Today Banjo Man and I bought a car.  We have owned a 2004 Toyota Highlander for about 5 years now.  Or maybe four years.

I can’t remember, but Banjo Man pointed out that we have driven it across the country four times, which is hard to believe.  We love this car.

Anyway…this year we planned to fly west instead of driving.  We would buy a car in Idaho and leave it there.  I’ve been shopping long-distance (via cars.com, autotrader, cargurus and craigslist) and the ugly reality is that AWD cars are a lot more expensive in the northwest.  And less plentiful on the used car lots.

So…after much discussion and lots of online shopping, we found a 2005 Highlander here in Rhode Island Wednesday and today our mechanic pronounced it to be in excellent condition.  To Banjo Man’s joy, the shopping is now over.

Such a relief.  We’ll pick it up in a few days, after it is inspected and has a new battery, etc.

On the way home Banjo Man realized we were out of gas, so we stopped in Giant Suburbia to fill ‘er up at a monster gas station, which I picked out because I was pretending we were on a road trip (which is what I do quite often) and needed a cold drink with a straw (because when I am on a road trip I always need a cold drink with a straw).  Then Banjo Man suggested we stop at Trader Joe’s to buy “treats” to celebrate finally finding a car.

“What kind of treats?” was my question as he pulled into the Trader Joe parking lot.  “Sweet treats?  Fancy cheese?  Or weird vegetables?”

“I was thinking of a slab of salmon,” Banjo Man admitted.  In the meantime I realized Panera Bread was next door.

“I was thinking of a sandwich,” I said, “so you go get what you want and I’m going to get my own lunch.”

This is how you stay married for 45.5 years, by the way.  Do your own thing.  Live and let live.  Don’t make negative salmon comments.  Let your spouse enjoy monster gas stations.

We happily went our separate ways.

Here’s the “lost and found” part:  While crossing the parking lot to Panera Bread (and a turkey avocado sandwich) I saw a green and gold credit card shining from the pavement.  I picked it up and realized it was someone’s debit card from a local bank.  “Karen” was going to be very, very upset when she realized she’d lost it.

There was an elderly couple entering Panera ahead of me, so once inside I asked them if it belonged to them.  It didn’t.  But the woman said she’d seen a lady with a large bag heading to her car a few minutes earlier.

I debated about what to do.  I didn’t want to leave it at the restaurant, even if they had a “lost and found” section.  I felt responsible for it.

I ordered the sandwich and bought a loaf of sourdough bread while the elderly couple kept glancing my way as if I was going to rob them or use Karen’s debit card to buy out the entire pastry section.  Ease up, elderly people!  You’re watching too much news!

Two policemen were eating lunch over by the window, so I realized I could ask them for advice.  I personally thought the best thing would be to take the card to a branch of the bank.  After I picked up my sandwich I went over to the policemen, one of whom had lots of braid and gold stars on his uniform (which meant I was interrupting the Chief of Police?).  I apologized and explained what had happened and said my only thought was to drop the card off at Citizens Bank.

The policemen thought that was an excellent idea.

(As I was explaining all of this to Banjo Man ten minutes later, he was appalled that the police hadn’t taken the card from me.  Are you?  I look old and honest and was wearing my nicest coat and my  new necklace and besides, the Chief of Police has better things to do than deal with lost debit cards.)

So off we went, heading home.  There’s a Citizens Bank in our own town, so we stopped there and I gave the card to a cashier, who seemed happy to have it and gave me a big smile.

I hope she had Karen’s phone number somewhere in the bank records, because otherwise Karen is going to wonder if someone is trying to access her bank account before she can report the loss to her bank.

It’s very exciting to leave the house, go up to the Big City, buy a car and thwart crime!!!