I was dating this man in my early 20's. He was stupefyingly good looking but oh so bland.
I should have quit after the first date, but instead I saw him a second time. Don't ask me why, but he took me to meet his parents. Well, his mother and stepfather. I'd never seen such a display in all my life.
The man's stepfather was old, or at least it seemed that way to me at the time. Maybe sixty? His wife had died and he was living with his girlfriend who was Mexican. This was in Tucson, Arizona, which is essentially a border town. There was nothing political about it; they fell in love and I mean LOVE.
This man loved this woman to the moon and back. He was an eccentric, an Aquarian most likely. He had his entire house wired in such a way that little things he'd built started moving and/or speaking as you moved through the house. Christmas toys and animals that greeted you or made remarks.
He had some nutty, automated coffeemaker back before things like that existed, but what I remember most was his car. His gal had grandchildren that would come over and he wanted them to be happy but also safe! So he rigged his car...
They had started putting backup warning beeps in delivery trucks at this time. This was a new thing. He liked the idea and did not want to run over any children, so he invented something for his car.
It activated by his taillights, as I recall. But he went one-up on the beeping. He installed a cassette player under his bumper; he showed it to me. Whenever he pressed the brakes, it started playing his recorded voice. This is what it said... very pleasant, by the way. He wasn't barking at anyone…
"I'm backing up."
But he said his grandchildren did not speak English so he addressed this..
"I'm backing up," followed by the Spanish translation: "Estoy retrocediendo."
As long as his foot was on the brake, it would play.
"I'm backing up.”
"Estoy retrocediendo.”
"I'm backing up.”
"Estoy retrocediendo."
