Someone’s car is worse than mine!

In case you didn’t know, I am the proud driver of a minivan, the interior of which is… well, let’s just say it’s seen better days. This has not, unfortunately, escaped the notice of my extended family; the other day, when I told my son he needed to keep the cap ON the bubbles before getting into car, my charming father said, “But why? It’s soap. It can only help.”

Har, har, har.

At any rate, as you can imagine, car detailing has been rather low on the list the last several months, behind things like organizing my spice cabinet, doing tons of laundry, blogging, and writing, oh, say, three books in just over a year.

But I do try. Every Friday I lug out the collection of papers and shoes and clothes and as many intact goldfish as I can find. (The upside of all this is that if we were ever stranded somewhere, we’d have pretzels and raisins and goldfish to last us for weeks.)

Nevertheless, I am still a bit sensitive about it.

Which is why my discovery at the Westbank Library today was so marvelous.

It was an older Japanese car, probably from the late 80s, but it wasn’t the exterior that caught my attention. It was the interior, the contents of which included (a) an antique magazine rack filled with sun-bleached papers, (b) a wooden arrow, complete with three scraggly feathers, and (c) a hubcap — that’s right, a hubcap, right there on the back seat — that made it so delightful.

Of course, I didn’t want to stare, so I just did a quick visual inventory. But on the way back out, I paused and looked again. There were also seashells, sand, several sunglasses cases, an assortment of books and magazines, a McDonald’s bag, two umbrellas, and what might have once been an apple.

It was so satisfying.

How about you? Are you a car neatnik, or more like me?

P.S. I wrote 1600 words today. And am drinking (literarily, anyway) margaritas on the Riverwalk in San Antonio now.