Noisy Friday

The morning after the Carbon Monoxide scare of '07, Friday that is, part of my parental duties included picking up little Ann at the end of her preschool class down the road about a mile. For this purpose, I drive my elderly Toyota Tercel, a relic of the mid-90s that has served me well for many years.

Lately it's been making a lot more noise than it ever has, mainly from the backside down toward the muffler. Which led me to think the the muffler might be ready for replacement. But since the car was running well otherwise, I allowed my natural procrastination urges free run on the question of when to take it in. I probably would have gotten around to it this month sometime.

However, a representative of the law enforcement community here in Schaumburg requested -- on Friday morning, as I was returning home with Ann -- requested in that subtle way police have, with the flashing lights and all, that I stop and talk to him about the noise emitting from my car. Politely (really, he was), he asked me to have it fixed already. He even wrote me a note to remind me to do so, and to bring evidence of that fact to a judge on February 20.

Grumble. But it has been more than 15 years since I got a ticket, so I guess I was due. At least I'm fairly certain it will be dismissed, since I will in fact have the damn thing fixed (the car, not the ticket).