Real Irishmen keep their phones in their pockets.

True story...

This afternoon wife and I walked to the grocery store that is two blocks from our apartment. On our way back, I spotted a phone in a phone case (the kind that clips to a belt) lying on the ground. I picked it up and confirmed that it was indeed a phone and it seemed to work fine. I decided to find out who the phone belonged to, so I took it back to the apartment and investigated its address book.

I called the number labeled "home" and a woman answered. I explained that I had found the phone on the ground and was trying to figure out where I should take it. She was happy that I called because her grandson, the phone's owner, had lost it last night. She said that he was in town until tomorrow, and when she heard from him, she'd have him call me. A few minutes later, though, she called back and told me to look in the phone for Tommy, lost-phone-man's boss who was in Waco with him.

I called Tommy and left him a message explaining all and asking that he call back. He did, and told me the phone's owner (whose name is also Tommy) was staying at the Econolodge in room 128. Econolodge is about a block from the apartment, so I drove over there to room 128. I was greeted just before I got to the door by a man with Subway sandwich.

"Hey, is that my phone?" asked the man.

"I dunno. Are you Tommy?" I replied.

He was. "Yeah. Great! Where'd you find it?"

I told him I found it a couple blocks up the street on the sidewalk.

He seemed to understand. "In front of Scruffy's?"

"Scruffy's" to which Tommy referred is Scruffy Murphy's, which you will know from a previous blog post is an abandoned-looking-but-apparently-open-for-business Irish pub halfway between the grocery store and our apartment.

"Yeah that's right," I told him.

"Oh yeah," Tommy explained, "we were so drunk last night. I figured I dropped my phone, so I looked all over their parking lot but couldn't find it. Thanks for bringing it back." He suddenly looked around to see what he had readily available. "You want half a sandwich?"

Well, having a wife who never lets me go hungry (hence the original trip to the grocery store), I declined Tommy's half-a-sandwich, wished him a good day, and made my way home.

Moral of the story: If you're going to have a few too many at an Irish pub in Texas on a Wednesday night, make sure to secure your phone in a better place than a belt clip.