Coming Home - Part 2
We left
Niseko the next day and headed east to meet Jude and Aya's son, Brin, who was flying in
from Tokyo to spend a few days on the Shiretoko Peninsula in Eastern
Hokkaido. It was a gray, cloudy day threatening rain. When we arrived
at Kushiro airport Jude and Aya got a mobile call from Brin saying
that his flight was delayed in Tokyo for a “mechanical issue”.
After a short time, while they were discussing what to do, he called again and said that they were
now getting ready to take off from Haneda Airport and would arrive a
couple hours late. Jude and Aya decided to kill some time by going
into Kushiro for some sightseeing and programmed me for the trip.
We were
driving along smoothly on a perfectly straight road. The pattern of
the streets was unfamiliar for people from the southern parts of
Japan with their narrow twisting roads. The wide streets were laid out in a grid pattern with many
crossroads. As we were going through an intersection Jude suddenly
exclaimed: “Oh shit!” Just then I felt a white blur smash into my
left front wheel with a loud crunching and banging-thudding sound. I
was pushed a short distance and then I couldn't move any more. I
filled up with smoke but my engine kept on running and the music
played on. Jude said: “Oh, SHIT!. We are FUCKed!” Then to Aya, who
was whimpering and crying: “Get out of the car, now!” Aya was
able to open the crushed passenger door and got out into the street.
Jude suddenly realized I was still running and turned me off and got
out of the car himself.
The
rest is a blur of sounds and images: Jude asking Aya if she was
alright and noticing blood on her torn jacket sleeve, trying to get
her to calm down. The driver of the other automobile pointing to the
stop sign that Jude had just run. The front end of his car was crumpled, a piece of it in the street. Sirens, a firetruck, an ambulance, several police cars, a
policeman opening my hood. I sensed that I was badly damaged; my left
front fender and left passenger door crushed, left front wheel bent,
my left front seat torn and several airbags dangling from the ceiling
on the passenger side. I was broken, unable to move. 
The
gray, rain threatening afternoon dragged on with mobile phone calls,
medical attention for Aya, endless questions for Jude and
measurements by the police. Eventually an ambulance took Aya to a
hospital and Jude was left in the street awaiting whatever was coming
next. What came next was a truck. The truck driver approached Jude
standing on the curb and said he was going to tow me away. Jude,
looking shell shocked and confused mumbled: “What?” The man
seemed to understand Jude's condition and clarified: “I'm a wrecker
service from Takanaka Auto associated with Xanadudu.” Jude
responded: “Oh, OK, whatever!” Just then another policeman came
up to Jude, introduced himself as "Natsu", and said he was going to drive him to the hospital where
Aya had been taken.
I was,
alone, abandoned, at the mercy of the “wrecker”. It had started
raining. An ugly looking beast backed up to my front end and lowered
a huge iron hook. The wrecker driver found a large iron ring under my
engine and inserted the hook into it and lifted my front up off the
ground with my grill pointed at the sky. I was then pulled, in that humiliating position, through the rain slick streets of Kushiro until we
reached what looked like an automobile graveyard where I was
unceremoniously dumped with the other wrecks. It was the end of my
short life and it was my own fault. I had been in the habit of announcing:
“There's a stop sign ahead,” as part of my GPS program. But I had
failed to announce the stop signs on that long straight stretch of
road in Kushiro and Jude had run one. We had probably run several of
them before the fatal intersection came down on our heads. Night came
down. It was dark.
A gray
rain-soaked dawn, other derelicts like tombstones in the stygian
light. Strange new sentients coming to look at me. Humans. “It's a
shame,” said one, “only 3,683 kilometers, practically brand new!”
“Not as bad as it looks, I've seen worse. Look around you!” said
another. “I wonder if the owner plans to junk it?” said a third.
“They are coming this morning. I'm going to recommend that it be
repaired. It's not that bad and it is a brand new car. It's worth
fixing,” said the second, “and it is fully insured.”
My
parents are coming. They haven't abandoned me. I hope they agree to
have me repaired so I can go back home! A taxi pulled into Takanaka
Auto's parking lot and three sentients got out: Jude, Aya and a
younger human who looked a little like both of them.”This must be
their son, Brin,” I thought. All three came and looked at me a
little sadly, I thought. Brin, who was seeing me for the first time,
said: “Ouch! That looks pretty bad. Do you think it can be
repaired?” “Well, to him I guess I'm just an 'it' ,“ I
thought, “he hasn't had time to get to know me. Hmph, I am a young
lady!” Just then Mr. Takanaka approached and invited all three of
them into his office for, he said, some tea and a chat.
A
little while later a very unattractive blue Nissan K-car drove into
the parking lot--puny, tinny and no power. Soon Mr. Takanaka and Aya,
Jude and Brin came out of the office all smiles and good fellowship.
Then I heard the good news. I was going to be repaired but it would
take some time, maybe a month or more. I would require several new
parts that had to come from the Mazda factory and many of my
reparable parts needed to be worked on. Once repaired I would be
shipped back home. Then I heard the bad news. That gaudy blue K-car
was a rent-a-tart that Jude and Aya and Brin would drive away to
continue OUR journey and leave ME behind to the tender mercies of
Takanaka Auto, while they went off in THAT roller skate to have a
good time without me. Humph! The Nissan was pulled up right in front
of me. Ugh! Jude and Aya transferred their remaining luggage to that
cheap tart. Jude dropped a bottle of gin and broke it on the hard
surface of the parking lot in the process. “Serves him right,” I
thought unkindly. Once everything was moved, they drove off and left
me alone, again. There I sat, abandoned and broken, in the Takanaka
Auto junkyard, for an endless wait for parts to arrive. And the rain
kept on falling.
To be
continued...
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