eight - sweet pea and rum don't mix

I love my car. Sweet Pea is a black 2007 Mazda 3 hatchback. She was the first brand new car that I ever bought, and I try to take care of her as best I can. I take her to the dealer for all her checkups and oil changes, and she gets washed on a regular basis.

Becky and I were headed to a friend's house for a Labor Day bbq on this evening. For my birthday party several weeks ago, we made a lemonade, rum, and mint punch that was a huge hit, and we promised to bring some to the bbq. We made 4 quarts of the punch in our extra large pitcher and climbed into Sweet Pea for the short ride to Newton. I was driving and Becky was holding the punch on the floor between her legs so it wouldn't spill. Less than a block from our house, a squirrel ran into the road, and I slammed on the breaks so I wouldn't hit it. The next thing I know, Becky is swearing and the floor of the passenger side of the car is filled - yes, filled - with a few inches of rum punch. I threw the car into reverse and backed up down the street to our house while the punch sloshed back and forth on the floor, sprigs of mint leaves floating on top. Becky bailed the car out as best she could, but the rest seeped into the carpeted floor of my car.

We used towels and paper towels to soak up as much of the rum punch as we could for now and left the car windows open for the night, but it is still pretty damp. That, and it smells like a bar. Becky is hopefully going to take the car to a car wash to use the wet-dry vac and get the carpet shampooed tomorrow. Hopefully, that will fix it.

Let's just hope she doesn't get pulled over for anything. The cop will definitely think she's been drinking once she rolls down the window!