The Case of the Flaming Minivan

(Image courtesy of www.magneticflames.com)

For those with a deep and abiding morbid curiosity: this is not a post about carbecues on any of the highways and byways that I traverse on a daily basis. Having said that...

Normally I avoid blogging about the office, 'cause I like where I work and I don't need to vent about it to prevent personal spontaneous combustion. However, the parking lot is not the office, it's just near it, so I can blog about that all I want. Anyway, there is a fascinating vehicle in said parking lot that I need to discuss. It's an early aughties* minivan with flame decals all over it. I don't think they are magnetic as pictured above. I think someone went to the trouble to paint those flames onto the van permanently, baby. And there are many flaming flames by my count: four on either side, one on the hood, and two on the back.

This combo of soccer-mom-ity and West Coast Customs pimpin' is making me go all Sherlock Holmes. Okay, more like Veronica Mars. Okay, more like a person who drives to work and observes something interesting in her parking lot, but isn't actually going to put any real effort toward solving the answer (to your face!).

The wondering is fun, though. Did someone give her teenaged son the family minivan, and then have to take it back after he'd invested in a new paint job? Is a father trying to deny the minivan-ness of his life? Is this minivan the best that a twentysomething could afford, but wants to make it clear that she is way cooler than your average parent? Does a co-worker have a band on the side? Or is this indeed a soccer-mom's mode of transportation, but she is so incredibly thrilled about soccer that she put flames all over the minivan?

If I ever crack The Case of the Flaming Minivan, I will let you know.

*what else do you call something from the 2000-2009 decade?