The Car Left Today!

Early today, someone called and told himself the boyfriend they didn't want the car.

By that time I had called the original place that would give the profits to Hebrew Academy, then I'd called Goodwill, and then the Polly Klass Foundation, but my fella could not identify who had called back, so we were unclear on who was out of the running. (I later narrowed it down to Goodwill.

During breakfast, my fella commented that at work he had watched a TV report on a house fire. No one was hurt, but the entire house, and everything in it, was destroyed. "And just for a split second I thought..." he began, and I realized what he was going to say, "hey, that's an idea!"

After breakfast I dealt with some other small crises, and then called the original car donation's tow place back. Eventually we realized that my donation paperwork had been completely lost. I supplied more information. They said someone would get back to me. I hung up, murmuring "I've heard that line before".

We took a load of stuff to Goodwill. It's gonna take another couple of runs. I would throw everything in the dumpster tomorrow, but a lot of it is books. I can't throw books in a dumpster. Period. So we may have to take some of this with us. They have a Goodwill in El Cerrito, I believe.

And then, a miracle! Around twelve-thirty, the phone rang, and an upbeat voice with a heavy Chinese accent asked me: "Hi, this J & K Towing. Do you have a car for donation pick-up? It's being donated to...Heber Academy?"

I almost wept. "When can you be here?" I asked this wonderful new friend. "Is half an hour OK?" he said. I agreed to half an hour. Then the boyfriend and I did the "we have a tow truck coming" dance. It mostly involves jumping up and down in place, but it's still a dance.

At one-ten, the tow truck man showed up. He was terrific. He and the fella did the paperwork, and then I stood out on the street like a little kid watching him hook the car up and drive it away.

Half an hour later, I was taking a break from packing the bedroom up, when I heard the sound of a vehicle with a diesel engine coming slowly down the street. I sat up in a panic. It's the tow guy, I thought. They don't want it. He's bringing it back!

I sat there in a hold sweat, and after a while, the sound slowly went away. I looked out into the street. The car was still gone.

After a while, my fella came into the room, and we talked for a while about moving details. "You know, when the mail truck came by I thought," he said, and for the second time that day I could finish his thought.

"You thought they were bringing it back. Me too."

"Yeah, I ran to the window to check."

It's still gone. Our first car together has, (yesssss!) left.