Well - Part IX

It turned out I didn’t have to wait too long. About a half hour after the car conked out on me, I saw the lights of a patrol car kick in down the road and a state trooper pulled to the curb just behind my vehicle.

I did the usual inventory of what vehicle infractions I could be subject to and decided I should be okay. The darn thing did pass its inspection last month and I thought the tires were all legal at least. I had a storied history of traffic tickets in my dubious past.

I conveyed my plight to the officer and he called for a tow truck to get me off the side of the road. I thanked him and shortly thereafter I saw the flashing lights of the tow truck bearing down from the south.

I got towed to a little service center and forked over what I hoped was a good piece of plastic to cover the towing charges and was able to call my sister from the service center.
My sister sighed but said her husband would make the trek down to retrieve me and we could decide on what to do with the car in the morning.

Saturday morning came and I awoke in my childhood home feeling a tad disoriented and once I recognized my circumstances and the memory of the previous night came into focus, I started getting depressed. Here I was 31 years old seemingly with no direction in my life. I was a victim of a bad marriage, a nowhere, dead-end job, and with no clear prospects or direction.

I hate when days start like this.

I wondered out to the kitchen in search of coffee, breakfast and distraction. No one else in the house seemed to be stirring (or else they were gone…). I checked the time and began to wonder about my “date” with Cheryl later this evening. Should I call it off, tell her about the car trouble, admit to being a loser and tell her she would be best to forget she ever knew me.

I was feeling a bit sorry for myself.

Fortunately, this mood didn’t persist. I recognized the self-pity and shook it off and developed my usual pragmatic vision. What did I need to do first… that’s what I needed to focus on.

My sister came in and we exchanged greetings. I had already started coffee, she offered to cook some eggs and I accepted the offer.

We ate in relative silence. Her husband was working and the kids were off doing Saturday type activities so we were alone in the house. She told me that one of her high school friend’s husband had some cars for sale if I wanted to consider that option as opposed to attempting to fix up the current clunker again. I considered that option for nano-second and concluded that financially this wasn’t a realistic option.

Turns out when I checked with the service center that had my car that it fired up on the first try this morning. Probably just got too wet. I caught a ride down there from my sister. After picking up the car I rode out to a local mall to pick up some items for the date. My attention then began to focus on the next task at hand which was how to impress my former high school crush that I wasn’t the total loser that I appeared to be (and I felt at that point in time, I was).