Car Woes, The Final Frontier

Vehicular Homicide. Death by a vehicle.

It was something I was a little concerned about as we were headed for church this evening.

Our one remaining vehicle, our little Ford Pick-up, had only one minor episode of "bad gas" on the way to drop Jericho off for school this morning, so I thought it would be relatively safe to venture out to church this evening.

I was wrong.

Grandma picked up Jericho from school and was to bring him to church this evening to save me an unnecessary trip into town with our truck in it's unpredictable condition.

In my usual Wednesday evening hustle to get out the door to church, I'd completely forgotten about the technical difficulties in the truck, and was humming along towards the intersection where I turn to get to church. A very busy intersection, I might add. During rush hour.

Suddenly, it begins to chug. And as I downshifted carefully slowing towards the stop in the left turn lane, the truck suddenly lost all power. Turned off completely. Naturally, the left arrow light turned green at that moment, and I had to restart the engine.

I glanced in my rear view mirror in dismay when I noticed a very nice new vehicle behind me. The lady in that vehicle began blowing her horn very impatiently, not once but several times.

Mind you, I'm already freaking out about being stuck with my truck midway out in the intersection, worrying about still being stuck there when the light changed, and so I gesture wildly as best I can, "I'm stuck", while frantically trying to restart the engine and get it moved off the roadway.

It was as though it wasn't getting enough juice or something, so I'm gunning it and finally get it through the intersection with a slow series of jerks and lurches (and just before the light changed, too, thank God) but was now in the left lane next to a raised median, trying to keep the poor truck running and needing desperately to get to the right shoulder.

My concentration is disrupted by yet another blast from her horn, and I see in the mirror that Her Royal Rudeness is now not only in a major hurry but angry, too. Road rage angry. Car problems are obviously too far behind her to remember them, not that she'd care if she did.

You can tell a lot about a person in even a very brief assessment in the rear view mirror, and I saw enough to know that Good Samaritan was not part of her resume.

Just a little note here: when somebody's car is obviously giving them trouble (hint, lady: that slow lurching of a vehicle through a busy intersection is not normal or intentional!) ...do society a favor and don't honk at them!

It will not hurry them up and all it does is fluster the poor soul behind the wheel, who has a bazillion frightened thoughts jumping across synapses in her brain, as she worries about far more than just getting out of your lane...things like traffic tickets, bodily injuries and death!

And another thing, a horn that is loud enough to blow the hair up off the back of her neck is also enough to give her a heart attack, and in fact, does cause the woman to break out in a nervous sweat, heart pounding.

I look again in the mirror, and see the woman gesturing wildly, angrily, her car as close as could be to my rear bumper, but all I could do was stay the course. Traffic was already coming alongside me in the other lanes, and I was doing everything in my power to keep the engine on, while simultaneously gunning the gas and shifting

Just as the traffic clears, I go to move right, and who goes squealing around me but Her Royal Rudeness. Nearly took off my the side mirror of my truck in her haste!

I finally get over to the shoulder and just sit for a few moments to calm my nerves. When calm, I got it restarted, and gave it enough gas that it 'coughed', promptly resuming it's usual motor sounds and behavior like nothing had ever happened, and very cautiously merge back into traffic.

Things progressed nicely until I got to the next 4-way intersection, where as I slowed to a stop the truck gave out yet again.

I know many folks give their vehicles a name. Usually it's an affectionate term for a faithful old car that gets you through tough times. Like my very first car which was 18 1/2 feet of pure luxury and steel...a 1975 Buick LeSabre. "Bessie" was a big, blue bomber of a car, which when she finally rusted out in Minnesota was sold for $50 to a guy who ran her in a demolition derby. I loved ol' Bess.

We've always just referred to our pick-up has "the truck", to distinguish it from "the Honda". It's never had a real name until tonight. "Galloping Gertie" is what I've dubbed her, because as I restarted that truck and gave it some gas, that's exactly what she did...galloped through the intersection like the buckin' bronc we saw at the Rodeo a while back.

If I'd had a cowboy hat, I would've lifted it, nodding politely to the other motorists watching agape from their respective stops, and let loose a hale and hearty, "Yeeeeeeee-haw, Cowgirl UP!" This time in a different vehicle, Judah and I once again held on as she bucked and kicked her way through that intersection, and all the way down the road into our church parking lot where I coasted to a stop.

I arrived late.

I was in no mood to talk to anyone else, let alone teach the Teens class, feeling irritable and cranky for some strange reason.

At the door, I called Jeff's cell. Yep, called him. Not because his cell phone was replaced, but because, oddly, it was suddenly working again today. And this after Judah had been playing with it last night.

I couldn't get through, so I texted him instead to apprise him of the situation, said a prayer about my attitude and took a deep breath before stepping into my classroom.

Amazingly, Judah was very cooperative through all of this, not making a peep. He even sat quietly in class, which is unusual for him.

About midway through the evening, I went to the classroom next door for something, and happened to mentioned our car situation to our friend Michael.

"Oh, really? I'm selling my old car. It's that two-door, but it's only got 80,000 miles on it."

"Really?" I ask, a little glimmer of hope flickering to life. "How much are you asking?"

He kind of shrugged like he didn't think he'd get much for it, "I dunno..."

In a hurry to get back to my class, I said, "Well I'll tell Jeff about it." Scooping up my things, I head for the door and say over my shoulder, "You'll probably be getting a a call tonight."

While in class, one of the teen boys, who is very familiar with that same make and model of truck owning one just like it, told me it sounded like it needed a new rotor and cap, spark plugs, and perhaps spark plug wires.

Hmmm...my dad had mentioned the same thing about the spark plugs and wires earlier today.

My friend Chrissy and her daughter followed us home afterwards (under the auspices of helping us, though I think they secretly wanted to see if my truck really bucked and galloped like I'd said, lol).

Gertie did not disappoint. We made it home safe and sound, eventually.

Jeff was home, and when we walked inside, I immediately told him about Michael's "For Sale" car.

He called him right away. Though it was worth a more, Jeff asked him if he'd take $5oo for the car.

"For you guys, I'd give it to you for that price."

What is really cool about this story, is that we'd given Michael his first car a couple of years ago when he'd been in a difficult spot. It enabled him to go from peddling a bike with a trailer to and from the grocery store to do his shopping and to mow a few local lawns, to having the ability to get around town freely and expand his lawn business. Eventually, he even bought a nice, newer home.

He fixed up that old car we gave him and sold it, then wheeled-and-dealed on a few other cars, eventually working his way up to a small fleet of really great vehicles. A truck and trailer for his business. Another car with low mileage (so he could leave the trailer attached to his work truck), and more recently, a nearly new car he got for a song.

Tomorrow at this time, we'll be the proud owners of his old Mercury Cougar with the low mileage, which we didn't even have to haggle or negotiate over. It may not be the four door we thought we needed, but for $500 dollars we can certainly make do!

And the best news is, we may not need to take on that car payment after all!

That, my friends, is yet another example of our Heavenly Father knowing our needs before we even ask (Matthew 6:8) and working all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are the called according to His purposes (Romans 8:28)!