This bucket was parked next to the opening where the dripping cars emerge at Palace Car Wash in Montclair.
Every time a car came forth, someone would grab this bucket and paint the sidewalls of the tires with the brush. The viscous liquid was a clear gloss, basically liquid shine. One of those little "extras" that come with the packages with the inflated prices and names (Luxury, Ultimate, etc.).
I wondered, as my car was riding down the drag line, was I being taken for a ride? Tire gloss, undercoat, super wax…it reminded me of the scene in Sleeper where Woody Allen has just been revived from decades of hibernation and, trying to comprehend the idea that he is now in the far future, he asks whether his favorite health and organic foods are available.
As I recall it–incorrectly perhaps, but if so I know I can rely on you to correct me–the researchers are amused at his archaic notions of what’s good for you. Hot fudge sundaes bad? No, good. Kelp good? No, bad.
So I imagined for an instant waking up in the future with researchers pointing at me, covering their giggling mouths and saying, "You went for the tire gloss?" Tee-hee.
Or maybe it would be the other way around. "You had your car washed? You didn’t know that washing ruins the paint and that a thick coat of grime is the best exterior preservative?" Guffaw.