-A Mama and Mazda short
Mama llama is taking the show on the road and has a Spanish teacher’s conference to go to this week. Since it’s so far away I planned on heading up the night before, staying with my aunt and sleeping in a little bit in the morning. My car needs new brakes so I left it at the house for the hubby to fix and I took his old, beat-up Mazda because, “it’s fine babe, I just drove it to Army last weekend.”
So picture Mama llama driving down the road, enjoying my country music and I see a car out of the corner of my eye. The car doesn’t pass me, just drives right next to me. Ummm okay? That’s odd. Avoid eye contact at all costs. Three minutes later this car is still right next to me. Creeeeeepy. I finally look over and there is a lady frantically waving at me from her truck, “Your car is sparking!!!!”. Well shit, that’s not good.
Wawa is right down the road so I make a plan to pull in there and look at it. I’m not a mechanic so I’m not sure what I plan on looking at but I know that’s what you are supposed to do in this situation. As I’m pulling into Wawa, all of a sudden it gets hard to turn the wheel. Like nearly impossible. And of course hubby is on the phone saying, “what do you mean hard to turn? Are you sure?” like I have turned into a raving idiot since I’ve left the house and forgotten the amount of force it takes to turn a damn steering wheel. “Yes, I’m sure babe”
I manage to park and as I’m getting out I see smoke coming up from underneath the hood. Also not a good sign. But I’m determined to “check it out”. Thank the good Lord above the guy filling up his gas tank next to me is a Mazda mechanic and he offers to look at it for me, since I’m obviously in over my head. I drive my car 99.99% of the time. I know how my care works and where the buttons are. In the Mazda? Not so much. I don’t even know where the hood popping button is. Mr. Mazda Mechanic Man pops it in a second and identifies the power steering as the issue in 10 seconds flat. Says it’s drivable but I should let my husband drive it, “in case it catches on fire”. He’s laughing as he says it so I giggle a little bit too. Thanks sir for making an awkward encounter slightly funny.
Then his wife says, “could it really catch on fire?”
Mr. Mechanic Man responds quite definitively, “yep”.
OOOOkay then. So that wasn’t a joke. I will NOT be driving that particular fire hazard anywhere. With my luck, it will catch on fire as soon as I start it and take the whole damn Wawa down with it. I do not feel like appearing on the evening news in my pjs. Now who to call? Ghostbusters? Nope, not that sort of problem. Hero Hubby? Preferably not, he just got the kids in bed.
*ring* *ring*
“Yea?”
“Dad? Can you come rescue me? The car is sparking, and won’t turn, and could catch on fire.”
It is a great testament to my dad’s ability to roll with the punches because he doesn’t ask any clarifying questions, just calmly responds with, “Okay, on my way”.
Still not sure how Mama llama is getting to the conference tomorrow but God has a plan I’m sure.
🤣🤣🤣🤣 I was looking forward to seeing you !!