Gerald called at 8:02 on Tuesday. “It's here,” he said. Then, “And it came out well.” I went to the dealership at eleven.
He had been right about the Aurora Graphite Matte. It doesn't photograph properly. In the pictures it looks gray; in person the light catches the shoulder of the car in a way I hadn't understood until I stood beside it. Gerald calls that part “the event,” which I wouldn't have chosen, but I did see what he meant.
Two other customers came over while I was looking. One asked what the color was. I was glad I had waited for it.
The paperwork took ninety minutes. Gerald walked me out and stayed in the service drive waving until I turned onto Rush. He had followed this car a long way from the factory, and I think he was pleased with it too.
My niece collected the old car on Saturday. She hugged the hood before driving it to Roscoe Village. It is going to have a very different sort of life there, with street parking and trips to the farmers market. I had a little moment in the garage after she left. It was still a perfectly good car.
Then I looked at the new one under our own lights. The color was just as nice at home.
— Ash