The More Things Change.......

Doyle called the day after the third Event, and wanted to meet. We agreed (actually he said and I agreed) to the lower level at Woodbridge Center, outside of Sears at 8:30 AM the next day, which would be Sunday the 20th. The stores in the mall don't open until 11 on Sundays so we'd have a certain degree of privacy.


When he showed up, he said to follow him and we started walking. I guess we were supposed to look like a couple of regular mall walkers, although the suit he was wearing was a little out of character for the purpose.

"Well, you managed to get 3 Events in the first month. Now you only need 9 more before the test period is up. Looks like you might make it."
"Gee, Thanks!" I couldn't tell if sarcasm works on him, but I try to keep my hand in."Did you ask to see me to tell me that, or is there something else?"
"Have you given any thought to how the next 5 months will work?"
"I though you said that there should be no thought, no planning, that it should all be random."
"Yeah, I know, I did, and it should. What I meant was what are you gonna do when the weather turns bad? The next 5 months will take you into February, you know."
"I hadn't thought about it. If it snows or we get some really harsh weather, not only will I not be able to walk around as well, but no one else will either."
"Right. But we've thought about it, and we have a solution."

And that's how I wound up with a car courtesy of the government. Before you start griping about your tax dollars, let me explain:
Doyle couldn't just give me a car, because it wouldn't fit with my current lifestyle. People might talk. Instead he came up with a more novel approach to the situation.
He arranged to have a friend of a friend remember that I was currently without a car. With the seasons changing and given that the transplant had only been 10 months ago, they decided that the car she was going to donate to charity should go to me. So for the princely sum of $1.00 I became the proud owner of a 1990 silver, 4-door, Chrysler New Yorker with 114,000 miles on it. (I actually left $2.00 for it, but the title said $1.00 and I wasn't going to argue about it.)

I questioned Doyle about this. After all, I thought, my walking around all the time was what made me the ideal candidate for this project. He told me this would allow me to move a little further outside my comfort zone, and maybe try going out in the evenings as well. Also, again, he mentioned how the weather might create some problems. I really didn't care what his reasons were. I was now mobile. Or almost. I still needed insurance, and there was a trip to Motor Vehicles that couldn't be avoided.

Monday, I searched on-line for insurance carriers, and settled on one of the national chains because they were reasonable (read cheap), they would debit my checking account automatically, and they have a cute mascot. Onward to the MVD.

I mentioned before that I have a daughter, right? Well, her boyfriend "volunteered" to drive me to the MVD and then to get the car. He was to pick me up around 12:30 and I said I'd spring for lunch when we were done. Neither of us thought we'd be done that early, but the offer of a free meal was out there. You may find this hard to believe, because we did, but I registered the car, got the new title and plates, drove to where the car was, changed the plates, and were sitting in a Denny's ready to order by 1:30!!! You go MVD!!

Now I'm mobile with 3 down and 9 to go and 5 months to do it in. Will the weather really cause me a problem? I can't worry about it now. I've got 3 more weeks in this month. I'm going to try to stay on 2 Events a month, at least. I really hope to be done sooner, but only time will tell.