Popular clamoring (there might be some, sometime) is good cause to go into that story I mentioned briefly back on Dec. 29, 2009. You know! The one about the 1969 Dodge mishap.
The Nash Rambler we had was the first car we bought ourselves. It was used when we got it and it was lots of trouble to own. We were a one car family and had to depend on it for many tasks. It broke down and mis-performed on many occasions and cost funds we didn't have to be repaired. So, closing our debts and beginning to accumulate a little money, we naturally thought about getting a new car. Since I am not qualified for mechanics kindergarten, judging a used car seemed too tricky. I wanted a new one. We bought a new Dodge in 1969.
It was great to have heat in the winter. Even though our winters are very cold, a car itself plus our usual winter clothing went pretty far in protecting us from serious chill. However, inside the Rambler, we still had to breathe. We did breathe and the moisture from our breath condensed on the inside of the windshield, totally obscuring the driver's view of the road, which is we considered unsafe. So, the front seat passenger had to be ready with de-icing spray and a rag to use repeatedly to clear the view. The new car had heat and a fan to blow the warm air across the windshield, lowering the amount of toxin de-icer fumes inside the car. That was just one of many beloved features of our new vehicle.
Alas, one morning I got in the gorgeous chariot, back it out and go to work but just as the car began to move out of the garage, I remembered that our daughters had been playing in a mud puddle just outside the garage door. The water was murky and I hadn't actually seen any of their little plastic toys in the water but I feared I was about to crush one or more with the car. Why not be kind, I thought, as I swung the car to the right to avoid the puddle. Unfortunately, the front left fender was not clear of the garage doorway. The sound of the crushing fender brought my wife on the run.
It turned out that I was in the midst of an impromptu medical test of the strength of my heart to take emotional shocks. Never before and never since have I felt quite the elevated heart beat and blood pressure as I did then. I realized that my prized vehicle, that I had just recently purchased with such great excitement and anticipation, had been given an ugly wound by my own hand. There were no words to express my feelings just then. What are sometimes called 'bad' words or "four-letter" words or "blue language" were far too sweet, too civilized, too ordinary to be of help. I needed to cuss, to curse, to moan and bemoan, to call on heavenly forces and infernal forces to witness the tragedy but I didn't know enough Hebrew or Greek to do the job.
But I have mended now and forgotten all about that mess.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
