It’s Addison, lol

<PART 4>

AKA the one wherein the author is exhausted. Curse you, Harry Potter! CURSE YOUUU!

Alright, where was I? Ah yes, we began the trek to St. Andrews from Lakeville. As you saw from the picture in the last post, the sky was menacingly dark for still several hours before sunset. As we drove up the road, however, the crushing humidity had a breathtaking side effect: a series of rainbows continuously appear on, next to, and over the road we were driving on for the next 10-15 minutes. It was really quite gorgeous/distracting (“I want to look at the rainbow, honey, really, I do, but I think maybe I should focus on the road for now…”), though some were smack dab in the center of my vision.

I had already called my step-brothers (“Since I told you I’d call you when I got married, I just wanted to let you know that I got married!” “…Nrgh…Umm…A- Are you kidding?”) and my biological brother (“Oh…Coolios…When did that happen? Where did that happen?”), but there were still two phone calls left of my list of people-I-have-to-call-as-soon-as-humanly-possible-or-I’ll-never-hear-the-end-of-it: My maternal aunt and my paternal grandparents (My maternal grandparents have both been dead for a number of years, as my mother will be quick to point out. Once she called trying to find the apartment: “Addison, I’m lost, and I can’t even call my mommy and cry because she’s dead!”).

So the plan was to stop at Mum’s house in Harvey (even though she wouldn’t be home yet) and quickly call them, saving me long distances charges on my phone bill. Well Denise, my aunt, was home, but I couldn’t get a hold of my grandparents. No matter; I had my cell. There’d be time the next day.

On the road again!

We didn’t pull out of Mum’s house until about 9:30 pm, and by this time the sun was on a clear decline in the sky – not that we could see it properly anyway, what with the clouds making it nearly as dark as night. It quickly became apparent that it would be slow going to St. Andrews…Partly because there was a thick, oppressive fog, and partly because we got stuck behind some poor sap in a trailer who didn’t know the road and was going about 40 km/h slower than the speed limit (which was 20 km/h slower than I was willing to go in the fog).

Finally the poor guy just pulled to the side and let me pass. We got into St. Andrew’s around 11:15 pm, but it was pitch black and foggy, and I couldn’t see a friggin’ thing! Finally I parked on the side of Water Street and called Patrick, whose father is from St. Andrews. “How do I get to the Algonquin??” I whined. Patrick laughed. “Just drive up the hill ‘til you hit it. It’s hard to miss.”

Hard to miss in the daylight? Hard to miss when there’s no fog? ‘Cause we didn’t see it ‘til we were on top of it! We sort of just drove along and suddenly went, “Oh look, a GIANT hotel!” But finally we had arrived. Thankee, Lord! We pulled up to the front and went into to check in at reception desk. We then drove the car around to the parking lot.

<Interlude>

On Thursday we took the car to Canadian Tire to have our brakes looked at, what with them CRUUUUUUNCHing every time I stopped. We also were a bit overdue for an oil change, so we had them just look at the car and do the oil. They told us to replace all four brakes. Fair enough. They tried to get us to do it around noon the next day – for $859.12 - but we said flat out no, it wasn’t possible, we were getting married the next day, and could they do it for us on Monday?

After that verbal agreement was made, we drove home. It wasn’t until we were halfway between Wirral and Fredericton Friday morning when I turned to Addison and said, “Oh my God, Addison, did you leave your bike at Canadian Tire??” Addison turned deathly pale. $600 bike. There was just another stress on the weekend. Don’t worry, though – the city police have it. We still need to figure out a way (and a time) to get it from them, though.

</Interlude>

We pulled into the first available parking space past the handicapped spaces, which unfortunately had a sign in it that said “Reserved for Shuttle Van.” Whoops. So I put it in reverse to back out, and I hit my brakes as I went.

My brakes, which didn’t seem to be working quite right.

At which point I was nearly panicking because I was convinced I was going to ram into the car parked directly behind me, and suddenly there was a very frightening sounds from outside.

Clang! Aren’t onomatopoeia’s fun?

That would be the clang of metal hitting pavement.

“Kaytlyn?” said Addison, who noticed me freaking out and heard the clang.

“Ourbrakesjustfelloutofourcar!”

“WHAT?!”

“OUR BRAKES JUST FELL OUT OF OUR CAR!!!!!!!!” I screeched.

I pulled back into the parking space as quickly as I could, turned the car off, and ran to the back of the car. There, sitting on the ground, all alone and lonely, was the rear left brake pad (or the metal bit that’s left when there’s no real pad anymore). I was shaking like a leaf and basically crapping my pants (Er, skirt) at this point. Addison’s eyes were big as saucers, and he bent down.

“It’s too hot touch,” I said faintly, looking at my car and then the car parked behind us.

He picked it up anyway and started tossing it back and forth from hand to hand like a hot potato. I opened the trunk and he tossed it in.

“See, see?” he said. “That’s what I was afraid was going to happen all day! We wouldn’t have heard it if it happened on the highway.”

“We should be dead,” I muttered, totally past the point of real coherent thought. All I was really capable of thinking was “God kept that brake pad on there all day…why else would it fall out as soon as we parked? Holy crap holy crap holycrapholycrapholycrap…” Again, coherent thought was just out the freakin’ window.

We grabbed our duffel bags and shakily (in my case, anyway) made our way into the hotel. I told the receptionist where we were parked and why, and she just sort of looked shocked and said, “Umm, I’m pretty sure that’s fine.” So we trucked upstairs, ordered room services, and promptly fell asleep.

</PART 4>