Three days before ...

June 18.

It's my birthday.

I'm giving myself a one owner, 1989 Dodge Daytona Shelby.

Maybe.

I get an email from John with a scan of a notice that the Daytona has been paid off and that there is no lien against the car.  I forward the scanned document to my friend at the bank and during his lunch hour he runs the document to the local DMV to see if the car can be titled in MS using the scanned image.

There needs to be more.

The scanned image won't be accepted by the DMV for a title in MS.  They (and the bank) need proof of there being no lien against the Daytona and it must be on bank letter head and notorized.

Sigh.

I tell John this via email and he says he will see what he can do but since the bank he did business with has been bought out and dozed under the operations of at least two banks since then, this could become a problem.

I assure him I still want the car, that I have cash in hand and if we can work this out I'll be seeing him in person Saturday afternoon to pick up the Daytona.  John says he'll see what he can do the next morning.

Planning on getting the Daytona on Saturday, I call my mother and arrange for my parents to keep the girls on Friday and Saturday night and tell her that I'll pick up the girls on Sunday, late.  I tell her that I'm probably going out of town to get a car and that it is a surprise.