This weekend was a doozy - both Ben and I were commenting last night on how it seemed as if Sunday had stretched itself out into 2 days instead of just 1. Sunday morning we rose to sunshining skies, a great omen for things-to-be-done, and started us off with great plans. I had put off some things from Saturday night until Sunday, fearing another trip out to the mall area, where hoards of money-spending people were clogging the main arteries to and from the freeway.
After finally showering and dressing and eating, we were ready to go, and we piled into my car with the coats and gloves and scarves keeping us warm. I started my trusty steed and pulled out into the street. Immediately I realized that one of my tires was flat. Luckily, we live very close to a gas station, so we pulled in there and I got some change for the air compressor. I started to fill my tire, which was mysteriously completely and totally flat. While I was filling the tire with air, I realized that I could actually feel the air leaking from the tire right near my hand. I looked down and found a rather large hole in the rubber, spewing out the air that I was giving it, and just as quickly. Ben came out of the combini and checked my progress. I explained what had happened, pondering the strangeness of having a gaping hole in the side of the tire, and we drove the car very slowly back behind the house.
With one roadblock out of the way, we decided we would just take Ben's sedan. After a brief trip inside the house, we walked over to Ben's car, which was parked directly behind mine before we had left originally. Ben walked over to the driver's side, looked down, and uttered an explitive. I inquired about his mood, and he suggested that I come over to his side of the car to look. I did so, and looking down at the tires on the driver's side, both were flat. I looked at the VW parked behind Ben's car and saw that it's street-side tires, too, were flat.
Intense rage filled my head as I went back inside the house to call someone... the police or something... to report this mess. Instead of screaming and throwing things, as I very much wanted to do, I held my breath for a bit, and felt better afterwards. Being a family of 2 that just happens to own 3 cars, we checked the third - a Scout International that has massive thick-walled tires. That car's tires were fine, as were the rest of the cars on that side of the block. Unfortunately, the Scout hadn't been running very well for quite a while, so we were sure we were screwed in trying to get anywhere that day. None of the tire shops were open, so we took a chance and called triple-A to have them jump the Scout so we could at least get something done during the day.
The jump worked to get the Scout running, as it normally does, and we took off to Costco, where we were for far too long, as normal. When we got back out to the Scout, it again wouldn't start. We called Ben's step-dad to have him come out and jump us, and we sat out in the bitter cold waiting for about 40 minutes before he showed up. We let the good battery trickle into the Scout's battery for over an hour in vain before calling triple-A again. We were able to get the Scout started finally, and went immediately to Shucks, where we purchased a new battery and installed it in the parking lot, under a bright lamp, as night had swiftly come as we were waiting at Costco.
The Scout worked wonderfully for the rest of the night, and we were certain that our troubles, at least for one car, were over.
Until this morning, that is. Once again, the only car we have available is out of commission, and I am currently waiting for triple-A to get here so that we may both be able to get to work. Later today, I'll have my car towed to the tire store to have the replacements put on, and if I ever find the little motherfucker who decided to go down my street and slash car tires for fun, he or she will be strung up so high, they won't know how to get him/her down.
Oh Devlyn! I am so sorry you day continued to get worse instead of better. This makes me think that the word "bitterly" is much more apt than "betterly". Ex: "Devlyn thinks of yesterday bitterly."
Posted by: amy at December 12, 2005 10:18 AM