Being GM IV

When my mother was very sick, my friend Linda, a red-haired fiery middle-aged woman, picked my mother up in her Viper and took her for a ride. My mother loved convertibles. As kids, she would tell us stories of the mystery people who visited her family during the holidays and over the summers in the 40's driving convertibles and wearing fine apparel. They were elegant and refine. But who were these people?

These men and women were, in fact, her aunts and uncles; they were also the relatives of Richard Pryor. He was my mom's cousin. If you ever heard his stories over the years you can imagine what colorful people they were. But her father had little contact with them, as her mother died at her birth and her father was too "righteous" to assoicate with them, although his thriving construction business was largely due to his mother-in-law's untoward businesses during a time during The Great Depression where most had very little.

To this day I can see my mom in her white linen jacket with her hair wrapped in a silk scarf getting into that Viper. Vrooom! I can also see her triumphant return with joy in her eyes as she climbed out, her hand in mine.

General Motors has to come up with a plan for its longevity which will include cost cuts and the selling off of some brands. While the Viper is a luxury car, I still hope that General Motors plans will not include selling off this brand that once gave a beloved dying dignified single-mother of 12 rapture and joy, an escape from the pain and mundane, if only for a few miles.