WRITING | MEMOIR
I Wrote a Million Words Before Learning How to Type
Cruise control, learning to type, and exploring a boundless world with a slap-in-the-face ease
I bought my Ford Focus for a bargain only a few months before a pandemic swept its way across the world. A mere few weeks after I first heard the word “Corona,” the car’s value practically tripled overnight. It had been a generous deal for even pre-pangolin-borne illness prices.
It was a good friend who sold it to me. As COVID-19 cases began to skyrocket and a billion cabin fevers began to reach a febrile pitch, road trip dreams sang a siren song for the masses that sent automobile prices into a snide and swanky stratosphere. As shoddily held-together minivans began to soar beyond the prices our parents paid for their first three-bedroom homes, I reveled in the $1300 I paid for my lived-in little jalopy. It had no seat warmers, no skylights, and few of the modern amenities many might hope for in a car. But with a Bluetooth radio and the freedom a full tank provided, I could snake between oysters in this gaping world full of whales.
A small dent still marks its rear end and I’ve been assured on more than one occasion that its repair would be nearly the price I paid for the car itself. The crater of…
