Memorable drives : Drive # 1

1966 : In my 1956 Oldsmobile 88 hardtop, I feel a sudden drop of power. It’s one week before Christmas, and I am almost alone on Interstate 90 East between Erie and Buffalo. The sky is overcast ; it’s cold but not freezing. No sign of human activity anywhere. A more monotonous, empty, grey and dark-green landscape is hard to imagine. What shall I do ? Wait by the side of the road, hoping for the hypothetical arrival a police cruiser or that of a good Samaritan ? Or, at the risk of killing the engine completely, do I keep limping at 30mph until I spot a small hub of human activity ? No cell phones in those days, obviously. I choose the second solution. Ten very long minutes later, I spot a cluster of grey buildings. I’m lucky : one of them is a repair center for trucks. The mechanics sympathize with my predicament, and agree to take in the Olds. It doesn’t sound too bad, they say, but they’ll need a few days to get the parts.

I take my small suitcase out of the trunk and make my way to a mangy-looking diner with peeling yellow paint. I arrive in the middle of a wedding celebration ; a very small one indeed : ten people at the most.

With his long hair and small mustache, the groom looks like Sonny Bono. He’s also donned flared trousers, a white shirt, a psychedelic tie and a red jacket. The bride, clearly pregnant, is a podgy little thing in a simple white dress with a tulle train stitched on as an afterthought. There is no champagne : just a non-descript bubbly, and the wedding cake looks as if it came from Gee Bee’s frozen foods department, and has been waiting in a back room for days. The general atmosphere is gloomy in a falsely cheerful way. These people are uneducated, unqualified no-hopers. They know it. Their eyes are vacant : they’ve accepted their fate. I feel sad for them. At the same time, I admire the way they keep going. Life is life : no questions asked.

Second time lucky : the Cleveland-Toronto bus will stop here briefly in a couple of hours. All is well.

The same bus brings me back a few days later. My car has been beautifully repaired for a very reasonable price.