Now G's had some bad luck last week, been pulled over, spot-checked, and the police officer smelled marijuana in the car and issued G a 24 hour suspension.
And G has it in his head that he wants his car back right away, can't wait, and so on the Friday afternoon he arranges for another waiter to stay late and replace me, I have to go with him and the nephew to the Calgary Impound Lot to retrieve his vehicle. The nephew drops us off, and I drive back in his car as he isn't yet able.
He's pissed off, understandably, and paranoid, he's worried about stuff in the car, he had some dope in the door and "money in the car", something me and the Nephew interpret to mean he's got thousands of dollars wrapped in saran and hidden under the dashboard or behind the door panels, but actually refers to the loose loonies and twonies he has for meters in the console.
The Calgary Impound Lot, it's a bleak place, a few acres of derelict cars, perhaps a dozen city employees (of pretty much every ethnicity but white, the city having gone overboard on it's quota's), and it becomes obvious pretty quick that this isn't a fast procedure. There's the waiting in line, the filing of paperwork, wait to be called, walked to the car to retrieve registration, insurance, walked back, more waiting to pay...
There's lots of time for G to chat, and he finds plenty of like-minded souls here, some attractive girls to chat up, another guy in on a 24 hour suspension for the smell of marijuana in his vehicle, they get to talking, G's worried about the pot in his vehicle, getting his registration he had done a quick check, it looked as if it was gone, guy hadn't even considered his dope but will check first thing when he gets his car back...
Eventually we're led on the final tour back to the car. It's shanty-shanty with these civic employees, there's no sense of urgency but plenty of uniforms and badges, for many a laid-back immigrant this must be the job wherein they discover they've died and gone to heaven.....
And leaving the lot, me driving, we're passed by guy, he rolls down his window and yells over at G from a cloud of smoke - "they didn't get mine...."