was worried about the knife, because the great hiding place I’ve usually used was not available. Under renovation. So I quickly found a spot that was not very good. I drew Heather a map to the hiding place near baggage claim and asked her to call me if she found it. Since she was nervous about the whole thing, I told her to just call me and leave me a secret message. “RED IS OK” or “RED IS GONE.”

She told this story to our president as they went through the airport. He couldn’t believe I was making her “retrieve a weapon,” just adding to the tension (and fun.)

So that’s why Heather responded to Grant’s secret message.

And then I had to also explain that “THE PIGEON” was my mom, and that my brother was helping her move today. So mom’s in Athens. Big day!

P.S.

Heather called me a from the airport a few weeks ago and, alas, said “RED IS GONE.” Hearing this story, Ted gave me a new pocket knife.

Thanks Ted! Thanks for trying Heather!

Need to find a new hiding place.