The loaner, she is still with us. Day 7 and counting.
And in what can only be described as an incredible twist of irony or whatever, P drove the loaner to pick up some barbecue for dinner last night from our favorite barbecue place. They make the best barbecued turkey in the free world and I don’t even like turkey (why not ham for Thanksgiving? The Indians ate turkey because it was the only thing available. You can’t tell me the pilgrims wouldn’t have pulled up to a table with a Honeybaked Ham given the choice), yet this barbecued turkey with all the smoky, barbecued goodness compels me to eat it.
Oh, and the creamed corn? It is sinfully and wonderfully made.
I’m not implying that people are sinning in the making of the corn, I’m just saying it has a high fat content.
Just wanted to clarify.
Anyway, P is driving through the parking lot of the barbecue place when he notices about 4 or 5 men who have set up chairs in a kind of semi-circle configuration towards the back of the parking lot. He observes that they all have on ties and shirts and are hanging out in their lawn chairs and drinking beer. This is about 6:30 at night, so the temperature is still around 135 degrees and they are sitting out in the full sun.
We’re good friends with the owners of the barbecue place, so P calls Stew up and tells him about this group of men camping out in their parking lot. He tells him they don’t look shady or anything, it’s just kind of odd to see a group of grown men, dressed up, drinking beer in lawn chairs in the blazing heat, in a parking lot.
Stew says, “Oh, it’s no big deal. Those are just the salesmen from the Volvo dealership down the street. They sit out there and drink beer after work almost every day, even if it’s 135 degrees.”
P realizes, on closer inspection, that one of the men sitting there is, in fact, JoEL. And, they are all eyeing P as he drives off in the Volvo dealer loaner.
Suckers.
I’m thinking this scene speaks volumes about JoEL. God help him, he probably does think the service department is great because compared to sitting out in 185 degree heat in a concrete parking lot, while wearing a tie, anything is good.