Thursday March 3 2016  THE PERPLEXING MYSTERY

It sounds like a Nancy Drew Mystery title.  Many of my readers may not be old enough to know who Nancy Drew was.  I wonder if the series is still around in the modern day world?  I read every Nancy Drew Mystery written by Carolyn Keene.  An interesting note regarding Keene is the fact that Keene was a pseudonym used by several writers that contributed to the series.  Each writer was paid $125 per book.  I believe the books were first marketed in the 1930’s and 1940’s.  The statement “You’ve come a long way baby” speaks for itself in regards to the rights of the author.  Just think what some authors earn now through their literary skills.

Now, back to my perplexing mystery.  “The mystery of the splatters” is what I shall call it.  It began on a cold bleak day over one year ago.  I took my car into the Kia Dealership to have a warranty oil change performed.  It was extremely cold.  If I remember correctly it was just a few degrees upward of ZERO.  Now that is a cold day.  I have sense enough to know that you NEVER wash a car when it is below freezing.  The water freezes almost immediately upon contact with the outside air.  I specifically told the man I checked in with that I DID NOT WANT MY CAR WASHED THAT DAY.  The Dealership usually includes a car wash with each oil change.  Well, when I went outside to pick up my car there it was, frozen like a Popsicle.  I opened the back door to set something on the seat and the door resisted a bit.  Well, a couple of minutes later I tried to open the driver’s door and I could not get it open.  I kept pulling at it, and finally I heard what sounded like a loud gunshot as the door reluctantly opened a bit.  I forced it open so I could get in.  I grabbed a towel and dried as much of the water off as I could around the opening.  I got in, struggled to get the door closed and drove away.  I was just hoping that when I got home I would be able to open the door to get out.

The weather last year was not delightful.  We had a lot of snow.  It was snowy, slushy, icy, and mucky (all mixed with road dirt).  After I had my oil change and the frozen door incident, a couple of days later something happened.  I went out to the car early in the morning, and when I started to get into the driver’s seat, it looked as if someone had taken some diluted white paint and splattered it all over the interior of my car.  It was under the dashboard, on the sides of the door, all over the front controls, the steering wheel and steering column,  and even deep inside the hooded part of the dashboard where the odometer and speedometer are.  Even the sides of the seat were splattered.  The splatters actually reached into the back seat area too.  I took my car into the dealership and simply said “LOOK”.  Well…actually I said a lot of other things too.  All polite and nice but they knew I wasn’t a happy camper. 

The dealership had absolutely no clue as to what was going on.  They cleaned it up.  I went back out on the road and within a couple of days the splatters were back with a vengeance.  I took the car in, and the service department cleaned it up again.  We started brainstorming.  My suspicion was that when I opened the frozen car door a seal had been disturbed or broken.  I had a difficult time convincing them of that.  The service men searched and searched and could not find the breech.  The sad part about the whole thing was that I had just had my car detailed a week or so prior to that frozen car wash.  When I mentioned how disappointed I was about what was happening and that I had just paid for a detailing they took it back in and detailed it for free.

Time after time I would bring my messy car in and they would clean it out.  On two or three occasions they kept it for long periods of time.  They replaced seals and removed and repositioned trims  on the outside that surround the windows.  

The roads cleared up.  I had no more trouble for a few weeks and then lots of snow and muck again and WHAMO.  I was back in “Streak City” inside my car.  The thing was, I could never tell when it was happening.  After the water drops dried, the salt streaks appeared.  I could not see where they were coming from.  The mystery of the splattering was like trying to solve a murder mystery with blood splatters.  Where were they coming from?  Exactly where were they intruding?  By this time the consensus was that it was road salt.  I was promised that anytime it happened, until they could find the cause, that my car would be detailed for free.  So, when it happened I was there for a complete detailing job.  Sometimes just a couple of weeks apart. 

Before I left on my trip last year, the car frame around the front car door was taken apart and hopefully repaired.  Well, I never had another chance to test it.  I left on my trip, headed south and did not confront any snow on my entire trip.  Fast forward to now.  Dave has done most of the driving since I’ve been home so we can put the mileage on his car while it is still under warranty.  I have done very little driving in the snow, until this past week.  And BAMO!  The perplexing mystery returns.  It has been quite slushy the past few days and because of our schedules I have had to do my own driving around town.  A couple of days ago I noticed a couple of little splatters but thought that perhaps my foot had splattered something getting in.  I am usually very careful about that but I supposed it could happen.  I was up and out of the house very early this morning for a therapy session on my torn rotatory cuff, then to the gym and on to Aldi’s for last minute cooking items.  When I came out from the store the sun was up and  the light was good.  I opened the door to get into the car and the brightness exposed all that my dark garage could not.  I was in Splattersville again!  All over the sides and underneath everything, the seats, the console, you name it, was splattered.  You may wonder why I don’t feel the splats.  Remember, it is cold here.  I am covered from head to foot, gloves, scarves, long thick coat, pants, two pair of stockings, and to top it off, a doubled over wool blanket covering my legs and lap.  I don’t feel a thing through all those layers.

Well, my car will be the recipient of another free detail job this week.  I must drop my car off tomorrow, pick up a loaner, and one of the service techs is going to wipe the interior down and drive it all weekend.  There is snow in the forecast and hopefully it will be slushy.  I asked him if he was doing it because he did not believe that I was telling the truth about the splatters.  He said no, it is just the policy that everything has to be verified and that he hopes to figure out where the water may be penetrating.  When it first happened I had to verify with everyone around me that they had not splattered something in my car.  So I called Dave and asked him if he had opened my car door and flecked all those spatters into the car.  I really believe that at first they thought I was doing it myself.  Amazing.

So, I pray for snow.  I pray for muck. I pray that they will find the out what exactly is happening and where the droplets are coming from.  Maybe I shall take some more pictures of it before I take it in tomorrow.  I’ve already deleted all of last year’s photos from my phone.

So, the plot thickens.  The good thing is that I will have a detailing before we leave on our next quest.  Just last week I told Dave that I was so happy that I had not had any muck in the car this winter and that I planned to have it detailed when we arrived home from our jaunt.  I had planned to pay just like I normally do.  And then this happened.  And believe me, it is only a detailing job that will take care of this matter.  It is extensive.

So that was my plight this morning.  I came home and have been cooking the rest of the day.  Actually I still have food on the stove cooking as I write this.  I must now leave to take over a pots of soup and rice for my friend Judy, whose husband’s funeral is Saturday.  With her family visiting from out of town I suspected the extra food would come in handy.  I meant to do it yesterday but was waylaid with my vertigo attack.

 

 

SPLATTERSVILLE, KIA SOUL

By Kathleen Martens

March 3, 2016

 

A place of unknown origin

Deep in the planet CAR

A very secret hiding place

Where splatters can go far.

 

But when or where,

From whence they come?

In they tiptoe

To have some fun.

 

Splatter lines

From unknown source,

Enter quietly 

With great force.

 

They do their duty,

Drop here and there.

Decorating profusely

While they share.

 

To rid my “SOUL”

Of all the muck,

Is my goal

With any luck.

 

But time again

In happy tune

They laugh in unison

As they ruin.

 

And the mystery

In secret held

From whence they came

Is not dispelled. 

 

God bless you and have a great night’s sleep!