The Saga Continues...

As back story, a few weeks ago, two to be precise, I was walking past my car to find that it had been the victim of a hit and run. The driver's side mirror was broken off and the mirror smashed on the ground. To my delight, albeit momentary, I found a note from a kind by-stander. The note implied that someone had hit my car and left a brief description of what kind of car and the tags. It had no information as to who left the note.

I called the police, they responded, and I filled out an incident report, only to find out that the police report is essentially useless. First, the officer informed me, the suspect has out of state tags and all the police department can do is look it up and find out that the person lives in NY and there is nothing (apparently) that they can do with that information. Second, my deductible was probably higher than the amount of damage done to the car, so I probably wouldn't even need to file a claim or use the report. He gave me my incident report number anyway and went on his way. I, not wanting to deal with this after a long week, stuck my head in the sand, so to speak, and ignored the situation. Since I rarely drive the car it was easy for me to do this.

Yesterday, I go out to my car - 2 weeks later - and find another note on my car. It said, "Please call me about your car, Jessica" with her number. Trying not to get my hopes up, after all it was a Colorado area code and the note left previously had said a NY driver hit my car, I phoned her and left a message. She called back and explained she hit my car and wants to pay for the damages.

Now, let's pause for a moment - I told this story both to my mom and to my friend Holly and both had the same reaction, which was, "Your car got hit again??" Hmmm. See, MY first reaction was the complete opposite. It was, "Wow, someone hit my car 2 weeks ago and had a change of conscience, came back, and left a note! What luck I have!" Its occurred to me recently, and repeatedly, that my mind will never quite work the same way as everyone else's. I now believe this is what kept me a B+(ish) student and not an A student.

Example: Friend Tiko is moving out of town; his friends are throwing him a going away party. The evite says "Kentucky Derby themed - costumes encouraged." I have my costume all set in my mind. I go out to dinner with Liz and Melissa the night before and ask them what they're wearing.
"Flowery dress and pearls," they both agree. Seeing my embarassed face, they ask, "Why? What were you going to wear?"
"Oh...[pause] I was thinking of dressing like a jockey...." The idea of dressing as a person attending the Kentucky Derby hadn't even occurred to me. I really thought we would all be dressing like jockeys (or horses I suppose).

So now I ask this to anyone reading (anyone? hello? is this thing on?) - Was it a new hit and run or the previous hit and run? Some things to consider are as follows: How long had this note been on my car? Didn't it rain last week? Wouldn't it have been a crumply mess if it had been rained on? And how soon can she send a check to cover the damages before she starts asking herself some of the same questions?

I've thought about a few possible scenarios here. One is my first reaction (see above). Another idea, which I only thought about after talking to my mom and Holly, is that after I pushed all the pieces of the mirror back together, someone else came and tapped my car ever so slightly and the whole thing fell apart. The "second hitter" sees this and is amazed at the amount of damage such a light tap accomplished, but leaves a note at the scene anyway. See, the note said that a blue Honda Accord with NY tags hit my car. When I spoke to "Jessica" yesterday, I told her that I appreciated her leaving the note and that I thought I was out of luck because of her out of state tags. Her reply, "No, I have DC tags." I didn't say anything else.

I also considered leaving the car back where it was parked for the past 2 weeks and seeing who else wants to take ownership for the damage. But, in an attempt to retrain my mind to think more uniformly with the rest of society, I quickly rethought the decision and decided to never park my car at that intersection again.

I kind of think of my car like a delinquent child, who you can't help but love, but with whom you are repeatedly disappointed. A tough love handbook somewhere would tell me to get rid of the car, but my heart makes me keep it despite all the trouble it causes me. I can only hope that someday it will sort itself out and we can both look back on our tough times together and smile.