On Monday, I’ve mailed my letter via USPS and then decided last minute to get my smog check up in Milpitas, CA. I arrived at that place on 11:00AM and was dismayed that ‘Kevin’ wasn’t there to do my certification, except an old Asian couple. So I waited from for another one hour and twenty minutes.
I would have been out there by noon-time but some older Korean guy cut in front of me with his white GM truck. I didn’t make a scene about being overlooked by the older woman but he knew what he has done in error as he looked at me several times. I didn’t make faces like I used to when pissed but kept a calm demeanor while mentally flicking him off. Besides I wasn’t in a hurry to go home.
So there I was watching what was being done to the other cars. Drive the car over the rollers; raise up the car on the rollers sticking from underneath; down and up again. The computer graphics showed the attendant how fast to reve up the vehicle; maintain a constant speed and drop down when the test was over. Three cars went through this procedure with the last one testing for any leakage coming out of the gas cap.
There were different sizes of gas caps for testing as the attendant fitted the correct ones for a black Mercedes Benz bought from L.A. The testing on the Benz was different as the computer hookup was inside where the driver seat was located. The attendant didn’t have to do anything except unhook the vehicle from the computer.
I was worried about my transmission not working well on downshifting and the fact that some gaseous odor came out from somewhere of my car. When I noticed the line cutter was just about finished, I decided to burn off some of the gaseous odor; started my car and parked somewhere in front of the garage, waiting for my turn when I saw the old lady wave me into park indoors. The procedure was faster than the rest. In about fifteen minutes I was finished. I passed the smog test and all for $69.95.
So I merrily drove away and took the long way back home. No sooner than I realized a large SUV was in front of me. The driver, you guessed it, was a pale-faced female behind dark sunglasses. She is the second ‘entity’ that I saw with those big fat beads of necklace hanging from the rear view mirror. She spat out the driver’s side window.
I flicked her off with both my fingers subtly while gripping the steering wheel. There was noone to her left except a passing motorist coming from the opposite direction. This was prior to the Elmwood Correctional Complex in Milpitas, CA. She turned left to a bunch of living complexes located across the facility.
I made my way home, finding my parental units sitting down for lunch. ‘Paw’ had already left a voicemail message on my cellphone. Later, I went online and paid my stupid $72.00 to get that blue sticker to place on the upper right hand corner of the license plate on the back of my 1998 Ford Mustang; so as to avoid being ticketed by our friendly neighborhood ‘gesatop units’. Life goes on as usual in my neck of the woods. How’s yours?
Copyright © 2008 by Fluffy von der Flynn. All rights reserved.
