hati

Part 2:

Okay, so now I'm at LaGuardia and they've released my car for towing. It's killing me to be able to look at my car, but not drive it.
Adding to the list of awful things that could go wrong is a special AAA provision that only happens in New York. AAA WON'T TOW a car that ISN'T REGISTERED! Noooooo! ONLY IN NEW YORK! Unreal.
So now I have to call a tow guy, and the airport garage recommends one. When he arrives, I call the nearby Volvo dealership where I had agreed to take my car. But the I find out thery're going to charge me a storage fee! What happened to the Volvo community? I wsa going to get work done on it! Bastards! I've done this sort of thing before in Rhode Island, so I know it's not strict policy to charge for storage.
So now I'm in trouble. It's getting dark and I have to get my car, which is hooked up to the towtruck, somewhere else besides here.
So that's when Kumar, the tow guy, manages to express that he would be happy to hold my car for me at his place. Mind you, I have to ask him to repeat this several times becuase his accent is so damn thick I think he's giving me directions to Mecca. Oh man.
I say again, oh man. This is bad.
By now, I'm resigned to my fate. I tell Kumar to take it. It'll be $10 a day. He gives me his card. I give him my car. I wonder if it will be the last time I ever see it.


Back in Providence, I am doing everything I can to get my car registered. However, there's yet another twist. In Oregon, you can't register your car unless it's inspected, but in Rhode Island, you can't get your car inspected unless it's registered! Argh!
But, the good people at the Oregon DMV help me out. I print out the necessary documents and mail them out right away, INCLUDING a NEXT DAY DELIVERY ENVELOPE so they can mail my registration back to me asap.
One week later, I'm wondering what's taking so long. I call them, and they tell me they mailed it out three days ago. I call the Post Office. THE POST OFFICE LOST MY NEXT DAY DELIVERY ENVELOPE! It went to the processing center in Salem and *poof*, just up and dissapeared. I am starting to believe I am cursed by some voodoo god of parking.
So the DMV mails me a temporary registration while they work on the full deal again. I travel BACK to LaGuardia, give the Port Authority guys my registration and get my plates back.
Oh wait, hold on. I get ONE of my plates back. I never have driven my car with one plate, but they're saying they don't know where the other plate is. So either they know where it is, and they're lying (people have theorized that it is mounted on the wall of fame there) or they are fucking idiots who have lost the plate. Fuckers.
So armed with one plate, I call Kumar. Kumar comes to get me.
My mood is sour becuase I've been waiting in the cold drizzle for an hour, but I'm so very close now.
But this is where things get plain dangerous.

Kumar's truck becomes a U.N. vehicle as we enter Third World Queens. Seriousy, I had no idea such places existed anyhwhere near New York, maybe not even America. Roads are so bad, I'm expecting some guy to be pulled over while his donkey takes a break. Houses are boarded up or trashed. It's fucked up.
We arrive at Kumar's, and "his place" is one of several small two story structures that has a fenced grassy mound behind it that can double as a lawn or a one-car driveway. And there's my car.
I can feel relief spreading through me. I give Kumar the cash, he starts to get the car ready to go.
But wait, here's the cops.
Yup. Plainclothes cops.
They think I'm getting a stolen car or something. The drill me like I'm a cadet, asking where I got this registration, what I'm doing in New York, and why I'm engaged in this sketchy transaction. It's cold, so I've got my hands in my pockets, until the officer says "Keep your hands out of your pockets." just like that. Very serious.
After much harassment, they leave. Kumar fucks around for about an hour in the dark while he tries to screw in a tiny little piece that he had to remove to tow a parked car. He can't do it, so we go back to LaGuardia. But, it gets done, and I get my car back.
What a nightmare.