Well, dear reader, I bring you yet another episode of the expensive and frustrating Guamanian Car Saga. To review, I have already bought two vehicles for use on Guam. The first one lasted twenty minutes. The second lasted two weeks. I was able to drive a coworkers car for a week and a half while she was off island. Desperate for a functioning car and with my bankroll growing smaller and smaller, I called a girl named Delores about a 1993 Toyota Corolla Wagon. She apologized but she could not show me the car for several days. She was volunteering for the Obama campaign here on Guam.
This month Guam was center stage in the presidential race. The 2008 Democratic primary will probably be the first and only time that Guam will play any significant roll in any election. After the primary, Guam will revert to its unremarkable and nationally irrelevant status as a territorial pariah. Not only does Guam lack any electoral votes, but there isn't even a meaningless popular vote. On this island, no one can cast a vote for president at all. Period. So, with the added importance of the democratic primary, both Hillary and Obama bombarded the Guamanian airwaves with adds, totally perplexing the local people unaccustomed to political commercials. For once people on Guam were actually given an opportunity to cast a meaningful vote for president, if only in the Democratic primary.
Several Days after my call, Delores and I met to check out the car. The car started (unlike my first car) and drove and the brakes worked (unlike my second car). Although the car is a little banged up, runs loud, paint is going fast, and the tires are as bald as Mr. Clean, it did seem pretty solid. I recounted my car saga as pathetically as possible. Delores expressed sympathy and offered for me to drive her car for two weeks without paying! In review: Delores will sell me a car that works, allow me to test drive it for two weeks and she is an Obama supporter = Delores is a saint.
After the meeting I followed her back to Obama HQ and offered to help during the primary on Saturday. I returned on the day of the primary to answer phones. On two occasions I delivered more ballots to the polls, but only voted once. Needless to say, the primary was extremely disorganized. In the end Obama won Guam by 7 votes.
Today I am still driving the car. It still runs and the a/c still works. I have not paid for it, but Delores has already signed over the title and given me everything. I can not believe that she has not required some form of payment, her trusting naivete is like a mirror image of my own. Tomorrow I will finally pay her with my last amount of money.
For the next episode: Selling the Cadillac.
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