The Missing Key
In 2005 I bought two cars. I bought a Volkswagen Passat V6 for Paula who chose a gunmetal grey color. I bought a Saab 9- 5 Turbo V6 in silver which I just loved for me. However, I impulsively traded it in for an Infiniti I 35, eighteen months later. This was because I found the seat sagging a bit, at least in my mind, (which is probably the nearest thing to the seat). Besides I had never owned a Nissan product and I made a good trade dollar wise.
The VW got some hairline scratches on the doors from commercial car washes and Paula or someone else scraped the aluminum wheel on the front left tire and it made me sick every time I looked at it. You had to see it to enter the car.
When I needed tires I went to a relative’s wholesale tire business and his former partner sold me a set of snazzy looking speed rated tires. They were so noisy that I took a dislike to the car immediately. I was building up a case to get rid of the car. I found a shop where I got the four doors sprayed for two hundred
dollars. At least I felt better for that, except when you trade it in they measure the thickness of the paint and they deduct for that. Keep your scratches; it doesn’t pay to repaint little stuff.
One Saturday we were meeting Harriet and Eddie our friends and cousins to go to a movie and light bite. They had just gotten a new Lexus. After the show I asked if I could drive it. Paula went with Harriet in the VW and I asked her if she had her (electronic) key with her. I held mine up to her from near the Lexus and she answered that she did not need mine. So I put it away. I drove the Lexus and loved it. The day finished uneventfully.
The next morning I could not find my VW key. I called Eddie to search his car which he did, to no avail. I drove over to where the movie theater was and checked if anyone found a key for a VW. The plastic key trigger was emblazoned with the VW logo. It cost about one hundred fifty dollars plus a reprogramming fee for the electronics to be replaced. I checked the swales of a square block that we walked on the day before as well as a parking lot and went back and checked with every merchant on the block. No luck. There was no way in hell that I was going to pay for a new key. I did have a spare that opened and closed the driver’s door only, but did not set the alarm or open the trunk or other doors. It was just a dumb old key. In desperation I asked Eddie if he would mind if I can check his car which I did. No luck there either. Now I had a real hate for the car.
In point of time this was 2006 when I was undergoing chemotherapy. While I was in the hospital that very summer for thirty five nights with complications, I kept my sanity by planning to buy all new cars and changed my mind ten different times. I said that I was going to enjoy my life and look to make myself happy and promised myself a big birthday party which I did as well in January2007.
In the oncologists office I was reading about getting an American made car with a German car ride for just less than fifty thousand dollars. This was the Volvo S80, top of the line. This was on a Friday. Saturday morning I was at the Volvo dealer and fell in love with an off white model that was the only one left for the end of the model year. It was the last day of the month and that is the day to buy a car so that he dealer doesn’t get stuck with his interest to the bank for the left over cars. I traded in that VW on the spot and was not asked about the extra key. I literally stole that car for twenty three thousand dollars and the VW. The new one had every accessory available and every extra aside from a factory GPS which I don’t care for anyway.
I love that car and baby it. I also love my 2007 Toyota that we keep up north and the 2008 VW Passat I bought Paula when I took in her 2006 for an oil change last October. (Not that I’m impulsive or anything like that). I loved the loaner they gave me and it had an automatic seat. Paula hated the model we had as it hurt her back pulling the handle to adjust the seat after I drove it every time. I got her a deluxe model this time in a silver color with nice light leather seats that adjust electronically and all kinds of doo -dads that are fun. This car is a keeper and it is sliver as well which is easy to keep clean.
During a spring rain storm this year, Harriet got caught in her Lexus on a flooded street in her town of Great Neck, New York. The car stalled and someone called the police who told her through a loud speaker to sit tight as the flood always subsides and the rain was to stop shortly. Her car had to be towed and was taken to the Lexus dealer. Her carpeting was ruined and after the insurance adjuster looked at it the carpeting was replaced as well as few other items that were water damaged.
When we came north last May Harriet and Eddie told us about that incident and they sheepishly told me that they got a call from the dealer asking, “Do you own a Volkswagen, we found a key under the carpet crease in your car?” Duh, it didn’t take brain surgeons to figure that one out. At least the mystery was solved. I felt better for that. This may be because I misplace keys and eye glasses every day of my life.
Now the problem at hand is as follows. Hopefully it will be resolved in one month from this writing. This past May we left the Volvo in Florida and as we were leaving to go to the airport I asked Paula where her key was. She could not find it. I had mine and she insisted of course that I had her key. I showed her my paint marked key and it was hers that is missing. A cursory search showed up nothing. We had to leave right then.
If you see me driving something other than our Passat or my Volvo rest assured that I couldn’t find the key. But this key usually comes home like a dog when it gets hungry. I feel we will find it. You see, I don’t feel like buying any cars too soon.
September 13, 2009
Footnote: I returned to Florida, could not find the key but bought a new one for about $400.00. The original key never got hungry enough to come home.
