She was my first. I had shared one with my siblings at some point and then I shared one with my sister and mom for a few years…but this one was mine. All mine. We clicked at first sight. It was a cool night in October 2010. I looked out the window and there she was and my dad said she was mine.
I love to drive. Lilly came with manual gears, that was the first awesome thing about her. I love to shift gears while I drive. Another awesome quality was the cup holders. I’m a fluid person. I always have a cup of something with me. The only thing I needed was a good stereo and when I got that, we were all set. She took me anywhere I needed to go. I had a job I did for a few months that needed some out of town work, Lilly took me there. 2 years later I got another job that was 1 hour away, Lilly made sure I got there and back when ever I needed to. She never gave me any trouble. Also, for a hot town like makurdi, the air conditioning was excellent. She was good to me and I was good to her.
One day came, I decided she had to go. It wasn’t her, it was me. The thing is, I have always loved change. Every now and again I rearrange my living room, bedroom, work space etc. I always try to start one project or the other and sometimes I buy new stuff to replace the old ones or I just get new stuff to add to the already existing stuff. When it came to changing Lilly, I was really stuck. I wanted a new car but I didn’t want to let Lilly go.
10 years was a long time. This was an argument for and against Lilly. 10 years of bonding and going places together. I didn’t want to let her go. On the other hand, 10 years of serving and going so many places, she must be tired, maybe I needed something new.
On the day she left, it happened so fast. One minute she was there and the next minute some stranger was driving off with her. I knew I was going to sell her off but I never knew it would happen so fast. I had always imagined I would wait for weeks for someone to come along and then another week for handing over and stuff… what the hell was I thinking? Just like that, she was gone.
A few weeks after she had gone, I had dropped my son off somewhere and I was on my way back home and then I looked at the other lane and I saw her and my heart skipped a beat. I pulled over. She looked good. The new owner was standing next to her. I wondered if he cared for her like I did. I doubt very much. I made a U turn just to take another look at her. I drove past, took a good look at her and made another U turn to head back in the direction I was headed initially. I felt like a traitor. My heart hurt.
I never saw her again. One day my husband came back home to tell me he saw her, he said she had a new look. Apparently she got a face lift. Well. Good for her. Sometimes my son would say “Mummy I miss your old car” and in my mind I would say “de kulen mo ivav ga” but instead I would just say to him “me too”.
I love the one I’m with right now, we just haven’t bonded so well. I don’t even know its gender.
‘de kulen mo ivav ga’ means ‘don’t reopen/reaggravate a healing injury/wound’
It’s a saying in Tiv language
