Car Story #2: The Maui Car

So here is car story number two.

My mom has owned a variety of fun (read: about to fall apart at the seams) cars in her time.

When I was really little she owned an Austin Marina. (I was really little). I liked that car.

But the BEST car my mom ever owned was this beat up white Fiat. We called it the Maui car. Not only because we lived on Maui at the time (I was about 12 years old), but because Maui cars had a reputation for being awful, but not so awful that they couldn't get you to the beach, which was the whole point of owning a car on Maui.

This fun Fiat had it all. I remember it had holes in the floor of the car in places so you could watch the road rush by under you. It had holes in the roof where the sea air had rusted through. When it rained, we had to put towels on our seats and on our laps because the rain would come through the roof and land on your head and your clothes. If you didn't wear a towel over your lap, the rain would stain your clothes.

The Fiat was also very noisy. It had a broken muffler. You could hear the car coming from down the street. My friends got so good at recognizing the sound of the Fiat that when I would go over to their house, 2 minutes before my mom would pull up in their driveway, they would say, "Your mom is here."

The piece de la resistance was the trunk. The trunk was so tempermental it would pop open everytime the car went over a speed bump, or a pot hole, or a mongoose that had become roadkill, or if you played music too loud.

So picture this. Every day my mom would drive me to Kula Elementary School. Every day the Principal, Mr. Kanimitsu, would stand in front of the school to welcome the students. Every day my mom would drive her noisy car over the speed bump right in front of Mr. Kanimitsu. Every day my mom would lean across the passenger seat and yell out the window that was broken and didn't roll up all the way, " Good Morning, Mr. Kanimitsu! Do you mind putting the trunk down?"

Mom loves to tell the story about how one day she was carpooling myself and my snotty science fair project partner, Kimberly, to school. Kimberly sat in the back seat scrunched down so as not to be seen by others.

Mom got pulled over by a Maui cop. Mom starts searching frantically for her Driver's License, which she kept bundled up with her credit cards and business cards held together by a rubber band.

My mom asked what seemed to be the problem or something like that. The officer proceeds to tell my mom her muffler is too loud. The following conversation is true. No words have been altered to protect the innocent junior highers in the back seat.

Cop: Ma'am, your muffler is too loud.
Mom: What?!? (shouting over loud muffler)
Cop: TURN OFF THE CAR. YOUR MUFFLER IS TOO LOUD!
Mom: (still searching frantically for license) WHAT?!?
(cue kids sinking lower in back seat)
Cop: YOUR. MUFFLER. IS. TOO. LOUD.
Mom: ( I promise this is true) (turning off car) I'm sorry. I can't hear you. My muffler is too loud.
(pause)
Cop: (heavy sigh) Just get it fixed.
(Cop walks back to motorcycle)

Mom drives off to school, just around the corner. Hits speed bump. Trunk pops open.
Two girls crawl out of the back seat with notebooks blocking their faces.

Mom: Good Morning, Mr. Kanimitsu! Would you mind putting the trunk down?

Kim never carpooled with us again. That's okay, I didn't really like her anyway.