(Inspired by and dedicated to Robin and Susan Shelley)
My car is my friend
He takes me to any place I want to go
He never complains
As long as I feed him fuel
And service him occasionally
He sleeps at my home most nights
Safe and sound
But sometimes we take risks
Parking in places where we have to pay
When we go to dinner or to an event
The clock is then ticking loudly in my mind
Making it hard to enjoy myself
Knowing that my rented parking time is running out
I never want to waste my parking fee
So I try to get back to the car just before it expires
When I get back a little late
The thrill of going over time
Is reward by the lack of a parking ticket
We all like to dodge a bullet
It does not always work out that way
As I frantically run back to my car
Believing that all will be fine
I can see from a distance
Something is not right
The dreaded ticket is sitting there on my windshield
Held in place by my wipers
They are supposed to protect me by cleaning away rain
But today they are guarding a parking ticket
What traitors
I run out of expletives when I read it
The fine is many times more than the parking fee
With serious penalties if I do not pay
I pay the fine and decide I will never to do so ever again
Vowing to forever overload my parking prepayment
To be sure I never get another ticket
It works out fine
For a while
Then I slip back into my just-in-time parking fee mode
Dancing with the parking ticket devil
Most times I win that dance with glee
Doing a jig next to my car whenever it works out
Until the devil has his way
He dances when I pay the parking ticket fine