My Poor Little Car

Believe it or not, it's only been a year since I got my drivers license. No, I didn't fail my driver's license test - in fact, I got my motorcycle license at age seventeen. Two years later, I took the driver's license test. So no, I'm not unlucky, I just had no reason to need a car license. After I passed the test, my parents graciously allowed me to use one of their already paid for cars. In this case, it was the only available paid for car that wasn't in use - the PT Cruiser. Yes, it's a 2005 model but one can't be too choosy - more or less free car.

I remember the first time I put a dent in that car. It was around August, I was just leaving my place of work at the time, after picking up my check. It was a Friday, just before I got to spend a weekend up at the lake with Jerry and his family camping. I was backing out of the parking space, turning to go to the little stop sign. I remembered to look out for my back end while I was making the turn but then I failed to take into account where my front end was. So I scraped along the front passenger side fender against a the concrete around a light pole.

I had a fit. I absolutely cried. I knew my father was going to have a fit and when the lady who worked the shift before me came out and asked what happened, I told her and she held me while I cried. She told me to call Jerry, whom she had heard so much about and to tell him what happened, ask him what he thought to do. She said that because I thought daddy might kill me. She had met daddy before, as my sister had once worked at that same place. So I called Jerry, Jerry said he would take a look at it when he got there to pick me up for the weekend and to not bother to tell my parents until they got back. His reason: Why ruin their weekend with worry when there was nothing they could do about it from where they were? So simple, so logical.

Of course, when they got back they had a fit. Just like I thought they would.

When someone put a dent in the front bumper, driver side at a mall parking lot - not even bothering to leave a note and there were no cameras or security around - I cried. I found out by my dad coming in, early in the morning, turning on my light and demanding what happened. I of course couldn't tell him because I had no idea what happened. I had no explanation. I ranted, I raved, I felt sick to my stomach and fretted all day about it. At least this one wasn't my fault but I was outraged - someone had done this to my car! I wouldn't have done this to someone else's car and not tried to contact them!

And with this latest escapade, I just... feel bad for my poor little car. It has had nothing but a hard life under my ownership and I hate that. It is a good little car and can't help that at times its bad.

Today my car started sounding like it was being run by rodents running in a wheel instead of by an engine. When I accelerated, it sounded as if the rodents kicked it into high gear. I felt bad for the little rodents so after getting my lunch, I let the car sit in the parking lot while I went to my other class. After class, I started the car again and unfortunately, the poor rodents were still there, trying to power my car. Sighing, I made my way across the campus parking lot to the red light that would take me home. I was almost to the stop sign before the red light when the check engine light came on - and stayed on. My dad is on speed dial so I called him, he told me to pull over, it sounded like I had thrown a belt so just park it, he'd be there after work. Well, by this time I was already to the red light and unfortunately, he wasn't patient enough to have me explain.

So I calmly hung up, turned around, and parked in the parking lot. I went and told security I was having car troubles and told them it may have to stay overnight, just in case it actually did have to, but that no, I didn't need their assistance, my dad was coming to take care of it after work. And so I waited. He and mom came, I popped the hood, he took a look when I started it and told me to start clearing the stuff out of my car - it was going to have to go to the garage. So I did. Hopped in the Jeep with my mom and dad drove my car to the garage just a few blocks away, Eddie's.

Well today we got a call with a preliminary 'Here's what's wrong.' Turns out that the water pump had been leaking onto the timing belt and causing that noise that I heard. They found this out because they stuck it inside the garage over night and when they came back in the morning, it had peed green fluid all over the floor. That narrowed it down, they said. Turns out that the hesitation that I was feeling in the car was because the spark plugs that my parents had paid the dealership to be changed were never changed like they were charged for. In fact, the spark plugs had been there since they drove the car off the lot - in 2005! They were cracked, rusted, and everything else under the sun so my parents asked them to put the spark plugs in a box so they could take them to the dealership to complain...

So the rough guess is I get my car back in the middle of next week but until then I have to drive my sister's rather cruddy Aveo (long story, too much to explain my disdain). At least I have a car to use and my car is being fixed, courtesy of my parents. I am grateful. I'm still sad for my little car though. Poor little car...