CATS RULE!
the above is an image of a larger than life bronze cast of german-born theoretical physicist albert einstein, taken in the lobby of a small used car lot outside of Bangor, Maine. i am still not sure of its relevance there. the man running the lot, a bald and slightly beer gutted older man, did try to indicate its importance, but his words were lost on me as he just rubbed the statue's nose and laughed.
our arrival to the lot was a welcome change of pace after a four and a half hour long commute north to get there. it was the longest and farthest i have ever drove since getting my car and license in september of 2022. it was crazy to me that the interstate stretched so far, even beyond the exit that we had already driven along 400 miles of interstate to get to. i enjoyed the ride up, but the road gave me an eerie feeling. it seemed that infinite miles of nothing but forest expanded east and west while we drove north. the only landmarks seemed to be the occasional skid marks and tires that adorned breakdown lanes.
avi's father had sent them, falsely claiming to know the dealer in what i'm almost sure was an attempt to prove his masculinity in at least KNOWING a car guy. avi's dad did not know the owner, and the information that he had assumed about him offering financing and relayed to us was false. ultimately, we would not end up getting the car for this reason. fuck you, john, not just for this but for being an abhorrent father and person in general. i digress. drew and i sat on the couch behind avi, who faced the oil stained dealer at a counter. behind him in the back of the room sat a teenager on a laptop, shouting into a headset while he played a game online. it looked like cs:go, and he looked about 16. i wonder what it must be like to grow up in an area so rural. there was nothing but grass, dollar generals, and warehouses as far as you could see standing in the lot outside. i would probably be playing cs:go in the lobby of my grandfather's auto shop too.
turning my attention back to the counter i listened in on the small talk being made as the man shuffled paperwork. they've been having bad luck at finding more employees, the man said. one quit to drink, and the one after left for a better job in the city. the most recent mechanic to be trained was about our age, he told us while raising his hands off the desk in front of him.
"he was riding on the freeway and forgot his wallet. he decided to turn around using one of those service only lanes in the center, the ones the cops usually watch traffic on," his fist hit his open palm with a dull slap, "next thing you know, he merged on and got killed by an 18-wheeler." the man chuckled dryly while we sat quietly, clearly unaccustomed to the typical workplace onboarding process of a used car lot.
go back.