Friday, August 5, 2011

Flashback Friday # 148






There Goes My Car





Greetings, one & all. Are you ready for another thought inspiring tale of epic proportions? You're not? Good. There's nothing like that here.


Many moons ago we bought a brand new car. I've written about that car before. It was the same one that Mom crashed in the car wash. A shiny new copper colored Chevy Nova hatch back.





When this car stopped running, it was set in the side yard, because it was going to get fixed one of these days. I was told, since I was now 15, that once I turned 16, and got my drivers license, that would be my car.


We liked to play in the car and pretend to drive. We would be the good guys and be in hot pursuit. We would be the bad guys and outrun the authorities. We were cool dudes in that car. I couldn't wait until it got fixed, and I could take it for a spin.


Whenever I asked Dad what was wrong with the car, he would say "The valves needed ground". I didn't have a clue what that meant. It must have been serious, since that car sat in the side yard for several years.


One day a tow truck pull into the driveway. It was Dad's friend (who we referred to as "Uncle")who had bought our pool table when we sold it. He ran an auto salvage business (that's hi-faluting words for "junk yard"). I watched in horror as he hooked the tow bar up to MY CAR. I asked Dad what was going on. He said that since the car had never been fixed, and it had set for years, there was a really good chance that the engine had seized up. We never had enough money on hand, so the little bit that he would get from this car would help. I was crushed as I watched my car roll off into the sunset.

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