The Mystery of Why Casey Want's to Get a New Car Solved

For the last 4 weeks Casey has been telling us, almost every day, that she wants a new car. Our neighbor Alan has a Nissan Pathfinder, and so sometimes she says "I want Alan's car." But mostly she just says, when she gets in the car to ride home from day care, "I want a new car."

I often ask her why, and one day she finally explained told me. She said "because we hit the bicycle."

Now, here is some back story. About 5 weeks ago a bike pulled out in front of us, not in an intersection, but just pulled out in front of us on a busy road. The cyclist was a Physics professor in his 80s. Our car hit the old Physics professor; he rolled up on our car a little bit, and then fell onto the pavement. We immediately called 911, stayed with him for about 20 minutes to see how he was doing, and then we drove him home. He kept saying, over and over, "I'm sorry. It was my fault." It was his fault, but it was hard not to feel really bad for the poor guy.

Anyway, during our collision with the bike a small reflector panel at the front of our car got cracked and now there is a small hole in it. Almost every day, after she gets out of the car when we're back at home, Casey inspects the damage. She crouches down, puts her finger in the hole, and says, "our car is broken."

And this is why Casey want a new car.

Meanwhile, a few weeks after our accident I saw the old Physics professor. He was biking alongside a narrow lane of traffic, in the pouring rain.