Lions and Tigers and RATS "Oh My"

As the year of the Rat gasps it last breath and slides into the year of the Cow, I have to wonder if this has some meaning. While I admit I have never had any great love for a critter whose tail is longer than its body and I kill with impunity every one I see, still the thought that the rat might be feeling this same loathing for me is a consideration worth considering. I say this because 2008 (the year of that dreaded plague ridden varmit) was the worst year of my life. But now as it slinks away to some hidden alcove lined with shredded tax returns, missing socks and drier lint, and the cow ambles into view, already my good fortune returns.

Wayne and I decided the time had come to sell the MR2. I bought the little bullet right off the show room floor back in 1986. Fully loaded, with a speedometer that tops out at 150 M.P.H. I was stylin' to say the least. But now older and way slower, ( me, not the car) the time had come to let someone else experience the thrill of Hill Country roads in a car smaller than the white tail you were fixin' to hit. But in this time of economic woe it was gonna be hard to find a buyer. We cleaned it, put a "For Sale" sign on it and crossed our fingers. And we kept them crossed. We prayed for a buyer along with our nightly prayer for rain, neither of which found its way to our door.

Finally 2 nights ago after a few beers Wayne said, "Its to bad we don't know how to get ahold of the Toyota lady, she might want to buy it."
My reply " yep, your right but I don't even know that ladies name or where they live." And that pretty much ended the talkin' and the drinkin' commenced.

Now your wondering who in sam hell, ( who is that guy sam and why is hell named after him?)
is the Toyota lady? Well, a couple years ago on a fine spring day a couple folks stopped in the Knot. We could tell as soon as they came in the door they weren't knotheads: way to clean. And they probably weren't even beer drinkers. After awhile in the bar business you get a sense for this. And sure enough the lady of the couple says, "Who owns that MR2 in the parking lot?"
Answering her in the affirmative "pick me" with my hand raised, she let out a squeal of delite. She got all giddy in a strange kinda way, came around the bar, hugged me and insisted I drop what I was doing and follow her outside. Now I have been called outside in bars before by women but usually they weren't smilin' or huggin' me. And when we got outside to my amazement parked right there next to my white '86 MR2, was a white '85 MR2. This obviously meant a whole lot more to her than it did to me and she proceeded to tell me her story of her car, as she directed her husband to take pictures of us, the cars, the bar. She wasn't a drinker but she was high on some Japanese shit that only an MR2 owner can understand. But she was such a nice lady that I guess I ended up getting some kind of contact high and before you knew it I was as giddy as she was. It was one of those "you just had to be there moments" that I can't explain.

Another year passes and its another fine spring day, we are busy with flowerheads, (touristas in mini vans, starin' at cows and bluebonnets) motorcycles, and locals and a lady comes in the bar. Now shes all smilin' like I should know her, and I ain't gettin' nothin' in the way of recognition. She says "Its me, the Toyota lady. We just stopped by to see the car. "
Being in the bar business you get lots of people for lots of reasons. Some stop in to escape the spouse, some to escape the weather, and some because they are well, drunks. But this is the first time ever that I had people who live on the other end of the state come to visit my car. I really didn't know what to say but she seemed so anxious to make sure it was okay , that I took her out back to the carport and shamefully admitted than in the last year it had suffered a minor setback. I had backed into the front fender with the tow hitch of the Dodge truck, and while the prognosis was good, the necessary repairs had not be completed. She looked at me the same way I look at women with unkept children, it was obvious I did not deserve the car and said "But you are gonna get it fixed, right?" Now we all know I had no intension of fixin' that dent but before I could stop the words, out popped, "Yes, of course I am. You know how much we love our cars."
And just like that all was right in her world and poof she was gone.

So 2 days ago here Wayne and I are wishin' like hell we knew who this woman is and how to find her, and all I have is an 8x10 of us and our cars.

Now this is where the rat slinks off and the cow ambles forward and the mysterious east gets so strange I can't right now believe it and yet it happened. The very next morning Wayne walks in the house and says "I sold the car!"

I look at him like he lost his mind and said "What? To who?"

He gets a grin and says "Guess"

Well its way to early for guessin' games and I am somewhat hung over, so I say not real politely " I dont know just tell me."

And he says " THE TOYOTA LADY!"

What followed was a rapid fire conversation of who, what, when, where, how. But the bottom line was this: she woke up that morning thinking about us, and wondering about the dent, and decided if she could find our phone number she was gonna call and check on us. Well the rest is history. She is coming Wednesday to buy the car. I can almost hearing her squeals of happiness. And for those of you not familar with the Chinese calendar the year of the cow which offically begins on Jan24. is considered to be a lucky year for money, reuniting with old friends, and finding your inner self. Also the cow is associated with water, so maybe we will finally get some much needed rain to end this drought. But to me the real amazing thing, well its the same calendar they use in Japan.