Okay. I’ve actually got like three seconds of free time. As many of you already know the last few days have been out of control crazy. I was going to make some kind of creative writing thing out of it but there’s no time, lol. So here’s my weekend plus a few days in a nut shell…..
So Friday I’m at the newsroom working on my story that’s due Monday and I’m not really getting anywhere because my group and I are still trying to figure how we’re going to make things work. So I decide to go back to my dorm and get some lunch. Our dorms are down the street from the office so I walk. While I’m contemplating what outfit I’m going to where out that night I get a call from my mother. The dialogue of the convo speaks for itself so I’ve rehashed the quotes below:
“Hello,” I said.
“Dwayne where are you!?” Mom said hysterically.
“Uh, I’m in Florida,” I reply, my brow turned up in confusion. “Are you okay?”
“Where’s the car!?”
“It’s at Poynter. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I just got a call from a Deputy Boyd from Pinoka (actually Pinellas) something County Sheriff Department saying that my car was stolen and found it abandoned!”
“What, Mom, are you sure. This has got to be…..are you sure!?”
“When was the last time you drove the car?”
“I don’t know?”
“Dwayne, you need to stop doing drugs and all that drinking.”
“What!? Mom, I don’t do drugs and I haven’t drank for like a week because we’ve been so busy,” I said laughing and crying at the same time. “Our dorms are just down the street so we leave our cars in the parking lot. I haven’t driven it in a while.” Now I’m becoming hysterical. “What are we going to do?!”
“Call this Deputy guy on the other line so we can figure this out.”
Okay, so I call Deputy Boyd while I’m in my dorm and he tells me that he found my car in Pasadena (about 20 minutes from where I’m at) 11:30 that morning. It was abandoned on the side of the road with the ignition ripped out. So I head back to Poynter and tell the lady who heads the program, Kelly McBride. She immediately goes into damage control mode. She tells the security of the building to review the parking lot surveillance tapes and has emails sent out to everyone in the building.
So I spend the next 5 hours (that’s not an exaggeration) on the phone trying to figure out what happened and what I need to do to get my car back. And the runaround commences:
Deputy Boyd tells me to go to the impound lot to pick up my car.
The impound lot tells me that I need a release form from the Sheriff’s Department and said they’ll ask for the registration, which is in the car.
So I have to go to the impound get the registration out of the car, then go to the Sheriff’s Department to get the release and then come back to the impound lot and pay $100 to get my car. I know right, my car’s stolen and I have to pay for it. Btw, the car does not run because the ignition was ripped out, so after that I have to pay an extra $65 to have them tow it to a Ford Dealership. Then, of course, pay for Ford to fix it, seeing that my insurance is liability only.
After finding this all out on the phone, the next string of calamities occur:
At Western Union they told me the money my parents have wired for the impound fees hasn’t come through. So I’m forced to borrow money from Kelly.
At the impound lot, they couldn’t find the registration or the insurance papers. And won’t let me look for them. I can’t touch the car without a release form. But they did find a temporary registration form that expired a year ago.
At the Sheriff Dept. (which is an hour away), the asshole behind the counter wouldn’t give me a release form because the cars in my mother’s name, not mine. I have to have my mother mail me (can’t be faxed) a notarized letter legally releasing the car to me. Kelly, who’s with me, yells at him for being an asshole then we leave.
At the dorm, I call my mother and have her start the process to send the letter. “How do I find a Fed Ex?” she asked. “You could look online but we don’t have time for that,” I retort. (My mother doesn’t even know how to turn on the computer, let alone search a web site.) At this point it’s about 4 or 5 p.m. and to overnight any form of mail would take until Monday.
I head back to the office and throw myself into my work, looking for any diversion from the present insanity. Friday night is an entirely different story all together.
To help me forget my troubles the Poynter clan takes me out on the town and out of the 10 drinks (I think) I had that night, I only paid for two. I was little drunk, lol. After the bar I break off from the group with a couple others and we go to a gay dance bar and let’s just say Dante finally made an appearance. I was asked to go home with three guys. It was out of control, much of the night is still a bit hazy, lol.
Saturday morning I have to be up for class at 9 (it was a little rough, lol) and I get a call from Deputy Boyd. “When can you come down to the Sheriff’s office, your release is ready.”
“Wait, what? I went yesterday and they said…..” I stutter.
“It’s been taken care of.” Click
I found out later that Kelly talked with Boyd that morning on my behalf. I don’t know what she said but it was pretty effective. And after this whole experience I must say she’s the coolest person ever, lol.
But of course this tragedy can’t end without one more road block.
My parents tell me the money they wired was cancelled by Western Union because of verification issues and they won’t get a refund for three days. And the impound lot only takes cash so now I really have to take the money from Kelly. (Btw, Kelly, if you’re reading this your check from my dad is on its way, lol)
So, by this time I’m just expecting a lightening bolt to strike with my luck lately, so not much is phasing me. I have one of the girls in the program drive me to Kelly’s house to get the money, then to the Sheriff Dept to get the release, then to the impound lot to have the car towed. Since it’s Saturday Ford is closed and they tell me it won’t be sent over until Monday.
I continue to bury myself in my work to keep from bursting into tears and I spend all of my night at the Rocky Horror Picture Show (f-ing out of control!) covering it for the program and then sleep my life away Sunday. Yesterday my first story was published on line (Go to www.PointsSouth.net to read it!) And today I finished my second story, to be published Monday.
The car is now at the shop. I’ll get an estimate from the mechanics at 3 p.m. Let’s hope it’s not like $1,000 or something or I might be asking all of you to start a “Save Dwayne’s Car” fund, lol.
The only thing keeping me sane at this point is that it’s almost over, the nightmare’s almost over.
~D. A. Steward
