Short Cuts: Stuff About Cars in Books About Other Things

“24^th December. The house is filling up. Giles, Fred’s second child, and his wife Nicola arrived this afternoon, with their infant son Basil, aged nine months, having driven up this afternoon from Herefordshire in their black BMW 4x4, a huge high vehicle recently acquired in exchange for a Porsche to provide protection for their precious offspring. It has almost opaque tinted windows to foil potential kidnappers, and a sticker on the rear window “Baby on Board,” appealing to the consciences of drivers who might be intent on ramming them from behind.”


From “Deaf Sentence” by David Lodge (p181)