Earlier this week Taka started by saying: "What do you want? Do you need a car? If so, you have to go find it!" Then he pretended to be indifferent to what kind of car I wanted to buy. If I said that we needed another van, he immediately jumped at my throat, trying to convince me to buy a small sedan, because vans guzzle fuel too much. When I tried to show understanding and agree with him to buy a small sedan, he made a 180 degrees turn and assured me that, I should choose the kind of a vehicle that I wanted. Still, his reasons made sense, and I knew that, if I don't listen to him, I'll be hearing about it in the years to come.
It was fine with me. I readily accept his superior knowledge of cars and miles' per gallon concerns. I began to look for a sedan.
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| MARY |
To make sure, I had to convince Mary to accept that idea. She recently lost a job in some stressful circumstances and:
1. is now more stubborn that usual, striving for control;
2. I am loth to keep correcting her because she is already under a lot of stress.
In other words, I now have two people with whom I am codependent!
Still, this was my car we were buying: I couldn't let Mary dictate, what to get.
We went to some dealerships yesterday. When a salesman there asked me, what kind of car I had in mind, I said: "a sedan" and, at the same instant Mary said: "a van". I kept insisting on my decision, and today Mary was quite compliant.
So, we went to look at a Honda. The small car was old, had a lot of miles on it's odometer, but ran well. We talked to a salesman, ran some figures around, came somewhat, to an agreement. I called Taka for the final approval. He said: "A sedan? What happened to buying a Toyota van?!"
If I could, I would've tried to throttle him at that time. Since I am used to him after these twenty five years, I just gritted my teeth and waited for him to say, what was really on his mind.
"You are buying it for yourself; are you sure, that's what you want?" - he continued. I bit my tongue and clung to a memory that, this morning he sent me the most accepting and kind e-mail of our married life, saying that, he was sure, I was going to find the best car there is for our family.
Soon he realized: I was not going to react in anger to his mind games, like I did many times before. He went back to consider the idea of saving money on fuel with a smaller car. We ironed out the costs with a salesman and shook hands.
Suffice it to say that, in the evening Taka and I went to finalize our purchase. The financial dept. guy turned out to be from Russia. He sounded like he was trying to give us a good deal, but then he printed out and unfurled on the table the l-o-o-o-ngest contract that I've ever seen! It looked exactly like something from a movie, when a person makes a deal with the devil! I told him so. He just shined at us with his eyes and teeth (it seemed like he had too many of them at that moment.Teeth, I mean, not eyes!) and pointed out the places to sign.
I brought Sonny with us to ride with me - for moral support. I don't like to drive in the dark. He and I got into the new car, and Taka went home in the old one.
As I was trying to navigate the freeway, I heard a loud whistling sound. "Sonny" - I said - "Turn off the air-conditioner, its distracting me!" Nothing happened. The whistling continued. I didn't want to take my eyes from the dark road, so I raised my voice a bit and admonished Sonny for not doing, what I asked. "Turn off the air-conditioner!" - I snapped.
"It was not turned on in the first place!" - Sonny replied.
Where did the whistle come from then?! Upon some investigation, we realized that, the air came in through some gap between the window and frame.  |
| MY OLD BLUE VAN ON THE WAY OUT AND THE NEW (USED) CAR ON THE WAY IN.. |
I don't think, the dealership will be willing to do anything to repair the gap. We'll just have to do it ourselves a little later. In the meanwhile, I will try to enjoy my whistling, new to me, car!
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