Pick-up

 

September 26, 2022

Storm came from the north last night like a dark fist. The lights went out. The attic is very, very dark. 

Interesting day. Call from Charlie, my absentee neighbor, reminding me that Ingle’s has bought up the surrounding properties and, allegedly, intends to build a multi-level, multi-use building on the site of Grace Plaza. Will this make me an island in a sea of asphalt? Will I be eminent-domain-ed out of existence? I could be dead before this moves forward; it could move forward tomorrow. 

I foresaw that this borrowing of my little blue Ford truck would be the end of our life together, and I was right. L had it for 12 days, returned it with the driver’s side rear-view mirror gone and a serious oil leak. L said the oil leak was of long standing, but there are no stains on my driveway, and never, in twelve years, had I added oil. I bought my friend on September 1, 2010.  Here is how I recorded it: I got myself a birthday present. While I was having my inspection done at Jim Barkley Toyota, I eyed a cobalt blue Ford Ranger pick-up on the lot. It stayed in mind. This morning I gathered myself and went down and bought it. I suppose this is my mid-life crisis vehicle, and if so I am lucky, for among mid-life crisis purchases it is both small and useful. I feel very sad. Eras open and close, and you hope you have some control over the timing and circumstance, but you never do.