In the Mind of a Fish

My first car was a little yellow Mazda rotary engine with a black hood. The hood was black because it had been dented and the guy who fixed my car back then would just use whatever he had available to make the car operable. He had a hood that was not yellow, so he painted it black and put it on my car. It looked fine and made it easy to find it in a parking lot when I wasn't able to park next to a light pole.

Every time I got in the car, I put the key in and turned it. You may be able to imagine what happened next. Yes - the engine started and I drove places in it. I drove it a lot and all over the North West and it kept on doing exactly as I expected it to do. I never once thought that I would take another car along with me on long trips just so in case this one wouldn't start after we got a long way from home. I had complete faith in that machine.

One day, it betrayed me and didn't start. I looked it over, tried to figure out what the problem was and then, finally, towed it to the guy to repair it. I had no faith in that car to be able to take me there. In fact, since it was broken and I knew it, I didn't even attempt to start it. I just hooked a rope to it and pulled it behind my friend's car to get repaired.

The funny thing that I noticed when I got it back was that I sat in the seat and gingerly put the key in the switch and cautiously turned it to only find that it started right up with no hesitation. All of a sudden, the faith I had lost in this machine was completely renewed. I didn't have my friend follow me home to be sure it made it and I didn't just leave it there with the repair guy because I didn't trust it. I simply started the engine and put it in gear and went home. I enjoyed many, many more miles in that car before it was destroyed beyond recognition and was completely unable to run any more.