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New Car

One of our first requirements on the mainland was a new vehicle.  The Army will only ship one vehicle for you.  If you want to bring a second auto along, you  have to pay for it yourself.  While we have loved Kerry's Honda, it is fifteen years old and we didn't feel it would be cost efficient to bring it on this move.  So Kerry has been researching vehicles for months.

I actually became concerned about his addiction.  Every time I walked into the computer room, he would have a sexy car website pulled up, full of sleek shiny vehicles showing off their enormous headlights.  Displayed wantonly across the screen, the cars were singing a siren song, beckoning him to run his hands over their leather seats and breathe deep their evocative new car scent.

If I came up behind him unexpectedly, he would quickly flip the computer screen off and turn to me with an innocent expression.  "You're not fooling me," I informed him.  "I looked at the computer history.  You were up at five o'clock in the morning looking at cars again!  What is wrong with you?"

He tried to stay away from the CarMax website, but it was just a losing battle.  He would say he was just going to check Facebook and email, but then the cars would start preying on his mind, and with no conscious decision to do, would find himself browsing the car sites again. 

Occasionally, he would try to get me to join him in his fantasy world.  "Honey, look at this one!  Maybe I should go ahead and email them and ask them to hold it for me until we get there!"  I was the strong one, however.  I informed him in no uncertain terms that with a move to the mainland, finals, farewells, and a family to take care of, browsing car sites was below the bottom of my list. 

Once we got to the mainland and he was finally allowed to indulge his passion, he wasted no time in heading to every car dealership within a two-hour radius. He compared prices, mileage, colors, and age of every vehicle on every lot until he had narrowed his search down to his ideal mate. We had to drive two hours away, spend two hours dickering, and drive two hours back to get her, but she was worth it.

Her name is "Merlot".

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