I can’t help but think that someone put a curse on my 2012 Camry. That has to be the explanation. I don’t know who or why, but it would have happened early in 2020 – certainly a cursed year. It was a very dependable vehicle, perfect for my daily commute between Bowie, Maryland, and the New Carrollton Metro Station, about ten miles away. The Camry wasn’t flashy, and I never gave it a name, but it got the job done. All too quickly, it was gone.
February 11 dawned overcast with a little bit of rain. Shortly before 7:00 AM, I was traveling on Route 50, about a mile from the Beltway, when traffic came to an abrupt halt. I stopped, then looked into my rearview mirror to see a small car coming way too fast for the conditions. I thought, “It’s not going to stop in time.” A second later – BOOM.
The Camry and I limped back to Bowie, with the rear bumper sort of hanging in place. You may be familiar with my insurance company. They have a personable cartoon lizard out front on its commercials. They were great and within an hour let me know that the other guy’s insurance was going to pay for everything. Then the Camry went into the shop, where it stayed for over two weeks, as a substantial portion of its backend was replaced. When I picked it up, the car looked as good as new.
Then the pandemic arrived, and I started teleworking fulltime. The Camry sat in the driveway, biding its time waiting for normal life to return. I would take it out for a long ride once a week to ensure that it stayed in good working order. On Sunday, July 19, a real scorcher of a day with the sun beating down, I was getting ready to do just that when I saw that there were a lot of twigs and leaves on the windshield having fallen from a close-by tree. So, I got a bucket of water and threw it on the windshield. The gunk washed off. Then, I got into the car, turned on the wipers and couldn’t believe my eyes. The windshield was fully cracked in sort of an S shape from top to bottom. What the heck? Did I do that with the water on the hot glass, or had something else caused it?
So, it was back to the lizard people, and on July 23, their contracted service provider came out and replaced the windshield. The Camry looked as good as new!
Exactly a week later, on Thursday the 30th, evening thunderstorms came through the area. As they arrived in Bowie, we heard a loud noise outside that didn’t sound like thunder. So, we took a look out and from our perspective saw that a branch had come down from the nearby tree and hit the Camry, maybe denting it. The next morning, the full devastation was apparent. The back windshield was demolished, and the roof was smashed in about a foot. There were other serious dents all around my poor, poor Camry.
So, the lizard folks were contacted once again. And just through our description of the damage done to this eight-year-old car, and without even viewing pictures, they decided to have it towed “for evaluation” to Brandywine, Maryland. A tiny bit of Googling on our end led to the information that my car was being taken to a salvage yard. As one of my colleagues noted, “I guess a car “going to Brandywine for evaluation” is like “honey, I’m just going out for cigarettes” or “we’re taking the dog to a nice farm.”
That evening, the wrecker came and took away a darn good car that had reached three strikes in such a short time. It no longer looked as good as new.
Three days later, we received a very fair payout offer from the efficient and pleasant lizard people, who never asked about the possibility of a curse. And as for my 2012 Camry? Undoubtedly, within a short time, it was dearly departed (literally).