the car breaking down was my worst nightmare

[threeplusfire]

My first car was a 1978 Chrysler LeBaron. It was gold, with a vinyl top, and the eight track deck worked. The carburetor was another story. Later I would grow adept at fixing the choke with a hair brush I kept in the car just for that purpose.

But often it dumped me on the side of the road, where I would freak out and cry. It was often on the way to work. Inevitably, a man driving a pickup truck stopped to help me.

Today I dragged myself out to the grocery store, despite the 45 degree weather and frigid drizzling rain. Almost at the store, on the access road of the freeway, I saw someone pull their car to the side and turn on their flashers. He got out of the car, and I saw him desperately wave at passing cars. He was wearing slacks and a dress shirt, and the sort of black loafers no guy my age wears unless he is on the way to a job interview.

The gas gauge on my first car was broken and would swing wildly. I never ran out of gas because I was paranoid, and gas was a dollar a gallon at the time. So I have a lot of sympathy for a person who is unemployed, driving a car with a finicky gauge, on the way to a job interview.

I drove him to the nearest station. It would have been a substantially unpleasant walk in the rain, across six lanes of highway and a mile away. Thankfully the station had gas cans. I drove him back to his car. We talked about growing up in Austin and how weird it was to remember when these stores were empty fields of cedar and live oak behind barbed wire. He thanked me so many times, and I told him about my constant trouble with the Chrysler.

This only took fifteen minutes of my day. I hope he gets the job.

Car problems could reduce me to hysterical panic at various times in my life. The kindness of strangers often saved me. I feel so glad I was able to help someone in that same way.

Comments

[cozzene.livejournal.com]

nice. I never had that worry about cars, but it does cross my mind now that I ride motorcycles; break-downs can mean death if it is something like a flat. I'm planning a 4k mile trip this summer and all my fingers and toes are crossed in addition to having my AAA up to date.

[splix.livejournal.com]

That was a good-egg thing to do. :)

[fiatincantatum.livejournal.com]

:)

[rm.livejournal.com]

Go you.

[brienze.livejournal.com]

I once ran out of gas in Alabama, because I was used to driving a diesel Golf that got 45mpg but was driving a Grand Am that, well, didn't. There's plenty bad that can be said about the kind of guy who wears a hat and a big belt buckle, but they're wonderfully helpful to women with broken down cars. Yay you for returning the favor!

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Roadside assistance is one of the most worthwhile insurance products ever. I can't count the number of times I've had a car towed.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

I just had to - there was a moment where I saw him raise his hand towards a car that drove past and I was overcome by the memory of being stranded on the roadside. Poor dude!

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

I'd like to say it is what the cat would do, except the cat would have never left the house in the first place. :P

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

What really gave him away was that he wore black dress pants and black shoes with white socks.

It was really the most awful rainy day ever.

[cozzene.livejournal.com]

LOL, my AAA usually get a work out, but only because my cars tend to not start while I'm still home. I'm lucky in that respect.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Hurrah for the good of other motorists.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Oh.... poor boy. NO WHITE SOCKS.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Yeah. It's an epidemic here, the white athletic sock with dress pants. It's sort of hilarious that I spotted this from half a black away.

[rm.livejournal.com]

It was fashionable and correct in the 1950s, BUT I HATE IT SO MUCH.

When I was 21 I was sleeping with a 40-y-o guy who said to me "look, don't have sex with men who wear white socks with suits. don't fuck guys who own electric woks. Don't fuck anyone who doesn't like either cooking or dancing."

And you know, he had a point.

[fiatincantatum.livejournal.com]

Cats are wise beyond measure *nods*