Amanda Takes Off...

Tuesday Good Man and I went to get him a new (used) car. Since this car is going to be Good Man's car, he did all of the research on Edmund's, read the CarFax report, etc. He knew exactly which car he wanted before we got to the dealership (we actually bought a used car through Enterprise) and we were ready to go!

Our salesman was a good salesman. What I mean by that is that he responded to us and wasn't pushy. No, we're not going to add that. No, we're not going to need to look at four other cars (which will inevitably be more expensive than the one we want). He also answered all of our questions.

When Good Man did his test drive he had to make a right turn onto a really busy road during the height of rush hour. "Take your time," I told him, "[Our salesman] wants to sell you a car, so he's not going to criticize your driving or tell you to hurry up."

Good Man nodded.

We finished all of the work except for handing over the money. On the way home Tuesday, Good Man said, "I am so nervous. I do not think I will drive much."

When I got home from work Wednesday, Good Man grinned, "I bought some car gadgets!"

"What'd you buy?"

"A trash bag, document case and adapter for my MP3 player."

Oh yeah, Good Man, you're not going to drive much...

Yesterday we went to get the car. After we'd finished all of the paperwork and Good Man got the keys, he told me he wanted to follow me home. He'd never driven alone and he was worried about it. That's fair.

I told him to adjust his seats and mirrors while he was waiting for me. When I got to my truck, I found his sunglasses. I grabbed them and started walking back to his car, only to find him driving off. I ran up and knocked on his window. "Where are you going?"

"Oh, I thought you were in front."

"You know I parked in back!"

Good Man grinned. "Oh, I forgot."

I pulled my car around and told him that I'd try to wait for a long gap in traffic, but if I couldn't get one, I'd go up to the light and turn left and wait for him. "It'd be hard to make a U-turn in this traffic, so we'll just make a few left turns, OK?"

"OK, left at light," he said.

There was no long gap in traffic, so I took the right, went up to the light, and took the left turn. I waited. And waited. And waited.

Finally I got worried, so I parked the car and walked the quarter-mile back to the dealership.

And Good Man was gone.

He didn't have the GPS system and I didn't have my handphone. I asked our salesman for his phone. I didn't want to distract Good Man, but I was worried since he had been worried about driving home alone.

I called him. "Oh, I tried calling your phone, but you did not answer. I just made U-turn and took another way home. I am about two miles from the house."

Good Man!!

He beat me home by about 15 minutes, but he didn't have house keys. When I arrived, he was waiting outside, smiling.

"Now that you can escape, I suppose I'd better become a really good wife," I said.