Page 59 of Havoc
JEANETTE
“No, no, no, no, no! Come on! Piece of shit! Why?”
I slam my hands on the dashboard of the car, thoroughly annoyed with the fact that it’s overheating on me again. This is the fourth time it’s overheated on the drive to work, and I don’t have that far to go, really.
It’s only about five miles to work, and at this point I’m wondering why I didn’t just get up early enough to walk. It feels like I would have saved time if I had, and I wouldn’t be dealing with all the frustration that’s built up over this damn car, either.
“Fuck!” I say when I see smoke coming from under the hood. “Why today? Why me? How much fucking coolant do I need to pour into the damn engine before it’s going to behave? I am over this shit!”
I pull to the side of the road and slam my door as I get out of the car. I don’t hold back showing my frustration as I walk to the back of my shitty car and pull out yet another bottle of coolant.
I’m not really paying attention to what’s going on around me, so when I hear a man’s voice I nearly jump right out of my skin with fright.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” he says. “I just noticed you pulled over here, and I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“My car,” I reply. “It’s been overheating a lot lately, and I hoped I might be able to make it work long enough to get me to work today. But it’s acting up again, so here I am.”
“Do you know what’s wrong with it?” he asks, looking at me as if I could possibly know.
“No.”
“Do you want me to take a look?”
I hesitate. I don’t really want this man to take a look at anything. I’m already slightly annoyed that he’s here in the first place. But then, I can’t really blame him. I am a young woman pulled over on the side of the road. It doesn’t take a very high level of chivalry for a man to pull over and see if things are okay.
“Do you know much about cars?” I ask him.
“I know enough I should be able to give you some idea of what’s wrong.” He shrugs along with his reply.
“I would appreciate it,” I tell him. “I’m already pressing my luck with getting to work on time, so I might as well see if you can give me any advice.”
“This will only take a second.” He smiles cheerfully. He takes the coolant from me and heads to the front of my car. I pop the hood for him and he lifts it, waving away the smoke that billows out from under it as it opens.
“Yes, you definitely have an issue with overheating,” he confirms. “When’s the last time you took it in to have it looked at?”
“I don’t know,” I admit. “I don’t really have the money to go to the mechanic.”
“You realize if you spend a little now it can save you a lot in the long run,” he announces.
I force myself not to roll my eyes. I feel like this guy is taking a fatherly roll and lecturing me on how to take care of my car. I can’t deny he’s right about what he’s telling me, but that doesn’t help his cause.
“Right,” I agree. “But I still have to have the money to go in for the appointment regardless. If I don’t have the money for that, they’re not going to help me with my car, so I’m kind of stuck either way.”
“I can appreciate that,” he tells me. Once again, I refrain from rolling my eyes. I know he’s just trying to be friendly as he’s checking out my vehicle, but I’m not in the mood to make conversation. I just want him to finish looking at the car so I can get back on the road.
Hopefully.
“It’s clearly your engine,” he tells me after what feels like forever. It’s only been five minutes, but I want to just push him aside and get back into my car.
“What do you think it is?” I ask.
“Can’t say for sure. I was hoping it would be a simple thing I could point out, but this is going to have to go up on the rack before someone’s going to be able to tell you what’s wrong. They’ll probably have to tear the whole thing apart,” he tells me.
“Damn it,” I mutter.
“I put in your coolant, and it took the entire thing,” he says. “I wouldn’t doubt it would take more if you have it.”
“I don’t.” I shake my head. “And I really have to get to work or I’m going to be in a lot of trouble, but thank you for stopping and giving me a hand.”
