The movers: these men were burly. At least one of them must have had a degree in engineering, because they managed to cram every inch of our home into a few narrow cubic feet on this behemoth of a tractor trailer. We're using North American, who specializes in big, bulk-shipments, so our home was on the truck with the homes of about 4 other families.

After situating and re-situating our possessions into a compressed brick wall of everything we've ever bought, the driver gave us some upsetting news.

BURLY MOVER: All right, Mr. Bear, that's about it. We just need a signature. Oh, by the way, you do know that you're over on weight, right? That's more than the estimate. You've got at least 4,000 lbs. on that truck.

JER: Really? Hm. Well, what do you do, huh? We'll see you guys in California!

BURLY MOVER: ...Right... I just didn't want you guys to have any surprises. Just warning you ahead ot time on the poundage.

JER: ...?...

CAREY: Are you saying that's going to affect our price?

BURLY MOVER: Most definitely.

JER: Oh, no it won't, see, because Jeff promised us a Guaranteed Price. He was vehement about the Guaranteed Price. "No chance whatsoever of the price changing from this estimate," he said, "because we're giving you a Guaranteed Price."

BURLY MOVER: Well, that's not what's on this contract.

---

And it was true. The Guaranteed Price that old Jeff, in all his rhyme and meter, had promised us, wasn't demonstrated on the contract. This was disconcerting to say the least. Instead, the contract represented that we'd pay the difference in the event that they'd underestimated our weight... hhh... Jeff, Jeff, Jeff... so, we're going to attempt to straighten all this out tomorrow. I REALLY don't want this to turn into a battle. Truly I don't.

But, in the end, our earthly goods are now doing about 70 mph in or around the vicinity of Oklahoma, so there's really no turning back. Hell or high water: California, get ready for the Bears.

It just would have been nice to have this conversation before our stuff was on the truck.