White Lightening

My request to join BMI went through today, which is another story for another day...

but as I created my login & password, I was asked to choose a security question from a list. The one I settled on was,

"What color was your first car?"

and it all came flashing back to me.

The White Lightening.

I would swear that the FOR SALE sign went up on her window the very day I passed my driver's test.

I scheduled the test on my own the first time and got a big, mean cop in a big, mean city and failed miserably. The Drivers Ed teacher laughed and explained that for a nominal fee he would set it up and grease down the Man, which is exactly what happened the second time. I did a little better but my crooked instructor was chatting up Barney Fife and feeding him donuts the entire time, I would have passed with colors regardless of what transpired...

On my very first drive down North Street with Dad we see what appeared to be a Go-Kart for sale, but was actually a two-door 1988 Toyota Corolla.

I used all my savings on her. The old woman warned me that it had many miles. She had driven All The Way Into Town. Every day.

Town is about two miles down the road. There were 11,000 original miles on it. I had put 11,000 miles on it by the time I got two speeding tickets, and got my license revoked. They frown if you earn two citations within your first two months. I paid the second one quickly, which made me feel like a good citizen but was actually quite foolish.

Always fight the ticket. Paying it assumes guilt. Last time I fought a ticket I looked the judge right in his beady eyes and admitted that at the time I knew I was speeding but had learned my lesson and was now very remorseful and using far more caution while driving. He ate it all right up and deducted $100 from my debt.

I'm not in a rush anymore, I don't like paying the Man anything more than the bare minimum. And the occasional scratcher.

There's no need to rush. The only certainty at the end of the road is death. When I see people in fast cars I think to myself that they are in a rush to die.