Prompt: Day 3. A poem that takes time.
A Good Home for our Trusty Pack-Horse
The one thing we had at that time was a little
extra money. And I just happened to be
passing the local car-sale yard when this car
just happened to catch my attention: a big green
Mazda 626. If we pooled our resources; your
compensation monies; and my savings, we could
just about manage this; though first I would
deal. Why not? The dealer knew I was looking
for a good sized boot in which to transport
your wheelchair and/or your walker: the things
you needed when you went between home
and respite care. Yes, it would suit us well
and he was a fair dealer letting me take it home
for you to view. To view was to make you smile.
We completed on the deal. How many times
I took you to appointments, a ride in the country,
visiting friends. Then when you were admitted
(and that was after several years) to special care,
sometimes I drove “The Green” up the road
and across the river to visit you as often as
three times a day. “The Green” was a big empty
car after you were gone, but I was not about to
swap her. I continued to call her “The Green”
even though there was your big green Lazy-boy chair
as well. Then water somehow got into “The Green” (car)
after days of rain. She ceased to go. I sent her to the garage
and waited, and waited for the necessary work
to be done. It took two months, and a bad job at that.
Now she only fired if the temperature was about
eighteen degrees or warmer. I found a way to
warm her up. I pulled out a long cord and plugged
a smaller heater into the nearest plug, set the heater
in “The Green” and then, when warm she fired. I put
up with that for some years until, without disposing
of “The Green” I negotiated for “The Grey”, smaller
and automatic where “The Green” was a manual drive.
At last, I said to my lawn-mowing man, “You want
to buy this Mazda for $500?” Previously, he’d only seen
a dust-covered car set aside; but this day I’d just washed
her down. She always had a good green coat to catch the eye.
At first he said no, but as he was about to leave that day
he said, “You don’t mind if I give her a try do you?”
And up the road he drove. By this time I knew the
answer to “The Green’s” troubles was the replacement
of costly condenser and I knew it would be someone
else who had to source it, get things moving and so on.
We worked our way through that and I also pointed out
the touches of rust; but he was keen to take her. I let
her go with a heavy heart; he was happy and if he
got it sorted, which he did, he’d gift it to his sister.
Seemed like a good result to me until, as the story
goes, a barney they had had so that she refused him.
But all long stories come to a good end. He found
for her a good home; some lucky teenager now
goes to college in “The Green”. And though I’ve got
“The Grey”. I still hanker for my lovely green Mazda.
Benita Kape © 3.4.2019
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