The Blue Wonder

I was thinking of Katie recently when a random memory surfaced - that of her old trusty car, the Blue Wonder. The picture above is a somewhat accurate representation found on the Internet. The Wonder was driven off into the sunset long before the advent of digital photography so this photo will have to do. The Blue Wonder was no ordinary college student beater car. First of all it had a name...something my two-tone Ford Escort never warranted. Secondly it was a powder blue Toyota Corona. That is not a typo; the make was actually a Corona, not a Corolla. This was a source of confusion anytime the Wonder needed service. Once when a new windshield was in order the glass company brought one for a Corolla despite Katie's best attempts to make them understand what kind of car they would find when they arrived. The Blue Wonder had seen better days by the time it became Katie's. I don't know for sure, but I suspect it was the Guzik family car at one point in time. In its day it was probably somewhat of a luxurious automobile. It had plush, velvety, baby blue interior and if I'm not mistaken, power windows and locks. My first memory of the Blue Wonder is that is smelled faintly of sour milk. The story behind the smell has been forgotten but I think many attempts were made to rid the car of the odor, to no avail. The body of the Wonder had spots of bondo, which only added to its character and the engine made interesting noises. This car shuttled us many places during our college years. Trips back and forth to St. John's, rides into St. Cloud for groceries, road trips to the cities for various types of amusement and also to visit the Guzik home. Whenever the Blue Wonder was parked in the driveway, Wally made sure to check the oil and the tires and give it a clean bill of health before we girls piled into it again and headed for our next stop. If I recall correctly there was also a medallion or picture of a saint on the back of the sun visor. Probably St. Christopher, the patron saint of travel, to protect us in our comings and goings. The new found freedom of college was definitely enhanced by our ability to take to the open road, compliments of Katie and her Blue Wonder. We were never sure if we trusted it fully to get us from point A to point B but I don't recall there ever being an incident. For that I thank St. Christopher, and of course Wally. -Kay