seat in the place.This made a great impression on several people who
had made the Thai buffet their first event. Some of the old-timers who
were founding members over 10 years ago said that this was the record
attendance for a Vegetarians of Oklahoma event. Staggering the seating
worked perfectly.There were some who came for dinner and had to move
on to other Saturday evening activities.There were always seats available
for those who came later.The people at the restaurant were
understandably pleased because they’d never had a group that large in
before.Rental Car Miracles
I rented a car to go to Austin because I didn’t want to put the extra
wear and tear on mine. I compared rates and figured out that I’d do just
as well to rent a car for a week as just renting from Wednesday to
Monday. I got a good price online to rent a midsize car, which I thought
would be more comfortable than a compact.When I got to the rental
agency, I found that there were very few vehicles on the lot. I did happen
to notice that they had two orange Chevy HHRs, which have a cool
“street rod” look.When I went to the counter, I was told that they
didn’t have any midsize cars to rent me. I asked if I could have an
HHR, and they said that I could, even though they were classified as
full size for some reason. I thought it would be cool to rent an orange
hot rod to drive to Austin, since orange is one of the school colors for the
University of Texas, my alma mater.
However, when I drove it off the lot and to my office, I realized that
while the car was neat-looking on the outside, it was cramped inside
with bad sight lines. I wanted to return it. However, I needed the car to
get to my office and to run some errands. I couldn’t get it returned
during the day. I contacted the agency about swapping the car for a more
conventional sedan, but they said that they still didn’t have what I
wanted on the lot, and that I’d have better luck in the morning.
I packed overnight and in the morning.When I went out to the
HHR to throw in my suitcase, I discovered to my horror that the carThe Evidence 83ccc_zero_077-112_evid.qxd 5/4/07 2:21 PM Page 83