The FIAT 500
by Dilka Bear
The first time I met him, HE arrived on a motorbike and I said “OK. Yes, that’s OK. Let’s eat something together in the street.”
The second time HE called me and said to me “Let’s go and eat a burek,” something that is sold in the street in the Republic of Slovenia, because I was broke. And HE came on board of a FIAT 500. I fell in love immediately, with the car. “Can I touch it?” I asked.
Then I went back to Kazakhstan, and HE came to visit me twice. He wanted me to move in with him. He asked me to marry him and I said “OK. I will marry you, but only because of the FIAT 500” and HE told me “I will marry you for the papers, you fool.”
We were happy. We travelled the world with his FIAT 500... then came the rust, it needed to be repaired and I asked him if we could keep the car for another year, because in a year I could have earned the money to have it repaired. But HE said “No, no. We can’t use it. I fear I may lose you in the street” because the rust was underneath. “You will end up walking with your feet” he said to me. So I said “alright.”
So we went to Rome. HE found a body repairer who would treat it well. Who would repair it. But when we arrived there to sell it, I was in tears. We had a quarrel and I told him “I will leave you because you no longer have your FIAT 500.”
Then we found a Volkswagen Beatle in Slovenia, it was old, dating back to 1970, 1972, at a body shop where it was being repaired and HE asked me “What colour do you want it?” and I said “Red.”
So we got this red Beetle, it was beautiful but not comparable to our old FIAT 500. The FIAT 500 had a soul. The Beetle had a soul, too, but it was a German soul.
Now I am planning to buy another FIAT 500, for me, by myself. If I buy a FIAT 500 I will learn to drive. I am by no means interested in any other car. I can only ride a bike, I have recently learnt to.
Maybe if we have another FIAT 500...