Cat-a-licked-it Con-vert-ner

Last Wednesday Brent walked out from work and started his truck to come home. "That's weird," he thought. Instead of the light purr that usually goes with the GMC Sierra, there was a really, really loud thundering that shook the whole floorboard. So, bless my bewildered husband's heart, he drove home in a dazed confusion about what the in world was making that noise. When he got home there was no "Honey, I'm home" or "I missed you today, Baby" but a "So the weirdest thing is going on with my truck..." and proceeded to tell me about it's symptoms. It was raining a good bit outside, but being the good wife I am, I sucked it up and went out in the rain to crawl under the truck. There was definitely a part of the exhaust pipe missing, neatly sawed off at either end. I asked him what the police said about it, then immediately followed up with "You did call the police, right?" when I saw the look on his face. So back to Duke's parking lot we both went...in the vibrating, heard-for-3-miles-around truck. When we got there, another couple was waiting around their Element. We immediately got out and talked to them...yup, the same thing happened to them. We also noticed there were several broken windows around the lot.

*The Duke Campus Police shows up, nods a hello, crawls under both cars, and says, "Yessiree, looks like them done got your cat-uh-licked-it con-vert-ner there. Yup, sure does."

Other man that also got his catalytic converter stolen (with a thick Greek accent): "I'm sorry, what was it that got stolen?"

Po-Po: "Yur cat-a-licked-it con-vert-ner. It helps fer the air to stay clear from them toxins in yur car."

Man: "The cat-u-lick-um converter. Right."

Brent (cluing in): "Oh! You mean the catalytic converter."

Po-Po: "That's what I done said, ain't it?"

So using all my restraint to not start busting out laughing or ask where he was from, we continue on to the details of the report (that it'll probably cost over $1,000 to replace, why the thieves probably stole it (to sell the metals inside), contact info, insurance info, etc). Despite the fact that I'm soaked, I'm just getting the feeling back in my legs and feet from the car ride there, and I can't hear myself think when we press the gas pedal, we're on the way back home and I bust out laughing from the aforementioned conversation. Brent hears (or maybe saw me from the coner of his eye) and I can just make out him saying, "I can't believe it, either! How ironic! I had that I Heart Durham car magnet right above where they sawed!"

*Granted, it was raining and it's been a week since the indident, so the following conversation could be somewhat skewed.