The cooing of doves haunts the present and the memory. Woo, woooh, wuh. Short, long, very short. Somber, wistful sounds, they make together, or alone. They roost in the eaves of the church above my house and the sound carries down to the bedrooms. I hear it early in the morning when I’m not yet ready to start the day, and all afternoon when working in the office. The pigeons hang out at church into the evening but today, they’re strangely silent, or maybe just taking a long lunch like everyone else around here.
I’m being pummeled by the bureaucracy. My car is finally whole so I went to buy insurance. Now, I’ve done this before: when I moved here five years ago, I bought a car, registered it, bought insurance. Not so fast. The first agent told me he could not sell me insurance because I have not owned a car in the last three years and so he cannot check my driving record.
“But I had a car and insurance here four years ago.”
“That is too long. Perhaps you can try the company you used before.”
Woo, wooooh, wuh.
Of course I can, but no they can’t. Not with a California drivers’ license.
“But you insured me four years ago.”
“Yes, but it’s different now.”
“What do I do?”
“You must exchange your license for a European permit. You can try the Mairie in Maury. They may be able to do that for you, if not, the Préfecture in Perpignan.”
I’m at the Mairie in the morning when it opens, with every document I could possibly need. And I nail it. When the paperwork’s done, I ask for an Attestation stating that I have made the application and ask them to telephone the insurance company and ask if that will suffice for temporary coverage. The agent takes my number and says she will confirm after speaking with a colleague.
Well, I didn’t really expect her to call, so I carefully drove to the office this morning hoping for an answer.
She had my name and number on her desk and appeared to be waiting for me. Perhaps I misunderstood. “I will help you now,” she said.
“Good. Can you issue the policy?”
“We will see.”
Terrifying words in this context. She made a call. Uh oh. She made another and shook her head. “The Préfecture may reject the exchange.”
“Why would they do that? At the Mairie, they said it would be fine.”
“I will try another.” This time, I saw a smile as she spoke and when she hung up she said: “D’accord. Pas de problème. I will do the devis.”
She turned to her computer and the shadows returned.
“Non. C’est pas possible.”
“But why. You said it was no problem.”
“Regardez. These are all the companies.” The red type on her monitor screamed at me. “They all say no.”
“But why?”
She turns back to the phone.
“He says California is not compatible. They usually reject California.”
“So what can I do?”
“You can try the American Embassy.”
Someone brought her the number. She waited patiently. “Tapez un, tapez deux. OK”
She waited in the phone tree. She started running bills through the postage meter. She waited. Her colleague brought more bills. These were the lucky drivers who had actually been able to buy insurance. She waited a little longer. “Impossible.” And hung up. She handed back my license, passport, registration, attestation, and, finally, the number of the embassy. “Tuesday,” she said. “It’s almost time for lunch.”
I drove back to Maury and carefully parked in the garage. I tried to call the lawyer I had used for the initial visa. “He will call you back – probably this afternoon.”
I thought of asking the Mayor for help, but it was lunch time.
Woo, wooooh, wuh.
©2017 Ron Scherl