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I knew the day would come. It's been imminent for quite a while. The problems had been getting worse, interactions were more tense.
Just yesterday morning they let me know you were gone
Susanne the plans they made put an end to you
I walked out this morning and I wrote down this song
I just can't remember who to send it to
I've seen fire and I've seen rain
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I'd see you again
I remember the first day we met, such a whirlwind of emotion. I remember the adventures we had together. I remember the worries and heartaches, too. But mostly I remember all we accomplished together, how you were always there for me, what a great team we were.
If I could have treated you better, I'm sorry. I will always remember you. You earned my trust. Your friends were my friends, and mine were yours. I know you always did your best.
Wednesday, the car started making that ominous rattling sound that means it's low on oil. Then the dummy light came on. That means it's really low on oil. Like 2 quarts or more. (That's why they call them dummy lights: if you can't tell what's wrong before they come on, you are a real dummy.) Weird thing was, you see, I had put oil in it two days earlier. I manage to finish my shift at work, gritting my teeth and hoping the car won't blow up.
So, the next afternoon (as soon as I woke up) I took the car to the dealership. When I tell Skip, the service manager, that I just had it serviced a couple-three weeks ago, he says it's probably burning oil and they probably would have to rebuild the engine.
(In terms of the immediate problem, it turns out I'm a dummy, and I didn't tighten the cap good on the oil reservoir and all the oil came out.)
Then the mechanics looked at the car and ran a diagnostic on it, and their opinion was that I would have to get a new motor. Which is $3,700 at Saturn of Decatur. Less than what I'd been quoted before, but still pretty serious. The car wouldn't pass inspection for it's new tag in two months. I wasn't sure I could fit an entire engine on my credit card. The car has no resale value. Over the last two years, it has taken a pretty hard beating. Almost every corner is scraped, the paint is coming off in places, the head liner is ripped to shreds. A guy backed into me a couple of weeks ago and took the little logo thing off the hood, neat as you please.
There's a big rip in the driver's seat and a cigarette hole in the back seat. The rear defrost stopped working, but not before several of the wires went out of commission. Several bits of air conditioning vents are gone and the entire car is saturated with former coffee, the smell of which blows through the vents occasionally. Sometimes the windshield wipers won't work, as though there's a short. And the whole interior is filthy beyond ever being really clean again.
Over eight years, almost exactly 266,000 miles together, her and I.
So, today I brought home the new baby, a 1996 station wagon, silver, also a Saturn, but with only 38,800 miles on it. It has no options except air conditioning. It cost $6,900. I took the last of my savings to make the down payment. I got 11+% interest on the financing. I took it to Hi-Fi Buys and put a CD changer on credit.
Soon, there will have to be a name and a christening and loving care for the new baby.
But first there must be a wake.
In Memoriam
Gay Deceiver
September 1993 -- June 2002
Susanne the plans they made put an end to you
I walked out this morning and I wrote down this song
I just can't remember who to send it to
I've seen fire and I've seen rain
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I'd see you again
I remember the first day we met, such a whirlwind of emotion. I remember the adventures we had together. I remember the worries and heartaches, too. But mostly I remember all we accomplished together, how you were always there for me, what a great team we were.
If I could have treated you better, I'm sorry. I will always remember you. You earned my trust. Your friends were my friends, and mine were yours. I know you always did your best.
Wednesday, the car started making that ominous rattling sound that means it's low on oil. Then the dummy light came on. That means it's really low on oil. Like 2 quarts or more. (That's why they call them dummy lights: if you can't tell what's wrong before they come on, you are a real dummy.) Weird thing was, you see, I had put oil in it two days earlier. I manage to finish my shift at work, gritting my teeth and hoping the car won't blow up.
So, the next afternoon (as soon as I woke up) I took the car to the dealership. When I tell Skip, the service manager, that I just had it serviced a couple-three weeks ago, he says it's probably burning oil and they probably would have to rebuild the engine.
(In terms of the immediate problem, it turns out I'm a dummy, and I didn't tighten the cap good on the oil reservoir and all the oil came out.)
Then the mechanics looked at the car and ran a diagnostic on it, and their opinion was that I would have to get a new motor. Which is $3,700 at Saturn of Decatur. Less than what I'd been quoted before, but still pretty serious. The car wouldn't pass inspection for it's new tag in two months. I wasn't sure I could fit an entire engine on my credit card. The car has no resale value. Over the last two years, it has taken a pretty hard beating. Almost every corner is scraped, the paint is coming off in places, the head liner is ripped to shreds. A guy backed into me a couple of weeks ago and took the little logo thing off the hood, neat as you please.
There's a big rip in the driver's seat and a cigarette hole in the back seat. The rear defrost stopped working, but not before several of the wires went out of commission. Several bits of air conditioning vents are gone and the entire car is saturated with former coffee, the smell of which blows through the vents occasionally. Sometimes the windshield wipers won't work, as though there's a short. And the whole interior is filthy beyond ever being really clean again.
Over eight years, almost exactly 266,000 miles together, her and I.
So, today I brought home the new baby, a 1996 station wagon, silver, also a Saturn, but with only 38,800 miles on it. It has no options except air conditioning. It cost $6,900. I took the last of my savings to make the down payment. I got 11+% interest on the financing. I took it to Hi-Fi Buys and put a CD changer on credit.
Soon, there will have to be a name and a christening and loving care for the new baby.
But first there must be a wake.
Gay Deceiver
September 1993 -- June 2002
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(no subject)
Date: 2002-06-07 10:56 pm (UTC)Someone had good taste in car names!
My condolences. I'm still not entirely over Mimi, my '89 Civic who passed on last year.
(no subject)
Date: 2002-06-07 11:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2002-06-08 12:34 am (UTC)Well, I had good times in her also. If there's some sort of car heaven, she'll go there, because she was a *good* car.
(no subject)
Dreadalus
(no subject)
My car never delivered pizza, only made it half-way across the country and always managed to pass inspection, but I drove her for five years without a tag, was arrested in her, made out in her a few times, and she was a key figure in many of the N9 crowd's past(I remember sleeping crammed in the back seat as Greywolfe drove a group of us back from ChattaCon many years back as just one of those times).
I was alone, unemployed, homeless and had no hope when she was wacked...only my cat wondered why I silently cried that day...