Friday - Driving on Empty

[ninanevermore]

Today on the drive into work, I incurred a big Karma debt that will vex me until I figure out how to pay it back. 

>I have no one to blame but myself for the situation I found myself in.  My car helpfully warned me that I was running low on gas just as I was getting to work yesterday.  I know that means I have about 40 or 50 miles to go befor I am in trouble (it's an Elantra, so it doesn't eat much).  I figured I would get gas on the way home.  But after I picked up my son from daycare, I really had to pee.  I don't like to use gas station restrooms except in a dire emergency, so I figured I would get gas on the way into work today.  After I dropped off my son back off at daycare this morning, I was ready.  I would have made it, too, if the light at the hill had not been red.  It was the hill that did me in, less than a quarter mile from the Shell station.  When the light turned green and I tried to accelerate from my stop, I stalled out.  Crap.

So there I was, a dumb blonde in a cheap car, stuck at a red light and out of gas in a small town, with no one to blame but myself.  My hair is dark blond, so I can usually avoid the jokes.  But I know the truth, and it hurts sometimes.

I waived the cars behind me to go around and tried to call my husband on my cell phone.  He was outside and did not pick up the phone. A pickup truck pulled up behind me and the mother of one of my son's classmates got out and came up to my window.  I sheepishly explained that I was out of gas (and that I am stupid), but that I was trying to call my husband and I should be fine.

"I can't just leave you here," she said, "I'll bring you a gas can."

So she came back after 5 minutes with a 1-gallon gas can, which I dumped into my thirsty tank.  I offered her a $10 bill for the gas and her trouble, especially since she had to buy the can just to save my sorry self, but she refused.

"We needed a can, anyway," she told me.

"Please?" I asked, still holding the bill out to her.  She was stubborn and a good 6 inches taller than I, so there was no holding her down and forcing her to accept the money.  Really, I don't think it would have taken away from the good Karma she had just accrued if she had taken the cash, and it certainly would have made me feel a lot better.

Now I have to find a way to pay back a lady I only know as "Tyson's Mom," before I go insane.  Maybe a thank-you card with a gift card in it, left in her 15 month-old's diaper bag at school.  Tyson and I are buddies.  Every morning Tyson steals my car keys when I set them down to unload my son for class, but when I ask, "Okay, who has my keys?" he always holds them up for me to retrieve.  I bet if I ask him to give something to his mommy for me, he would.

Comments

[sidneymintz.livejournal.com]

Sounds like one of those situations that makes you fall in love with the world again - even if only temporarily.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

It's more humbling than anything. I would have felt better if she had taken the money. Now I feel like I owe her a lot more than a cruddy little ten bucks. :P