The Dodge

     Makendy does not like driving the Dodge. The Dodge is one of the Christianville vehicles. The Dodge is a turbo diesel, 4x4 Dodge Ram 2500. Makendy does not like the Dodge for two reasons. First of all, it is too big. The oversize nature of the Dodge makes it hard to maneuver on narrow mountain roads and, in particular, the narrow streets of Port-au-Prince. The second reason that Makendy does not like the Dodge is because it has an automatic transmission. Makendy prefers a stick shift. Makendy does not like driving the Dodge.

The Dodge

     Thursday morning Meer went looking for the Dodge. We needed the Dodge because we were going into PauP to buy a refrigerator/freezer and some chairs for the lab. But the Dodge was gone. Roodly, the logistics manager for Christianville, had already taken the Dodge into PauP to pick up Sarah. Why he took the Dodge is unclear. He did not need it for its cargo space and it looked like there were other vehicles available. So Makendy grabbed the keys to the Everest and drove us into PauP. We met Roodly at the store and swapped vehicles. Makendy slid behind the wheel of the Dodge, started the engine, and gingerly moved the shifter on the steering column several times through the gears. Makendy was familiarizing himself with the Dodge again. He slowly backed the Dodge up to the loading dock where we loaded up the refrigerator and chairs. We were ready to roll. Makendy met his first challenge before we even left the parking lot. A water tanker was pulled up on the sidewalk blocking half the parking lot driveway. It was broke down waiting for a mechanic who arrived just as we were leaving and who promptly blocked the rest of the driveway with his truck. Makendy rolled the Dodge forward and leaned tentatively on the horn. The mechanic moved his truck. With barely enough room to squeeze past the broke down tanker truck, Makendy pushed the Dodge through the opening and joined the rows of cars and trucks and tap taps that moved slowly along the road.

The Dodge

     We hit a traffic jam at la Marché de la Croix des Bossales, the PauP market. Meer gestured to Makendy to take another route. Makendy began gingerly jockeying the Dodge into position to make a U-turn on the chaotic street. Pierre encouraged him. “It’s a Dodge”, he said, “a big American truck. You can be a bully”. People got out of the way and let the Dodge through. Makendy pushed the Dodge through the narrow streets of PauP, driving so close to the other vehicles, I could reach out my window and touch them. And I really could since the air-conditioning was not working and we drove with the windows open all day. The open windows let in the thumping rhythm of the Dodge’s turbo diesel engine as well as the dust and smells of PauP in the dry season. Makendy navigated the Dodge through left hand turns across three traffic lanes of on-coming traffic at intersections with no left hand turn arrows. He zipped down narrow side streets to get around traffic jams. He crossed over into on-coming traffic lanes and gunned the Dodge to pass slower vehicles in front of us. By the end of the long, grueling day, Makendy had tamed the beast that is the Dodge. Now Makendy loves driving the Dodge. He calls it “machin boss”.