The phantom car and the blizzard: Elly sabotages herself yet again.

[dreadedcandiru2]

As we know, the lasting result of the blizzard is that Elly ends up having to drive a loaner for a couple of weeks until they get her station wagon fixed. She needs wheels and John isn't about to expose his kids to the Penis-Mobile of Overcompensation because he is at pains to keep tiny hands from ruining his stuff. The reason for this is very simple: John had to give away his own all-weather vehicle in order to be 'fair' to Elly and also because the simpleton couldn't get it through her thick skull why two people needed three cars.

This turns out to be something of a recurring pattern with Elly. She strong-arms someone into making a stupid decision in the interest of 'fairness' and squawks in outrage when the inevitable happens and it comes back to bite her in the arse. If John had been allowed to keep his sedan, she would have at least had wheels after the snowplow nailed her ride for her. Similarly, if she hadn't decided to make things fair for Mike and Dee after the fire, she could have parked in the damned garage.