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17 years ago or so, Susan and I received our biggest wedding present, a 1989 Pontiac Le Mans. My parents asked us what we would like, and after thought, came up with 4-wheel drive, used Subaru 4 door wagon.
My parents bought us a brand new, front wheel drive two door Pontiac coupe.
I don't think we named her at first, but at at some point, she started making a little chirping sound in the emergency brakes. This is how she came by the name cricket - or I think so. Cricket, for all her Pontiac branding, was a Dae Woo - and not the Dae Woos of today. Her electrical system was poorly designed and poorly executed. She arrived underfused even based on what the owner's manual said, but properly fused, she still had lights that flickered and functions that didn't.
Even so, we drove her for well over 100,000 miles. She got us where we wanted to go for the most part, and carried the stuff we wanted to cram in with little complaint. She was joined in service by Beetle, a used Cavalier, and then later by Pleiad, a new Subaru Forester. When Pleiad came to live with us, it pretty much spelled the end for Cricket as an active car. We kept her registered a while longer, but the end was in sight.
At one point, we thought we had found a new home for her - one of my nieces wanted a car and we sold Cricket to her for a dollar. Unfortunately, a change of heart later found her still unwanted, if loved, and unmoved and unmoving.
For many years, now, Cricket has been a lawn ornament - to use ornament broadly. She has been home to wasps and yellow jackets. She has provided a wind barrier that has allowed a small row of white birch to start growing in an area in which no trees had previously grown. They are now several feet tall.
A few weeks ago, a sign appeared at an intersection a couple towns north of where we live. It advertised a man who would take our car for nothing. We both saw it and thought to share the information with the other. Today, he came by to look at her. Her tires are very uninflated and he could not take her with him today. He will be back in a few days with a ramp truck. Then, the wind barrier, yellow jacket home, and lawn ornament we call Cricket will move on.
She will be seen only in our memories and photos and not in our yard. Goodbye Cricket.
As I have said elsewhere and elsewhen, I hate endings.
My parents bought us a brand new, front wheel drive two door Pontiac coupe.
I don't think we named her at first, but at at some point, she started making a little chirping sound in the emergency brakes. This is how she came by the name cricket - or I think so. Cricket, for all her Pontiac branding, was a Dae Woo - and not the Dae Woos of today. Her electrical system was poorly designed and poorly executed. She arrived underfused even based on what the owner's manual said, but properly fused, she still had lights that flickered and functions that didn't.
Even so, we drove her for well over 100,000 miles. She got us where we wanted to go for the most part, and carried the stuff we wanted to cram in with little complaint. She was joined in service by Beetle, a used Cavalier, and then later by Pleiad, a new Subaru Forester. When Pleiad came to live with us, it pretty much spelled the end for Cricket as an active car. We kept her registered a while longer, but the end was in sight.
At one point, we thought we had found a new home for her - one of my nieces wanted a car and we sold Cricket to her for a dollar. Unfortunately, a change of heart later found her still unwanted, if loved, and unmoved and unmoving.
For many years, now, Cricket has been a lawn ornament - to use ornament broadly. She has been home to wasps and yellow jackets. She has provided a wind barrier that has allowed a small row of white birch to start growing in an area in which no trees had previously grown. They are now several feet tall.
A few weeks ago, a sign appeared at an intersection a couple towns north of where we live. It advertised a man who would take our car for nothing. We both saw it and thought to share the information with the other. Today, he came by to look at her. Her tires are very uninflated and he could not take her with him today. He will be back in a few days with a ramp truck. Then, the wind barrier, yellow jacket home, and lawn ornament we call Cricket will move on.
She will be seen only in our memories and photos and not in our yard. Goodbye Cricket.
As I have said elsewhere and elsewhen, I hate endings.
