There are certain immutable truths in my life.

It rains a lot in the spring.

The sun comes up in the morning and sets in the evening.

A brand new car does not break on the way home from the dealership.

And yet...

The Toyota place called me Saturday morning to tell me my car was ready to be picked up. We set a time, and Matt drove me over there. My salesman couldn't find my spare key, but after waiting longer than I really needed to wait, I finally told him he could just mail it to me.

I got in the car. Adjusted the seat. Fiddled with the mirrors. Took a deep breath and enjoyed that new-car smell. Started it up and played with the radio station. And then I started following Matt home, well-pleased.

Halfway home - and the Toyota place is only about ten miles from my house - the "Check Engine" light came on.

Suddenly I was less pleased.

When we got home, there was a message on the answering machine from my salesman saying he'd found the spare key. I called him back and told him about the light. "Oh, definitely bring it back," he said.

So Matt followed me back up to the dealership. We were given some story that smelled suspiciously like fertilizer about gasoline vapor and refilling the tank after it had dropped too low. The service department fiddled with it and the light went off.

"If it happens again," the service guy told me, "just drive it for a day or two and see if it turns itself off."

Uh........... Sure. Okay. Whatever.

Matt and I went back home, in our respective cars. The light stayed off, and I started feeling tentatively happy again. Then Matt got in my car with me and we headed down toward K.T.'s. We were supposed to pick her up and do rather a lot of shopping, but were running late because of all this assorted car stuff. Thank goodness for cell phones.

Maybe a third of the way to K.T.'s, the light went on again. Matt noticed it first.

"Fuggit," I said. "The guy said to drive it for a day or so. I'm driving it." We picked K.T. up and did our shopping. Or at least some of it, until her cold got bad enough that she just wanted to go home and lie down.

When Matt and I went out to dinner Saturday night, the light was still on. I didn't drive anywhere Sunday. But the light was still on this morning.

I don't drive much, on my way to and from work. I figure I'll give it today and tomorrow (I'll drive us down to K.T. and Kevin's for the game tomorrow) and if the light doesn't "turn itself off" by then, I'll call the dealership back on Wednesday and raise a high holy hell.

Because that's one of the immutable truths: A brand new car should not break down on the way home from the dealership.

(But it's still a very pretty new car, and I'll have pictures soon. It rained all weekend, except for the little bit it was snowing. I'll get a picture tonight, hopefully.)

--Liz