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Blogs by Marge B. Fulton
Legos and Life in America 10/2/2008 3:55:22 AM
A car and an economy made of plastic, I stopped by an auto parts store yesterday for a bulb. My left brake light had gone out. We bought this car new in January after the convertible was totaled. It seemed a little early for a bulb to blow. When you live in the mountains, your brakes get a workout. So, I guess it made sense.
The guy who waited on me seemed reluctant to step outside and help. Yes, the weather has gotten nippy here,but the sun was out. But he followed me outside like a brand new puppy. The "H" in Hazard must stand for helpful.
I watched as he worked on the black whatchamacallit. Actually, he asked me if this car had been wrecked. Boy was I taken surprise by that question!
The back bumper was crooked, something I had not noticed before. It was at that point I learned the name for that "thing". The same gadget that unhinges the light cover holds up the bumper. It is made of plastic and is a simple pushpin.
This moment felt like the V-8 commercials where one gets bonked on the head. Our zippy Dodge Caliber, white as a snowball, is put together with pushpins! No wonder it gets good gas mileage. Plastic makes it fly like a bass boat.
And to think, I am still running on the same tank of gas I bought the Friday of Hurricane Ike! If we coast some and stay home, we might make it a month on that tank. I had just bought the gas before it jumped thirty cents.
Maybe our country is held together by pushpins too. You know, plastic is the glue that holds our economy together. I wanted to buy a little bag of those pushpins to straighten my bumper. He said they were out of them. Could be that cars all over the place are popping pushpins.
America has been unfastened this week. Lets hope the fasteners are available for us as well. Whether they come from the super rich or the working class, it needs to happen.
This is a personal statement. I am due to go to our local newspaper's office in about an hour for an interview. I have things to share about my book and the writing process. Maybe my bumper will not fall off on the way downhill. My car and the economy seem nothing more than a pile of Legos. The book is guaranteed to not fall apart unless you read it a million times. Maybe a billion even. We hear that word often enough!
