The Car is Ready to Blow
Calvin was always complaining about
progress and how the US was falling behind. Now he was back on the same
jag. ¨It´s true, Doug. Look at China. Cars show how far a society has come. Progress. Now they´ve got more than us. That´s an indicator; everything is Chinese;
it´s because they´ve got cars now.¨
¨Come on Calvin, what are you
nuts? What´s this poison soup we´re
breathing? Carbon m-o-n.-o-x-i-d-e. Take a deep breath of that shit.
Fill up those lungs.¨
The two men were standing on the
overpass of Route 20 A next to the mall waiting for the AAA to pick up Calvin´s
car. Smoke was billowing out from under
the hood and the engine looked like it was ready to blow. Even with his car practically on fire, Calvin
wouldn´t stop defending cars.
¨The Chinese are now ahead of us in pollution
too. They got big black clouds
there. You can´t see the light of day in
some of those cities. That´s progress?¨ Doug continued.
¨Think of it; the smell of a new
car. Picture it a Jag or, let´s say a Porsche.
Soft leather, heated seats in the winter when you get into that
baby. Cream color interior, GPS, a sound
system better than you got at home.¨
¨Get out of here, it´s not sex we´re
talking about. Dude, dream on. Where do
you see a Jaguar? What do you call that
smoking up a storm?¨ Doug pointed to the
20 year old Chevy ten feet away. ¨You
think it could explode?¨ He stepped
farther away.
¨Nah, only on TV. It takes a lot to get one to blow. You got to cover it in gasoline. My car is fine.¨
¨What´d you do, forget to put oil in
there? You with your cars.¨
Calvin ignored Doug and continued
his reverie. ¨Power’s what you want under
you. You can take on the world.¨
¨How long did they say?¨ Doug was getting
impatient. ¨They´re usually pretty
good.¨
¨An hour about.¨
¨That Chevy has seen better
days. Maybe you should get that dream
car.¨
¨The Chevy was Dad´s. Still got some life in it.¨
¨Yeah, if you keep pumping your
paycheck into it.¨
¨At least I´m not on some corner
waiting for a goddam bus.¨
¨Well, at least, I´m not poisoning
anybody.¨
¨You kidding. With those buses.¨
¨They´re ecological now. They burn natural gas.¨
¨Next you´ll tell me they burn
chicken shit. You luddites are going to
set us back a few centuries. Then you´ll
be happy. You won´t have any cars, no
lights, no TV, now that´s ecological.
Get your garden going. Make your
own clothes. What kind of future is
that?¨
Doug laughed, ¨I´ll keep my
way. You stay in that pile of shit. I´m going to walk to the mall. I got to get my daughter´s birthday present.¨
¨See how you get home.¨
¨Hey, I´ll take a bus.¨
¨Remember that´s why we´re in this
mess. There is no bus.¨
