The Phantom Menace

One final piece of sad news: about a week before David and I left for Tasmania the Red Menace died an unexpected death while travelling southbound on the I5 .  The weather was bad and we were in a hurry to see some friends in Seattle.  When the traffic ahead came screeching to a halt we played along, but the driver behind us wasn’t paying attention – he plowed into us and, in turn, plowed us into the car in front of us to make a Red Menace sandwich. 

It wasn’t immediately obvious that the Red Menace was a write-off, but it was clear to us that we couldn’t leave Tess at Farcical Farm without a utility vehicle.  We rented a car (spent the rest of the weekend having fun in Seattle) and bought a grey 2001 Tacoma 4X4 three days later.  When ICBC finally gave the Red Menace the nix we rescued the canopy, our WALL-E mascot and the Nazi teapot* and transferred them to this new, pale shadow. 

Some six months later we still haven’t agreed on a name for this newcomer.  To be honest, my heart’s not really in it yet.  I’ve been driving it a lot over the past week so I feel like we’re beginning to develop more of a rapport, but there have been no waves of inspiration.  We’ll let you know when something settles.

*Several years ago one of David’s students gave him a decoration for the rear view mirror featuring (1) a jade teapot and (2) a jade swastika.  The latter is an ancient symbol for peace, which was inverted and demonized forever by the Nazi party.  We call this ornament the Nazi teapot simply because it sounds ludicrous.