So Long Moby Dick

We've had Clifford the big red dog (our 15 passenger Ford van) in the auto body shop ever since the accident. In its stead, the rental company offered up a white 12 passenger Chevy van. It wasn't long before this one was christened Moby Dick, the great white whale. It seems you can't stick around our family long before you have an official nick name.

It's taken the auto body shop a couple of weeks longer than we had hoped to get Clifford back in shape. Apparently, there was some difficulty getting the parts needed for the repairs. He needed a new back door, back fender and the left back quarter panel was removed, banged into shape and given a nice new paint job. The woman from the body shop called me this afternoon to say, "Your van repairs are finished. He's in the cleaning station now. As soon as he gets his bath, you're free to pick him up." Oh boy, what is up with up that?! I thought you had to be a member of the family to anthropomorphize our vehicle. I guess she feels like part of the family after spending so much time with Clifford.

So it was time to give up Moby Dick. Unfortunately, this is where the accident story gets ugly. It appears that shortly after the accident Mr. Whacked Me In the Butt was incarcerated. Nobody can tell us why but we do know that his mom and dad were upset with him for borrowing their truck without asking. His dad was in the hospital at the time and I guess it just isn't a good idea to go and total Dad's truck when he's already having a bad day. It really wasn't our problem until Daddy's insurance company refused to pay without somebody to claim fault (seems like a no-brainer to me but who am I to say?!) Our insurance adjuster has been wonderful and last we heard she was filing suit to claim damages for us - all in a day's work for her, she assures me. However, until that clears up guess who gets to foot the bill for our Great White Water Mammal? You got it - all that time Clifford was at the spa getting a massage, pedicure and tubby - the rental company was cha-chinging his daddy to the tune of about $2600. Even though I was finally getting the hang of driving Moby's butt around town, I was more than happy to say So Long Moby Dick and Welcome Home Clifford.