Guess what? My grandpa got my car running again! (See this entry.)

But guess what else? In the days after he fixed it, he asked me, "Have you taken your car out yet?"

"I'm afraid to!" was my answer every time.

"Aw. Don't you trust my work?" asked my grandpa.

"I trust your work," I told him, "I don't trust the car!"

Today I finally took it out. My mom and I went to lunch together--in separate cars, because she had to leave for work immediately after. I got there fine, and I was saying to myself with a smile, "My grandpa is a miracle worker."

Mom and I ate and she left. I had other stuff to do, so I went to my car preparing to go to JoAnn's. It turned on, and I backed out of the parking space all of 6 inches, I think, and it cut out on me.

My initial reaction when my car quits on me is panic. "OH NO!" was my first thought. "Is my grandpa home? Is this the same problem as last time? Am I stuck here? Will the restaurant let me use their phone?"

And then I calmed down a bit as I realized I could find the answer to at least one of the questions. I sat back down in my car, put the key in, and tried to start it again. It revved but it didn't catch. Last time my car wouldn't even rev. Nothing happened when I turned the key.

It still wouldn't catch. I tried it a couple more times, then gave up and went inside to use the phone. They let me when they learned it was an emergency. I was glad I didn't have to use somebody's cell phone this time.

Oh, I haven't told you about Sunday's car troubles. :) That was with my sister's car, though, and turned out to be nothing but a false alarm. I had to use some guy's cell phone though, which I felt bad about. (Then my sister reminded me that most cell phone plans have free nights and weekends. LOL.) There was this other guy who offered his phone near the end of the scene, when Sam had come up to get me and explained that there was nothing wrong; it was just a false alarm. When we told him that, do you know what he said? "Oh. You have gorgeous toes, by the way."

"Thanks," my sister said before I had a chance to glance at our toes. I knew mine were painted; were hers? I don't know what the guy did... But in the next instant Sam looked down at our feet also and then whispered through her teeth to me, "You should say thank you; he was talking to you!"

LOL!!

Okay... Off that little tangent... Where was I?

Oh yes! Calling grandpa. Extremely fortunately, he was home, though it took my grandma a long time to find him. I told him I'd finally taken my car out and that it had quit on me. :) "You're kidding," was his reaction. I'm sure he was thinking, "What else could go wrong with this car??" :D "All right, I'll be down in a minute," he said.

I trekked back outside to the front of my car and sat on the cement bar and waited patiently for my grandpa to come.

While I was waiting (this is not a tangent), a person with close-cut hair and a couple piercings in an ear and an eyebrow came up to me and started talking. I couldn't really tell at first if it was a guy or a girl. Now I'm pretty sure it was a guy. Anyway, so he came up to me and started talking. I was already thinking, "Okay, who is this guy? Why is he talking to me?" I don't know how I did it, but I remained really calm. It must've had something to do with the beautiful warm temperature (YAY!) relaxing me.

"So, uh, what kind of perfume do you like?" he asked.

Oh, great, a salesperson, I thought. Okay, how do I get away from this guy? "Um... Actually, I don't wear perfume much."

"Oh yeah? How come?"

"Um... Well, it's usually pretty strong," I said, grasping at straws. "And plus I have allergies and that kind of makes them worse." I was thankful for that little brainstorm. For once in my life, I praise allergies! :D

"Well, this is [whatever the perfume was]. Do you want to try it?" He held out the bottle to me. I took it and smelled the spraying nozzle. It smelled pretty good, actually. But probably costs an arm and a leg, I thought.

"It's nice," I said honestly. I wonder what it costs? $40? $60? $100?

"Can I at least spray some on you?" he asked.

Hesitate... "Sure," I agreed. I held out my wrist and he sprayed, and I saw a cloud of it blow off to my left with the breeze that had been gently blowing. I'd still gotten a tiny bit on me.

"Did any get on you?" he asked, sounding worried, ready to spray again.

"Yeah, some got on me," I said, in a don't-worry voice. Actually, probably just the right amount. Perfume really is strong.

"The wind didn't blow it off?" he asked.

"No, it got on me."

There were a few seconds of silence. "So, why are you sitting here all by your lonesome?"

"I'm waiting for my grandpa," I said. "My car--" I gestured to it, but couldn't think of any words. I had no clue what was wrong with it. "It won't start."

"Oh," said he. "Well, I know some about cars; I could take a look."

NO! I didn't care if he did know something about cars, nobody touches my car except for my grandpa!! I'm very attached to that little broken-down thing, and if he somehow got it working and then tried to steal it...

"No, my grandpa will be here in a few minutes," I explained calmly. "He can fix it."

"Oh... Well... Okay," said the boy, and I was thankful that my calm tone had worked and he didn't press any further.

Then Grandpa drove in... Just in time to save the day! :) "Is that your grandpappy?" asked the boy.

"Yeah," I said, rising. "Thanks for the"--uh, what was I trying to say?--"perfume... offer to help..." He was walking away, so it didn't matter that I couldn't say anything of intelligence. {sigh} Ah, me!

Grandpa tested my car with his device that lights up to show the problem. (Whatever in the world it's called.) He said the car wasn't getting any spark and he was suspicious of my car key! LOL. He said he'd have to go back and get his rig and a tow rope so we could pull my car home... Again. :)

Oh! It's 2:36 and I've got stuff to do before 4:00 when I got have coffee (tea for me) with my friends! Good thing I'm almost finished.

A group of rough-sounding individuals had just walked up and I was getting really nervous, with that weird guy selling me perfume and now this group of guys... And me, just a 19-year-old girl from a sheltered home! So I asked grandpa calmly (not letting on any fear, of course), "Can I come with you?" I secretly hoped he had come to the same conclusion about the gang and his fatherly instincts were kicking in and he'd take me a long welcomingly. He just said, "Sure."

I told him, when we climbed in the car, about the boy selling me perfume. He started. "Oh! Do you know what he was doing? I just got an e-mail the other day. Guys going around claiming to sell perfume."

Oh, dear. This opened up a whole new dimension. I hadn't sniffed meth, had I? (We've been having a real meth problem here recently.)

"They put ether in the bottles," Grandpa said.

"What's ether?" I asked, recognizing the name but not knowing what it was.

"It's what they used to use for anesthesia. It knocks you out, and then the guys take advantage of you. I didn't think they'd do it in broad daylight, but..."

I said, "I'm glad I came with you, then!" I wondered if I would pass out. What about delivering my last job application (and picking up another couple) and sending my letters? What if I passed out while driving?

I was really nervous about it as we drove home, back, and home again (with me steering my car behind Grandpa). Eventually I became calm enough because I'd realized it'd been quite a while since I'd sniffed that perfume. Even so, I asked Grandpa just to be sure: "If I'm still okay now, am I okay to drive around town? I still have stuff to do."

He told me, "Oh! If you had passed out, it would've been right away. Your perfume... I didn't smell any ether in it at all. You're okay."

I'm still nervous but it's been quite some time. And I still keep my wrist far away from my nose--even though the perfume smells nice.

Hey, maybe people can finally call me a knockout with this new perfume. ;)

[Ooh... Tomatoes!]

-Stephanie

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