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A friend of mine in Cambridge is buying a new Toyota-the whole works, air bags on the sides, global positioning, and whatever else the extras are; she is getting them all. Like a child with a new toy, she calls to enthuse over her choice.
"Congratulations," I say, trying to sound optimistic, but I am genuinely puzzled that she has decided her old car is not the best option for where she lives. "Don't you use the subway to commute to Boston, and don't you walk almost everywhere in Cambridge?" I ask. "You've already got the perfect car for your needs." I remember that I once accompanied her to work. She drove about a mile or so to the first available parking spot near a subway entrance. Then we took the MTA to her work place on Newbury St..

"Now, now," she laughs, "don't rain on my parade. Actually, I drive around Cambridge a lot on errands. But now I'll be more likely to drive up to Maine to visit you."
I have always thought it would be nice to see her here in Maine more often, and I don't want to respond with a whole lot of doom and gloom, so I say nothing more. But in my head I am already at work on a plan to save her new car from its inevitable fate-grand larceny-something she has never had to worry about with her no-frills, plain Jane auto.
She seems to have forgotten the experience of our mutual friend Cara, another resident of Cambridge. Not too long ago, Cara stopped at a 7-11 store to pick up a half-gallon of milk just two blocks from her home. When she came out of the store her new designer Jeep was gone. The police called her at 3 AM the next morning to report that what was left of the Jeep was found in Newton. All its moving parts had been moved-to an unknown destination.
I, however, have not forgotten and I have a plan to add an accessory, one that requires a bit of high-tech engineering, but once off the drawing board, the prototype will quickly pick up a manufacturer. I am sure it will be relatively inexpensive and accessible to all those denizens of the city who, like my friend, insist on owning valuable cars.
My invention owes its inspiration to smaller deterrents, the NO STEREO, or NO CDs, or NO CELLULAR TELEPHONE signs that people tuck in the windows of their cars. My invention moves beyond telling to showing. It encompasses the whole car-surrounds it with virtual non reality, convincing the would-be thief that there is nothing worth stealing. For lack of a fancier name, I call it the HDC or Hologram

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