There are days that “live in infamy”, but when you have two in a row, what do you do on the third? Do you stick your chin up and proceed or hide under the covers, hoping to avoid another catastrophe? I am not sure I am up for a third catastrophe. I spilled a full cup of coffee on my laptop on the first day. On the second day, I hit a car parked next to the space I was attempting to park in. The damage to my car was worse than that done to the other car, that was cold comfort. I was attempting to meet Susan for our traditional “Saturdays with Susan” which have been hard to come by these days between Co-Vid19 and other commitments that life throws in our way. This Saturday was going to be a normal “Susan” day. We were planning to meet at the Christmas Tree Shoppe, one of our favorite old haunts, and I was a few minutes early (not my usual m.o.) the parking lot was crowded as usual and I proceeded slowly as I looked for a space. I turned down a row where I had spotted several empty spaces, there was a pick-up truck coming from the opposite direction. I didn’t know if he was looking for a space or leaving, so I moved to the right to allow him to pass me. He kept going and I proceeded into the space I had in mind, I had already started to turn when I spotted a shopping cart about three quarters of the way into the space. I guess that distracted me and as I turned, I was too close to the car on my right and heard a sickening sound of car scraping car. I was nauseous. I got out of the car and examined both cars, although the damage to mine was greater, the other car had a lot of my paint on the bumper.

I took a picture of the license plate and set out to find the owner.

First, I went into Christmas Tree Shoppe and went to customer service. I had to wait because she was checking out a regular customer. I told her about the incident and told her I wanted to find the owner of the car. I had the picture of the license plate. She didn’t know what to do. I suggested that she announce that the owner of the car come to the front. She told me that she was not authorized to use the P.A. system. So, she called for a manager, who took 5 minutes to respond. I kept thinking that the owner could have been there and walked out by then, but I remained as cool as I could. Eventually someone with “top security clearance” got on the PA and made the announcement. Another 10 minutes passed and the customer service clerk suggested that the car owner may have gone to Michael’s, which was next door. I agreed and left, looked down the aisle where the cars were and saw no one there and the car was still there. I entered Michael’s and had an almost exact repeat of the previous experience, except this time she had to call someone else to use the PA because she didn’t know how. By now I am frantic, imaging the car owner finding her car and assuming I had left and calling the police to report a hit and run or whatever “leaving the scene of an accident”. Anyway, I walked out of Michael’s and saw a woman standing between the two cars. I practically ran to her and said “I have been looking in both stores for you, I didn’t want you to think I had left!” She was very nice. She said she saw that my damage was far worse than hers. She also said that her Dad had recently died and left her the car. I now felt far worse that I had damaged her legacy from her Dad. She had called the police and we exchanged information while we waited for their arrival. When he arrived he asked if there were any injuries. There were not. He asked if we had exchanged information, which we had. Then he said there was no need for him to file a report if we were handling it through our insurance companies. I thought this over for a minute, trying to decide if I was relieved or disappointed about not having a police file…only kidding.

In the meantime, I had texted Susan, who was already in the store making her purchase. She arrived as the police officer was leaving. She told me to breathe and then get in her car and she would drive us to lunch. Now that’s what a real friend does. She had selected a new place neither of us had gone to before and we had a lovely lunch on their patio. When we were just about done eating and I was starting to feel “normal”, Susan made the most profound statement: I think today is a cake day. I heartily agreed. We ordered two pieces of cake, one lemon and one chocolate mousse, which we both split and shared. It was a perfect ending to another lovely lunch on a Saturday with Susan. She drove me back to my car, which the police officer had pronounced “drivable”. I walked around and again examined the damage. I tried to push the piece of the fender in, but to no avail. Then it struck me: white duct tape. My car is white, silver duct tape would stand out, but white duct tape just might blend in. I went into the store and they did not have any duct tape. I got into the car and headed toward home. I called my son and daughter-in-law and asked if they knew if the dollar store had white duct tape or if they had any. They did not, but encouraged me to try the dollar store.

I got to the dollar store and they did have white duct tape. I was almost happy for the first time since cake. I bought it and texted them that I had made the desired purchase. A short time later, my son called and asked if I would like them to come and perform the “operation”. I was thrilled and said: Yes, please!

A short time later, after I had wiped the dust of the road off the car, they arrived and placed the white duct tape perfectly, putting all the parts in their proper place. However, the color of the duct tape and the color of the car did not exactly match…still white is much better looking than silver would have been. Now I have to deal with the insurance company and the body shop…more fun ahead.