#car trouble

[thegoodmorningman]

Happy Monday! It's time to pretend!!!

[atths--twice]

Saw this on Twitter and had to write a little something. ❤️

Their car began to overheat at mile marker 203, barely making it to the service station.

He sighed as he took off his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves while she called for another rental car.

“They said about thirty minutes,” she told him, hanging up as she joined him.

“Great,” he said with another sigh. “It’s blazing out, no wonder the car overheated.”

“Yeah,” she agreed, fanning herself and looking around. “Least we made it here and we’re not stuck on the side of the road.”

“Hmm,’” he hummed, as he also looked around. “Look at that.” He pointed to a dirt field with bases laid out to create a small baseball diamond. “Come on.”

“But the car…”

“Thirty minutes you said,” he told her, grinning as he started to walk toward the field. “We got time.”

She nodded, taking his offered hand to step over the path of half tires that had been set up as a barrier between the parking lot and the loose gravel walkway. He squeezed it as he let go and they continued to the field.

“Man,” he said, shaking his head as he looked at the dirty and stained up bases. “This takes me back.”

“You play a lot as a kid?” she asked, looking around with a small smile.

“Not really on a team as my folks couldn’t afford it, but neighborhood pick up games? Hell yeah.”

He spied a ball in the grass at the edge of the dirt lot and he smiled. Picking it up, he stared at it and then smelled it, his eyes closing. God, it smelled like summer and bologna sandwiches, warm sunshine and the tired feeling you got from riding your bike from morning till night.

It smelled like childhood.

“You ever play baseball as a kid?” he asked, smelling it again.

“Yeah,” she said with a small nod. “I was a pretty fast runner.”

“Smell that,” he said, holding the ball out to her. “What does it make you think of?”

She took a small sniff and hummed.

“Running through sprinklers. Eating sticky, melting popsicles. Riding my bike through the neighborhood and stopping by people’s houses without calling ahead.”

“Exactly. Like childhood,” he said with a grin and she nodded.

“Yeah.”

“Wanna have a catch?” he asked, popping the ball off of his forearm and catching it in his hands.

She stared at him and then looked down at her attire. He anticipated hearing a no and was taken by surprise when she nodded as she began to unbutton her blazer.

“Let’s see what you got,” she said, dropping her blazer outside the diamond without a care that it would get dirty. He grinned and stepped toward the pitcher's mound, rolling the ball around in his hand.

She stood at home plate, awaiting his throw. When he let it go, she caught it easily, tossing it right back to him. She smiled and he smiled back, throwing the ball once again.

By the time the replacement rental car pulled into the station, they were both hot and sweaty, but smiling from ear to ear. He tossed the ball up one more time as she collected her blazer.

“Thanks,” he whispered, setting it onto the middle of home plate and walking over to join her.

Their luggage and other personal items transferred to the new car, they got in and turned the air conditioning up to high.

Leaving the rental agent behind to figure out what to do with the broken car, they waved and made their way to the driveway of the parking lot.

They both glanced at the empty lot just as a group of kids rode up on their bikes. All of them dropped their bikes, shouting and laughing as they took out baseball bats and more balls from backpacks or even pockets. Two teams were quickly formed and they began a game, the ball making contact with the bat with a loud crack! and then cheering.

“Nothing replaces that feeling,” he said softly, turning on his blinker to turn left and leave the dirt lot in the rearview mirror.

She covered his hand with hers briefly and he smiled as he nodded.

Well, almost nothing, he thought, glancing at this new partner of his, wondering when it would be a good time to tell her he was falling head over heels for her.

“Let’s find a place to eat,” she said, turning the vent to blow the cool air more directly onto her. “I’m starving.”

“Me too,” he agreed, smiling with a nod, the memory of her happy laughter, as he ran the bases with his hands over his head in mock celebration, echoing in his head. “How about burgers and shakes?”

“Yes!” she agreed. “Something chocolate and deliciously cold.”

“Your wish is my command,” he said, stepping on the gas as her laughter rang out once again.

[pulpsandcomics2]

Car Trouble

[prettyplumpkitty]

So the part I DID NOT mention regarding our trip was CATASTROPHE! About an hour & a half into our return journey, I began to feel an increasing wubba wubba from the right passenger tire. Just past Jackson, Michigan, I was just starting to tell Mister something really felt wrong and I started changing lanes into the right lane when our tire literally FLEW (exploded?) off the car at 70mph. I was able to keep control and come to a slow stop but oh my goodness, it was a WOW moment. Thus ensued trying to arrange a tow truck and transport for all six of us off very busy I-94 E. Huge shout out to the tow company for sending TWO trucks to transport us all to the garage. Extremely thankful for garage as well for fixing us up as best they could & getting us back on the road the same day. The children & I still ended up getting an Uber to a very lovely hotel & mister joined us with the car later & we had a pleasant evening together.

So wow, definitely shook up but so grateful everyone is okay & that even our van made it home. Not impressed with the garage that put new brakes on the van right before our trip and apparently forgot to put the tire on right/tight. Can’t express enough how grateful I am to be home!

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Car trouble on West 88th St., 1950s.

Photo: Ruth Orkin via orkinphotos.com

[eyeofnewtblog]

Things that happen at home:

So, my mom had her first symphony concert this weekend, and I’m happy to report that it was a smashing success.

What I personally thought was really cool is that the whole symphony is mostly older women. Most of the brass section was older men though, and you could tell that the trumpet and trombone players were having a great time with the music (lots of jamming out head and shoulders movement) and WOW that tuba player has A Set Of Lungs.

Honestly kinda makes me miss the days when Middle Sister would stand just outside my bedroom door and just BLAST through her practice session as fast as possible. Yes, she was a tuba player. Yes, she was in marching band and orchestra. Yes, I absolutely ran out screaming “MOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!” Every. Single. Time. No, that did not stop her in anyway whatsoever.

Anyway, there was also a cello soloist that performed with violin and viola accompaniment, and he was legitimately fantastic. I told my mom during intermission that she was better and she did her scrunch up face of You’re Full Of Shit But I Like The Support which was cute.

I was sitting next to my one of my cousins for the concert and we both kept side eyeing each other and giggling about how he was bobbing along and jamming out…for those of you that don’t know, it’s very easy to jam out and look cool when you have either a very small instrument or a very large instrument.

When you have a medium instrument, like a cello or French horn, you just look silly if you’re jamming out (saxophone is the exception) and my mom has this very…contained way of playing that looks intense but graceful and determined. So to see someone looking like they’re jamming out on an electric guitar while playing a cello was just…hilarious to us, because we’ve been watching my mom jam out for decades and never seen anyone look so goofy while sounding so good.

One of my moms work friends showed up, and she was an absolute delight. Complete sweetheart; it’s also really fucking funny to tease government contractors about their top secret clearances and joke about their projects or basically anything that they aren’t allowed to talk about. (I teased her specifically about being in the CIA because she does intelligence analysis; my husband and I have a long standing “argument” about if my mom works on quantum computers or making targeted ai satellite systems talk to each other, because honestly her PhD could easily allow for both) the goal is to make relatively small jokes and then drop it quickly because you don’t actually want them to violate their security protocols…but fucking hell if it isn’t fun to toe the line.

My mechanic husband had the dubious joy of teaching me how to jump start a car in the parking lot without jumper cables. (My car battery is in the fritz and needs replacement but we honestly thought it could wait another month or so…)

But basically you put the car in neutral, push it into a position that it can roll naturally downhill, then put it in either first gear or reverse (which ever way is down hill, basically) and release the clutch. I’m pretty sure this only works on automatic transmission vehicles, but I could be wrong and didn’t ask for clarification.

I’d like to point out that we were in a crowded parking lot with a perfectly functioning set of jumper cables. We could have absolutely asked any of the ten people walking by if we could get a jump. We could have waited for my cousin to come out, because we were parked right next to each other. But no. “What if you’re stuck by yourself? You pride yourself on being able to get out of anything.”

That man knows me too well.

Overall, great night. Fantastic concert, great learning experience, got to be an absolute little shit. 10/10, would do again.

[hannatheangel]

srry to be absent again…

i traveled quite a ways out of town the other night and was on my way back home when my fucking engine seized up and i ended up on the side of the road. my car had to be towed and is currently sitting at the dealership waiting to be evaluated. it caused me a lot of stress n anxiety, very scary to experience, especially because i was by myself when it happened. just very thankful for my parents and my bf <3

[enriquemzn262]

The AC of my pickup broke down, right in the middle of the hottest month of the year in Barranquilla.

Driving was my only escape from the heat, now it’s going to be torture, holy shit…

[hopecomesbacktolife]

🎶 would you still feel alone if your nightmares left / and they never returned home?

I'll say it now cause it's long overdue / whatever happens, I'll never forget you 🎶

[tildeathiwillwrite]

June of Doom Day 16

"At least it can't get any worse." / Secret / Stranded / Setback

Prompts List | Masterpost

Fandom: Original Work

Words: 300

Tag List: @juneofdoom @fourwingedsnake @whumperofworlds @pigeonwhumps @mr-orion

@scaewolf

TW: car trouble, swearing, smoke, implied ambush, implied magic

Whumpee was the only one on the road when the engine spluttered, the entire car shaking as it struggled before finally giving out, forcing them to coast to a stop at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. The sun had set long ago, and as Whumpee turned on their hazards, popped the hood, and stepped out of the car, they couldn’t shake the irrational fear that they were being observed.

Turning on their phone light, Whumpee pulled open the hood and was rewarded with a face full of smoke. They coughed, stumbling back and weakly fanning the air with their free hand, trying to disperse the smoke. Unfortunately, they were no trained mechanic, and couldn’t tell if anything was wrong besides the obvious smoke rising in the air.

Whumpee sighed and got back into their car, leaving the hood open to allow the engine to cool off. They shut off the phone light and checked their signal. One bar. It wasn’t great, but it would have to do. “Stupid shitty car,” they muttered under their breath, dialing the local nonemergency line, “at least it can’t get any worse.”

As soon as the words left their lips, their phone buzzed, the screen turning off. Whumpee cursed, smacking it against their palm, trying to get it to turn back on. “Great! Just great! I charged you three hours ago, how can you be dead already?! You were only running the fucking map you piece of shit!”

Whumpee was so caught up in their tirade against their phone that they didn’t notice the shadows moving outside their car until it was too late.

[lazysharkart]

The realization of disaster...

[martinsharmony]

I've been reading Car Trouble by Summerofspock (E) and I must say that so far it's amazing.

I'm away from home visiting mom right now...she's elderly and ever since Dad died I sort of manage her life. I pay all the bills, stay on top of appointments, etc. whenever I come to visit I like to have a nice looooooong fic to read to give me a bit of an escape in my mind because it's pretty stressful for me to be here. I have to pick my battles so to speak.

I'm into chapter 6 at the moment (and I've only been here less than 2 days...I might finish it before my trip is over!). Anyways I left kudos last night and went to comment and comments are turned off 😕. I've never actually encountered that before and I've read hundreds of fics. Anyway summerofspock if you're out there just know that I'm LOVING this fic (and yes I read petrichor and parchment too so this was right up my alley) so I just wanted to send some kind words ❤️😁

[howyoustudythestars]

Complete the poem:

Roses are red The sea is teal Adam Young cooked...

[enriquemzn262]

Ever since my transmission axel fell off, I’ve been noticing that the gearbox just seemed to get more and more stiff, and recently I really needed to apply force to get the car into gear, reverse being the most troublesome as not only was it hard, but also made the same horrible noise a transmission makes when you try to put a gear in without the clutch.

So after much hesitation, and in fear that the issue was the gearbox itself, I finally relented and took the car to a checkup.

The good news, it’s not the gearbox, which is completely fine.

The bad news, it’s the clutch itself, which is basically in need of a complete replacement.

Getting the old clutch down and a new one in was quoted to me for 80 dollars, and the clutch itself, after spending a good while riding around in my bike checking, was 150 dollars, which I just spent.

But since I’m also in the middle of getting some paperwork done for a future job, basically getting some stuff from Venezuela into Colombia, something I’ve slacked off on big time, and that set me down 120 dollars just yesterday, I’m now effectively broke, not having enough for the mechanic, and that coupled with my recently broken bed, which remains in need of repair.

So, once again, I seriously need you guys help

https://www.paypal.me/EnriqueManzanoRomero

Please, anything you can spare will be of great help, for now I’d like to get the new clutch in place before anything else, as sleeping on the floor isn’t as dire as being one bad gear change away from totaling my gearbox, but if I get enough to also fix my bed, that would be just fantastic.

I haven’t asked for help in a while, I know it’s really fucking annoying to keep hearing about these issues, hence why I have done my best to keep emergency cash, but man, with all the stuff that happened with my cat last month, coupled with issues at work, I’m now back at 0 in terms of savings, and the least I think about my credit score, the better…

[snydergurl]

Floppy Fish (Preview2) [AKA Car Trouble] - Owl City