While My Black Car Gently Weeps

Spring is upon us, and with it, melting snow and blooming crocuses. Sure, there are plenty of reasons for me not to be in a good mood. I'm getting two fillings on Saturday, my dad is having a surgical procedure on Monday, and I think that girl my friend tried to fix me up with a few months ago went on a date on Thursday night(I really need to stop reading her status updates). On the other hand, I get to hang out with my college friends on Friday night, my work friends on Saturday night, and as I mentioned warmer days are just around the corner. And next weekend, band season starts up again, so I'll soon be jamming with all my musical friends each week as well. There are two sides to everything, like backgammon or the forces of good and evil on the island of LOST.

So with our attitude, we can flip just about anything from bad to good, or vice versa, but some things are fixed. My “check engine” light, now steady for two days, is definitely warning me about something. It's very distracting, and I can't really take a look at what might be causing it until Sunday. But the car is running fine otherwise, and my dad thinks it will be fine as long as we fix whatever's causing it before it gets inspected next month. So I'm gradually managing to keep my eyes on the road again, and various distractions around me.

On Wednesday morning, I was behind two large trucks, which I passed, then cut back to the right lane. The trucks shifted to the left lane, and I felt a shadow pass over my car. Sunlight glinted off the diamond plate metal siding, and peripherally I noticed a row of doors with writing on them. Was it some kind of refrigeration truck? Or maybe there were horses in there? At the first traffic light, I got a better look at what was next to me. One door was entirely pink and had the name “LUCY” in a lighter pink heart. The other was a cyan, with “DESI” written in light blue letters with a few small stars. The next two doors had smaller signs on them, both of which inexplicably said “MEDIEVAL WEAPONS”.

My first guess was that there were wax figures of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz being kept in cold storage until they reached a local museum, along with those weapons. But, I had to get to work, so when those rolling goliath monstrosities went straight, I had to make a turn. It wasn't until nearly 12 hours later that I would be heading back on another road, and see those trucks and about five others parked behind a local church. Was it a carnival? Were they filming a movie? I started to wonder if the “LUCY” and “DESI” were actually code names for some actors inside the truck, if it was some kind of mobile dressing room. Maybe the weapons were props for whatever was being filmed in the area. I was aware of a nearby castle or two. But when I rode past the spot the next day with a couple of my friends, there was no evidence that they'd ever been there. If they were filming something, I'd never know.

That night, my warning light remained steady as ever, and to make matters worse some jerk in an SUV with bright lights was tailgating me. I took extra care in making full stops at every stop sign to annoy the offender, when I thought I heard something over the radio. Were they beeping? I lowered the volume, and thought I heard words or perhaps music. Maybe their radio was blasting? I turned off the radio completely, and realized there was a metallic scraping coming from under my car, or worse under my hood! That light on my dashboard seemed to throb in a mocking “I TOLD YOU SO!” fashion. I envisioned my muffler or some other part dragging on the ground, and made a right at the next stop sign. I remember the last time I pulled over in a nice neighborhood, coming home from my old job with a flat tire. The people in the mansion called the cops on me. I feared it happening again, but instead I got a miracle. The second I made the turn, the noise just stopped.

My best guess is that I was dragging something, maybe a branch or some piece of metal, and when I turned the corner it remained behind. I got home without incident, and as far as I could see, my muffler and tailpipe were still attached. My dad said I definitely would have heard if I had no muffler, and the car of course would have been a lot louder. I'll look under there again when it's light out, and since I go to work on the same road I'll see if I can spot what I was dragging. Certainly my car has a problem that needs to be addressed soon, but I still need to get from point A to point B in the meantime. With everything else that's going on in my life right now, I don't need one more thing on the list. I feel like I could handle one more thing if I had to, but I'd rather not....