I Let Down My Car


4 o'clock in the morning, pitch black dark outside. Using night vision to walk softly through the fragrance of wild roses, up the clay path toward my ride, Sol. Opening the back door to drop my book, lunar calendar, and sheaf of assorted works-in-progress into the back seat. Gee, that's strange. The interior
'courtesy' lights don't come on. Then I remember, 15 hours too late, that I probably left my park lights on after my drive into town at lunch yesterday. At least I came back with a 6-pack of Mooseheads to work on while I switched back and forth between the Braves and Cubs games. But right now, I'm dead in the water, as it were.

I can't call my neighbor at such an ungodly hour, so I put a note under the windshield wiper of his muscular, yea, pumped-up grey pickup truck. Message: the equivalent of, "I got the jumper cables if you've got the time." Back in the house, waiting for dawn and rescue, I feel a deep-seated guilt for dissing Sol after all he's done --- the daily commute from out here in East Avatar (approximately 24,000 miles a year), 2 hugely successful beach trips (one into the teeth of a hurricane), and, unlike my previous car, the ability to accelerate while travelling uphill.

Sol is a 1988 pearl-grey Cadillac that, at least in December 2004 when I purchased his genie-like talents, cost me less than the suits worn by most lawyers and legislators. Sol has a fake convertible top, but it's covered in real cloth. He's also something of a peacenik, as he sports the probing bumper sticker, "War--What is it Good For?" His priorities seem to have evolved far beyond those of most of us humans, always displaying a totally precise outside temperature reading while, just a few inches away, maintaining a wildly inaccurate time of day, the rough-hewn digital numerals lagging behind (or anticipating?) the Naval Observatory Atomic Clock by at least 4 hours. Years ago, evidently, Sol decided it was a waste of energy to reset the time. Forget your brand new Honda Accord, you can learn a lot more from a seasoned veteran of the road.

So Sol, forgive the flabby thinking that led me to muse, "Wow, park lights look really cool when you're driving around on an overcast day!" And thanks again for your excellent combination of transportation and shelter --- especially now, when the wind blows so much harder and so much more often in April than it used to.


--------- Lp