The Dream Machine, the Mayor and how the Town Caught Cold

I'm a car buff and my dream machine was a 1959 Cadillac Convertible. It took me five years of looking to find the right car, being a mechanic, I wanted a fixer upper project that I could customize to my own taste. When I first laid eyes on her she was a pathetic sight. Most people would have put her in the junk yard and put her out of her misery, but, for me, there was something about that car, I had to have her.

The flatbed brought her home and I put her in my garage and my wife just looked at me disgusted. She knew once again she would become a "garage widow". I live in Michigan and our winters can be mighty long and cold and this car was the perfect project.

A few weeks after I got the car, I got the most unexpected phone call. The mayor wanted to know if the town could "borrow" the car for our annual winter carnival. I extended my deepest apologies and explained there was no way I would ever have it ready for THIS year. Well, being a politician the mayor then said "well can I commit you to next year?" and I chimed in and said "yes of course" and proudly announced to my wife that I was now working on the car for the mayor. She wasn't impressed.

From that minute forward nothing went right. My normally warm, heated garage conked out on me and I had to bundle up like the Michelin man. Of course, that made it impossible to work so I took off a lot of the heavy clothing which of course lowered my resistance and my immune system. Every time one of the kids came home sick, I caught whatever they had, only worse. I was never so glad to see a Spring arrive in my life.

Finally, in June, I had my sweet ride nearly perfect. The only thing that remained was fixing the convertible top. It wasn't just a matter of getting a new top for the car, it had serious mechanical issued that needed to be rendered. For now the car top remained in the "down" position. And, I proudly drove her around town in good weather, and, even my wife was proud of me and that car at this point.

I patiently waited for parts to arrive to fix the convertible roof, but, when we got to October, I began getting nervous. Even though our winter carnival wasn't until December, I wanted to have the car 100% ready to go as soon as possible. By the time November came along, I was almost in a panic. And, then finally, a week before winter Carnival the parts came, the roof worked perfectly, and, I was a happy man.

The night before the winter carnival, I washed the car and waxed her up. No machine could look finer. I proudly went inside, but, couldn't sleep that night because I was so excited.

I was up at 7AM start and drove the car over to the high school which was the beginning of the parade route which kicked off the winter carnival. It was a gray day, nothing unusual for winter in Michigan, and, a bit cold, I waited for the mayor. He arrived soon after and remarked how beautiful the car looked and slapped me on the back for a job well done.

The mayor proceeded to ask me to put the top down so he and his wife could be seen. And, of course, I had the honor of driving them. It doesn't get more honorary than this in small town America!

As we waited for the kick off of the parade, the clouds grew meaner looking and began looking threatening. I was a bit concerned that we'd make through the parade. We started at 10AM on the button and we were off. About 20 minutes later, I swore I felt a drop of rain. Within 10 minutes of that drop it was drizzling - just enough to make it miserable, but, not enough to send most folks home. Not long after the mayor's wife let out a sneeze and asked if we couldn't put the top up. The mayor insisted "no" - it was an election year coming up and he wanted to be seen. The mayor's wife sneezed a few more times and insisted he put the top up. He started to grow angry and said no and that rain and cold weather didn't cause colds - germs caused colds he said with great force. Then the mayor let out a mighty sneeze himself. And the mayor's wife just looked at him as if to say "see"...

What both the mayor and his wife failed to remember was just a few nights before they attended a fund raiser at a local restaurant, and, the host of the evening had a cold as did several other people in the room. Being a politician, hand shaking is going to lead to shaking hands covered in cold germs. But, I digress.

We finished the parade, and, headed off to the party tent to celebrate the opening of the winter carnival. All three of us were soaking wet but we went anyhow. They had heaters in the tent and at first they were welcoming to our cold souls, but, after an hour, it was almost unbearably hot. The mayor insisted that my wife and I spend the time with him and he proudly introduced me as the man that drove him that day. In the meantime, the mayor's wife was sneezing and it was pretty oblivious she was getting a cold but he seemed oblivious to her misery. She pressed on and smiled and shook hands with all that wanted to do so.

It was no surprise to learn the next morning the mayor's wife woke up with a horrible cold. A few days later the mayor had and so did I and so did half the town. And that's the story of the dream machine, the mayor, and, how the town caught cold.