Isalos Fine Art

In Stonington, the tradition is that when you drive into someone else’s car, you keep going. If your car is disabled, get out of it and don’t return until you’ve sobered up.

Last night, as a few people stood outside a restaurant that had just closed, a car drove past and sideswiped a parked car, which belonged to a young waitress who worked at the restaurant. As usual, the offending car kept going. The waitress got on the phone, and within a minute, a Deputy from the Sheriff’s Department arrived.

The Deputy surveyed the damage, noticing that broken glass from the offending car’s headlight lay on the pavement. The bystanders described the car. It was mid-sized, white with Maine license plates that read xxx. At that point, a mid-sized white car with a broken headlamp and Maine plates xxx drove past.

“Like that one?” The Deputy asked, pointing his flashlight.

“Well,” the bystanders said. “Yes.”

The Deputy  got into his car and sped away. The bystanders stood with the waitress, who lamented the damage to her car. One door was smashed-in, with deep scratches continuing down the quarter panel: a few hundred dollars damage at least. It was hardly worth working if you couldn’t afford to park you car at work: the one step forward/two steps back syndrome. This was the third time this summer that a restaurant employee's car was damaged by a hit and run.

Soon, the white car returned with a police escort. The Deputy talked with the bystanders as well as the people in the car, who claimed that someone else (they didn’t know who) had been driving the car only minutes before.

The bystanders assured the waitress that it shouldn’t matter who was driving, as long as the white car had insurance. They Deputy looked apologetic. “We’ll get it sorted-out,” he said, and explained that the license plates belonged on a different car. “For now though, this one will have to stay here until we can get it towed,” and he took the white car’s occupants away in the police car.

Sometime during the night, the white car disappeared.

Maybe this is a good time to point-out that Rebecca's painting, Duchess II has returned from its yearlong stay at the Island Medical Center. Duchess II is well-known locally. She's the big green boat that hauls-in fish for bait. The painting was well-appreciated at the Medical Center, and is now in our front window, ready to find a more permanent home.