rescue me! - epilogue

Whew! That was a close one!

It turns out that my car started easily with a set of jumper cables and a very tiny bit of knowledge (i.e., how to connect the damned things--which is one of the few automotive-related tasks I can actually perform). I thought I'd just drive to work and hope that the car starts at the end of the day, but my mother-in-law insisted that I take the car to our mechanic just in case.

So we did.

And then he told me that I should drive the car to work and give the battery a chance to charge up so that we can be more certain what the problem really is. I thought it would feel good to be right, but it really didn't. It was nice to change up my my morning a little bit.

After my initial panic wore off, I looked around the car and realized that I wasn't as bad off as I thought. I had a bottle of water. I had my Wonder-Woman lunchbox which contained 2 cokes and leftovers from last night's dinner. The meal was mostly rice, so it would have been a real mess to eat. Desperate times...

I also happened to have my copy of Palm Sunday by Kurt Vonnegut in the car. I really love this book. Mine happens to be a 1st edition, but I suspect even later editions are just as enjoyable to read. Even if things got really desperate, I don't think could have brought myself to burn it for warmth (this is the problem with first editions). I think I would have just read it until I fell asleep and then drifted away peacefully. It would have been a nice way to go.

rescue me!

As i write this, I am sitting in my car outside the health club, waiting for my Mother-in-Law to come rescue me from the dead husk that is my car. I don't know how long it will take.

I am vulnerable and helpless. I don't really know much about fixing cars, and even if I did, there's not much I could do, as I am sans tools.

My only connection to the outside world is my cellphone, which has a dying battery, and my computer, which is connected to the internet via the health club's open wireless connection.

I'm not really sure why one of the amenities of this particular club is a free internet connection. I'll ponder that later...if I ever get out of this predicament. Eventually the battery in the computer will drain. I suspect my car's problem may be related to the battery as well. Powerlessness seems to be defining my day.

I have been unable to reach my mechanic in person...I left a message on his machine, but that has only served to reinforce my suspicion that salvation will come to late, and my demise is inevitable.

Tell my wife I love her. Tell my kid's I'm sorry they had to grow up without....

wait. There she is. It's going to be okay.