Junk in the Trunk

I was driving down the road last night on the way to the car doctor.

And I watched all of the tale lights, back bumpers, and trunks on the highway in front of me and started to wonder:

Have I ever driven next to a car that had someone locked in the trunk?

Because we know that sometimes, people get thrown in a trunk. Maybe they were kidnapped. Or maybe…um…maybe something else.

And sometimes bad people throw dead people in trunks while they figure out where to dispose of the body.

So I was just wondering.

Think of all the things that exist within our reach that we have no idea about. The people we come into contact with every day that have stories we would never believe.

The person you smile at at the stoplight who has a 14 year old girl in his trunk. You smile and go on about your day.

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And then I saw a truck driving down the road. In the truck bed was a mini fridge and an old lazy boy and a small table. As I passed him, I looked in the window at the driver.

And I got really sad. Because something told me that this wasn’t a kid moving away to college and beginning the rest of his life. And this wasn’t somebody moving in with a girlfriend for the first time. It wasn’t someone that just picked up these items off Craig’s List at a really great price.

Something told me that everything that guy owned was in that truck. And that the reason everything was in the truck was due to some horribly unfortunate circumstances. Like job loss. Foreclosure. The end of a marriage.

That happens a lot to me. I seem to dial into people that are in desparate circumstances. And then I seem to be oddly aware of their story. And when an occaission presents itself when I can affirm my preconceived notions about someone, I have found that I am always right.

This never happens with really happy or really lucky people. But it happens with people that are hurting very deeply. Most recently it happened with a co-worker. An email went out that she was no longer working for our company. When I talked to one of my colleagues, she asked me what I thought happened to her.

And out of nowhere, I said that she met a guy on the internet and drove to meet him. When she went to meet him, she relapsed. (I assumed she was in recovery). When she relapsed, she got a DWI and got in trouble with the law.

People that are clinicians at my work need to have 2 years of continuous sobriety to work here because we are a treatment center. So she lost her job.

Well sure as shit, I found out about a week and a half later that the scenario I presented to my colleague was true to the very last detail. And I didn’t know this woman. I didn’t even know her last name. I just knew what department she worked in and who her supervisor was. And that she wore really bad clothes.

I want to be wrong once when I have these hunches. But when I’ve had the opportunity to be proven wrong, I have always saddly been right.

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I got a call at work today from the car doctor. Great news. My head gasket is leaking: $2,000. I need new tires: $475. I need new breaks and rotors: $300. And an oil change: $29.95.

Awesome. I can live without replacing the head gasket. For now. My car slowly leaks coolant and I need to refill the chamber every 2 months. Fine.

I can maybe survive without tires until fall. But I MUST get them before snow flies.

But I can’t survive without breaks. I checked.

So, fuck.

I hate cars.

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On Sunday I go to pick up Madaya. I will have her for three or more weeks.  I have a whole week of vacation to spend with her and Isaiah and Chewie next week. I can’t WAIT!!!

It will be the first full week vacation I have had in 6 years. I refuse to get sucked into phone meetings and working from home.

I am getting the hell out of here.

But that also means I have to pay for Madaya’s summer camp at the YMCA which is $170 per week.

So I am broke.

Broke like a mutha.

And I am done with work now. SO PEACE.