Mukilteo Musings

How Did This Law Abiding Family End Up in the Mukilteo Beacon Police Beat??
Part 4

When Kaley returned home from college and saw and drove the new (used) dark blue Acura, she was smitten. This was her car and she would no longer share with risky Dad. Besides, we were letting her take the car to college her sophomore year again leaving Dave without. The big old suburban was stored with our boat. Lucas had the Jeep. Kaley had the Acura. And our new Honda Pilot was mine---all mine and Apolo's. What was Dave to do? He no longer had a Porsche.

He had discovered the internet was great for used car shopping. Both Acuras turned out to be good cars and good deals. Online he went and saw a cute used Mercedes at an upscale used car dealership I'll call Wooly's (not the real name). I had no idea what a Mercedes was until I was in college. There are very few of them in Montana and there were hardly any 35 years ago but our dorm mother at MSU drove a boxy black one. She used to be rich and owned a large ranch in the Paradise Valley, but she was swindled out of her money after her husband died. As such, she had to resort to being a dorm mother for income but she managed to keep the car, the ranch, and a nasty attitude. Man, there is a whole other blog post about that situation but on with the cars. When I was in law school in Kansas City in 1976, there was this brand new small white Mercedes 450SL parked everyday by the school. I had never seen anything like it in my whole entire life and I thought it was beautiful---and there was that brand again, Mercedes. I have joked my whole life since about wanting a car like that.

Anyway, Dave decided to take Kaley to look at cars with him at Wooly's figuring she could help irresponsible Dad with a good choice. When they got to the dealership, the Mercedes was disappointing after a test drive. But on another part of the car lot, there she was: a beautiful mint green Jaguar in gorgeous condition inside and out. Kaley approved. Dave inquired and managed to make a pleasing deal. Home they drove and as they arrived, I just shook my head.

I liked the car. I liked driving it. It seemed much more grown up than the Porsche--a good car for a couple of aging hippies married over thirty years and entering the twilight of our lives. Our anniversary was in June and we drove the beautiful mint green Jaguar to Roche Harbour Resort in the San Juan Islands. We took it to dinner in downtown Seattle and let the valet kids enjoy it as well. We drove the Jag through the summer and into the fall. We even were able to do some romantic Holiday shopping and dining. How good could life be? Now that we were empty nesters, we were recapturing the time of our lives--the twelve years of marriage before we had children and the time we had had childless fun with our Porsche. The State of Washington kindly sent us the title stating that we were the right and truthful owners of the vehicle. We were in love with our new and beautiful used car.

What is it with this family? And what could happen next?

Stay tuned for part 5.