The Roomate

Yesterday, many of you were breathless with anticipation to hear more of Marsha's Adventures, but the author is going to take a small rabbit trail today, to tell a story about Marsha's roomate, Opal.

A few years ago, Opal also had some car troubles. Luckily, her cousin loaned her a car for a few months. A 1965 Mustang. Was she excited? You bet. True, there was no heat, but who cared when driving a Mustang! For a few weeks, everything went great. And, on top of it all, she knew that she was just really cool. However, one cold winter day, she was pulled over--for the first time in her life, I might add.

"Your tabs are expired."

Opal's heart stopped. What was she going to do? Well, she started by handing the officer her license and reached for the insurance. (I must rewind a little. Opal's cousin's kid had been playing in the Mustang the day before and had strewn the insurance cards all over the floor.) Opal searched the entire car for the right one, but could not find it, so she had to hand over an old card.

Opal received a very large ticket.

Wait. The drama does not stop there. She headed over to the Shoreline Municipal court to plead her case to the judge. The insurance part of the ticket was removed, and so all that had to be taken care of was the tabs. She gave the information to her cousin and thought no more of it....

...Until a year and a half later, no longer driving the Mustang, Opal receives a call from a bill collector: "You have a $175.00 ticket you must pay and your license has been suspended."

"What? For how long?"

"Six months. We've been trying to track you down."

Opal had been driving around for six months with a suspended license. And had no clue. Some people, especially Opal's mother think she needs a husband to take care of minute details like this one, but the author isn't so convinced. It's more the issue of being a victim of the American Legal System, don't you think?

One other quick note, we just were informed that Opal also forgot to renew her license this year and so drove around for a month, and even rented a car, on an expired license...

Maybe she does need to get married.