Seven Quick Takes: Adrenaline Edition

I hope Jen doesn't hate it when I write posts that are stories in seven parts instead of seven unrelated bits of things. This is a story in seven parts.

1. I walked to the downtown movie theater after dinner -- my husband told me I'd enjoy the movie and an evening out is always a treat. Forty-five minutes in, my phone started vibrating. "Home calling," it said. I slipped out of my seat to see what could be going on.
2. My husband almost never calls my cell -- it's been months and months. He doesn't have a cell phone; he doesn't like cell phones. He usually figures it can wait. It was weird enough that he was calling at all, even weirder that he would call when he knew I was at the movies. It was a little like seeing a police car in the driveway: it doesn't have to mean that something bad has happened, but it means you'd better pay attention. My guess was that one of the kids at home needed stitches.
3. It wasn't any of the kids at home; it was our oldest. I had dropped him off for a Scout overnight at 5:15 like the troop newsletter told me to, but there were only two other families there. (Turns out the kids were actually supposed to gather at 7:15 -- a scheduling mistake made it into the newsletter.) We couldn't get any of the scoutmasters on the phone, but one of the parents talked to a friend of his at the campsite and told us it would be fine for the boys to head out there. Another mom said she'd take Alex to the overnight for me; it's happening at a camp about 15 miles away. I thanked her and pulled away.
4. This is why my husband was concerned to receive a call from the scout who was organizing the  event, saying he didn't know where Alex was and did we? We did not.
5. My arrhythmia fired when I saw "home" on the screen of my phone, and it didn't improve as I stood there in the lobby trying to figure out what to do. My husband and I talked it through and agreed that it was most likely just a mix-up. He said he'd wait by the phone, that I should stay and watch the movie.
6. My memories of this movie are going to be pretty vague. I was trying to pray and be calm, but I am the queen of the worst-case scenario. In a ditch? In the hospital? Abducted by this apparently helpful and involved Scout mom? My imagination kept churning and my heart kept racing.
7. It took us a long time to connect with the scoutmaster in charge of the event, and the scout whose call started the whole thing wasn't answering his phone at all. But I talked to Alex 15 minutes ago: he is with his friends, alive, and not hypothermic. (Yet. He left home with no rain gear and no jacket. It's not a good night for that.) He was teasing me on the phone about my worry, saying something about "s.e..ll my ...o..rg..a..n..s" over the staticky connection. "I love you," I said, extra-loud and over-articulated in case I sounded as fuzzy to him as he did to me. Such a relief to hear his voice, crackly and indistinct but unmistakably his.

More quick takes here.