Okay, I can’t possibly contain myself any longer. The secret is out – I just bought my first car ! A lovely, white, 1998 Toyota Corolla (LE) with all the snazzy features you could possibly ask for – rear spoiler, CD player, AM/FM/Cassette, power windows, power locks etc etc.
I have tried to sit down and think for a minute why it is that I am so excited about it. After all, it is just a car which so many Americans take for granted and not give even a second thought to [except perhaps when it breaks down on a highway!]. But whatever culture you may belong to, the enthralling feeling that surges through your blood on driving your very first car – something you paid for with your own money – is indescribable. Ever since I sealed the deal with the owner of the car on Saturday evening, I have not been able to stop smiling [with the only exception of the instant I first saw the insurance quote 
]. I concede that my reaction to the whole thing is not exactly typical but I absolutely love cars and am generally believed to react like a child when it comes to such things
And this morning is when the payment was made and I drove away with the car and the owner with his check. Even as I dropped the owner off at his house, he told me, “Oh, this Corolla is a great car. I hope you have good fun with it !” Those were kind words, I thought. I thanked him for selling the car to me and drove away, thinking about the impending war on Iraq. It might seem a strange time for me to be thinking of something like that but it couldn’t escape me that the owner of the car, Hassan, was from Iraq. He fled the country after the Gulf war of 1991 and has been here ever since. I thought he was being quite cheerful for a man whose country is very likely to be bombed in a few hours.
So that’s that. I have a bunch of things to take care of tomorrow – get the state inspection done and the vehicle registered. Once I am through, the car shall hit the streets and all you St. Louisians, watch out ! I am now on the roads !
[Pictures and more coming later.]
