A Night’s Events

The car ran over something hard and metal on the way to work this morning.

I could hear it clanging and hard bounce-banging around underneath and against the car’s carriage for a few seconds before rattling away into the distance.

I thought the car had lost a part because I had not seen anything on the road.

Maybe it had blended in with the dark, smooth matrix.

When I drove the rest of the day, I listened for the car to make weird noises that would indicate something next stage deconstruction was happening.

After 10pm, I headed to a gas station on the way “home,” and at last I heard a sound and felt the performance shift off-kilter.

Darn!

I pulled into the station for gas, got out, and found that I had a flat tire.

Ok, I could deal with this.

However, in process of clearing out the back trunk region to reach the spare, my hand got into something slick that had leaked from a mystery container – and suddenly I felt and tasted lots of oil in my mouth!

A great time to panic!

Don’t panic!

Is this a problem?!?

I quickly walked into the mini mart to use the soap – oil-cutting dish soap, please! – and washed my hands several times at the front sink while nervously chattering about the issue to the clerks behind the counter.

Then, I returned outside and called 911 with calm voice, yet shakey laughter.

“Um…am I going to die from this?”

And then I couldn’t find the container to identify what my hand gotten into.

“I know this looks bad…” I told the kind dispatcher on the phone who was keeping me company, “but I can’t seem to find the container!”

What did I do with it?!?

I began further casting about to find it, going so far as to rumage through the garbage cans by the mini mart’s doors.

I had no recollection of what happened to it after I realized I could be in danger.

I sifted hrough miscellanious refuse, bemusedly lifting up an oil-stained bag – only to find it contained a partially-eaten, long donut in it.

I realized that I was blankly inspecting it, looking like a befuddled homeless person.

I felt so embarrassed.

The paramedics arrived to a scene where the garbage from the back of my car that I had planned to throw away was strewn around on the ground behind like large, picked through candy wrappers on a late Halloween evening.

Just then, I at last found it!

The container revealed as brake fluid.

The paramedics assured me that I would be fine – and then proceeded to change the flat tire for me!

Lucky they did because it was stuck on the mount bolts from rusted mud, and they had to pound on it to get it free.

In the original scenario, there would have just been me under the parking lot lights at 11pm, futiley beating on the tire like an unskilled monkey.

When they finished, I gratefully thanked them and gave them each my card, telling them to look me up so that I could help them keep saving people more comfortably.

As they were leaving, we wished each other goodnight, and I called out cheerfully that they had helped set me back on my path – so the night was going well for me!