My dad's giving me his current computer as soon as he buys a new one and the weekend before last he was talking about buying a new used car (an old-school Monte Carlo) for us to use. Does that mean he'd let me take it to Boston? Because he's already said he won't sell me the Mousemobile. The single most frustrating thing about Dad is his extreme kindness and decency... when he's in the right mood. Then he turns around and he's a complete bastard. I hope to speak at his funeral, may it please be years off. The main thrust is this: "Today we lay to rest my father, the most conflicted and contradictory man I have ever known. In death may he find the peace that so long eluded him in life." And because he raised me to be a man of my word, then I will do a little jig on his grave.

What will I call my next car? Could there be another Mousemobile? Is "Mousemobile" the name I give to my car or is it solely the name of the one and only Mousemobile? Could there be a Mousemobile II? Or better yet, Son of the Mousemobile? Will I one day drive a hydrogen-powered minihovervan called the Mousemobile IV? If he buys us that Monte Carlo, I already know it'll be called the Count of Monte Carlo. But perhaps there can only be one Mousemobile, to one day be laid to rest in an automotive Avalon. The once and future Mousemobile.