A memory flashed by. My hand under my thigh as I tried to keep warm. It meant something. I shivered way back then. The windshield frosted up in the 15 degree temperatures. I tried to clear it with my hand but the frost came back onto the windshield.
Something in front ... a Gremlin. No, not the mischievous creature but the car! Stopped! Right in front of me!
Wait, I'm ahead of myself.
The night before, my parents, my brother and sis-in-law, and I sat in the living room of my parents house. I was being given an awesome responsibility. Kenny and Joanne were letting me drive their 1963 Volkswagen convertible to the mechanics to get the heat/defroster fixed. I could take the car to school and then drop it off after school and thumb home.
"Are you sure you don't mind thumbing home?" asked Joanne.
I thumbed everywhere. 1976 was a different time. Everybody thumbed somewhere. Thumbing home wouldn't be a problem at all.
"Ok," Joanne said, "the insurance and registration is between the seats. I mean if you should get in an accident, it's right there. I wouldn't mind you getting in an accident as I want to get rid of the thing but just won't die!!"
"You want to get rid of the thing?" I asked.
"Yeah, it is old and the heat doesn't work and the windows frost up. We can afford a new car but we agreed we'd drive this into the ground. Just be careful!"
I woke up the next morning ecstatic that I could drive myself to school. I made sure that I didn't breath on the windshield and it didn't fog up. I got to school and parked in the extended parking lot. I slipped and slid my way across the icy parking lot and realized that I was late for my first class, Chemistry.
What the hell, I didn't like Chemistry and my second period class was a "study hall." What to do? I turned around and slipped and slid my way back across the icy parking lot, hopped back into the VW beetle and headed toward home with every intention of getting home and sleeping an additional hour. After all, driving yourself to school lets you do that!
It was a biting cold day and I slipped my hand under my thigh to keep it warm. The windshield frosted up. I cleared it with my hand and it frosted up again and there it was. The ugly orange colored Gremlin. Stopped. In front of me. Trying to take a left turn. Into a school. Oh shit. I slammed on the brakes. We slid. The cute little convertible VW bug collided with the rear of the Gremlin lifting the Gremlin up onto the front of the VW.
We pulled over to the side of the road. Elementary aged kids were across the street gathering to go into school. A woman got out of the Gremlin and I grabbed the registration and insurance, right there between the seats like Joanne had said. She carefully and gingerly made her way to the sidewalk. I ran up to her.
She was 8 months pregnant. Yes. It is true. I ran into the back of a pregnant woman driving a Gremlin.
She said she was fine.
The police arrived as we were exchanging information. A cop surveyed the situation and began yelling at me. I tried to stay calm but his words were echoing all around my head ...
my fault
pregnant
too fast
school area
I didn't know what to do but then I recognized her name. She had been a teacher at my elementary school when I was there so many years before. Mrs. Canalis! Suddenly she was yelling at the cop!
no one's fault
we were fine before he arrived
he didn't know what he was doing
shut up before HE put her into labor
maybe it would be better if he left
we had the situation under control
I teared up not because of the cop but because she cared for me and didn't even remember me!
Her car drove fine and I stopped traffic so she could pull into a school parking spot across the street. I held her elbow as she waddled (she'd probably kill me if she read THAT) into the school. Then she went to her classroom.
I stood at the door to the principal's office. It had a small sign that stated exactly that. Principal's Office. Needing to use the phone, I knocked as Mrs. Canalis had suggested.
In front of me stood Miss Nylon. An older woman who reminded me of my 90 year old great grandmother, Nana. She was so old that she was the elementary school principal for my brother!
My brother ... yeah, him. I needed to call him and let him know that I wrecked his car. I wasn't afraid of Miss Canalis. I wasn't afraid of the cop. I wasn't afraid of Miss Nylon. I was scared to death of disappointing my big brother!
"Do you need to call someone?" Miss Nylon asked sweetly.
"Uh, yeah. My brother Kenny Cleary."
"Oh, I remember him! I had him in class one time. How is he?"
I thought that I wasn't sure how he was going to be after I told him that I wrecked his car!
"He's fine, I think," I replied while dialing the phone. Back then, I actually had a memory and could remember numbers. His popped into my head and without delay, the phone was ringing. I waited and waited for him to pick up the phone.
Finally, he did.
Kenny. It's John. I'm sorry. I have some bad news. I wrecked your car. Yes, I'm safe. No, I'm not hurt. No, no one else is hurt. Yes, the window fogged up, frosted up, and then I hit a Gremlin. Yes, the car, a Gremlin. No, not the creature that wrecks things. Why are you laughing?
He laughed for several minutes and said, "Well Johnny, you now own a red VW convertible!"
"I do?"
"Yes, you do. I don't want it. That is if you want it, you can have it!"
"Doesn't Joanne want it?"
"Joanne can't wait to get rid of it!"
and that is how I got my first car ....
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