Too Late

Prompt: Write a story in which the first and last sentence are the same.

Too Late

“What was the owner of this red corvette thinking when he ordered a vanity license plate saying “Too Late?" Why such a nebulous and ominous phrase?  I wanted so much to ask the owner but he quickly drove by me. That stingray corvette was a gorgeous piece of machinery. It was sleek and painted in firehouse red without a ding or scratch on it. The owner really knew how to take special care of such a prized vehicle. I figured by its shape it was a vintage 1967 model. The image of the car was so exhilarating I started to sing the “Little Red Corvette” song made famous by Prince in 1983:

Little Red Corvette

Baby, you're much too fast

Little Red Corvette

Need to find a lover that's gonna last

Little Red Corvette (Ooh)

Honey, you got to slow down

(Got to slow down)

Little Red Corvette

Of course, that song never really was about the passion for the car, but it stuck in my craw looping over and over. The caption on the license plate really bothered me. What was the owner trying to insinuate? This thought plagued me throughout the day and into the night. Why was I so obsessed about knowing why? I believed that if I found an answer, I might be able to accept it as a logical reason for the words the owner used. The odds were incredibly high that he and I would never meet.

Not knowing the character of the owner, maybe it was a truncated selfish rant. “Hey, look at me! I own an incredible vintage car and you do not! Eat my dust! I got it before you. Good luck at finding another stingray corvette in this mint condition.” The caption boasts of traveling around town parading his trophy in front of everyone. It is a claim of having status; he has money (maybe); and, he gets what he always wants. “Too late to be my friend, loser,” he mockingly parades around in his corvette. Or, “tough luck. Too Late, I got the car before you.”

His vanity compels him to announce to the men of the world Too Late about his machismo. He gets the crème de la crème of any woman who sees this fine red car. They ride with me in ultimate style. I am a man of style and refinement.” He is telling manhood to back off. “Your efforts are Too Late to get this glamorous creature who now rides in my car.”

Then again, I thought the owner may have regretted buying the car. Perhaps he found its upkeep was far in excess of his budget and time to maintain it. Too Late to take it back. Sure, it was a classic car. Maybe it would lose value if he tried to resell the car back to the seller? Or could it be the only time the owner enjoys it is on sunny, dry days as an expensive show piece? A haunting thought might include his inability to make the payments and face the horrors of repossession.

Possibly is it a lament? The owner feels proud of ownership, but regrets not having it in the prime of one’s youth to enjoy it. The owner thinks his ship has sailed. Life is brief. A feeling of disappointment and even despair of not being able to dip back into time. The days are numbered and soon he will have to pass it down to the next of kin or even worse to the creditors. 

Perhaps it was another dirge about a lost love. This amazing vehicle would be a show piece to his gal. “See me darling in this amazing vehicle. Ride with me to the ends of the earth in search of our rainbow.” Instead, he ended up with heartbreak and no gal to escort her around town. His gal instead was captivated by his arch nemesis driving around in his sporty little deuce coupe, 1932 (Model 18) with a V8 engine. His misery was compounded by the music of the Beach Boys blaring from the coupe, “Little Deuce Coupe.” 

Little Deuce Coupe, you don't know what I've got. (You don't know what I've got)

Little Deuce Coupe, you don't know what I've got

Well, I'm not bragging, babe, so don't put me down (Deuce Coupe)

But I've got the fastest set of wheels in town (Deuce Coupe)

When something comes up to me, he don't even try (Deuce Coupe)

'Cause if it had a set of wings, man, I know she can fly

She's my little Deuce Coupe You don't know what I've got

Little Deuce Coupe You don't know what I've got

Just a little Deuce Coupe with a flathead mill (Deuce Coupe)

But she'll walk a Thunderbird like it's standing still (Deuce Coupe)

She's ported and relieved, and she's stroked and bored (Deuce Coupe)

She'll do a hundred and forty in the top end floored

She's my little Deuce Coupe. You don't know what I've got. (She's my little Deuce Coupe) ⁽¹⁾

“Too Late,” he announces by wearing his emotion on the back end of his stingray corvette.  She has someone else and he drives a deuce coupe! Woe is me!

My head was hurting from my obsessed thinking. What else was I missing? Perhaps there is an existential or spiritual reason for the caption? Could it be the owner lives a life of debauchery? Much more than a selfish rant? Had Too Late become an expression of his total disregard for others around him? His reality becomes that he has made his bed and must lay in it. He reaps what he sows. He does not fear the consequences of his life and will continue to enjoy it because he feels it is Too Late to turn back. It is Too Late for forgiveness and it is Too Late to make amends. Perhaps he also believes it is Too Late because God does not want someone who continues to be captivated by possessions and the richness of his life. The owner says to himself “Too Late to change; so, I live for today because there will be no tomorrow. There will be nothing”

My body trembled at my thought of nothing. To relax myself, and reduce my obsessive thinking, I remembered from the Bible:

Do not love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you.  I will never abandon you. ⁽²⁾

No power in the sky above or on the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. ⁽³⁾

These words eased my mind and released me from my obsessive thinking. Nevertheless, despite all my meandering mindfulness, I will never be able to answer the question: “What was the owner of this red corvette thinking when he ordered a vanity license plate saying “Too Late”?

-END-

(1)  “Little Deuce Coupe,” 1963 sung by the Beach Boys, writers Brian Douglas Wilson & Roger Val Christian

(2) Hebrews 13:5 (New Living Translation)

(3) Romans 3:39 (NLT)

PS. The other day I actually did see a red corvette with the license plate “Too Late”.

Author: Pete Gautchier

Acknowledgement:   Reedsy.com prompts