I was mostly making food. I wanted to make chicken and rice soup for lunch and give some of it to a family in our apartment complex that just had a baby. I was trying out my new bread machine with a natural yeast loaf that had raised all night and I also wanted to make a normal loaf of bread (to give away with the soup). I also wanted to try out a natural yeast graham cracker recipe and put that all together to raise all day.
My natural yeast loaf was cooling, my starter was fed, I'd pulled the chicken legs out of the broth and added the rice, and my regular loaf was raising on the counter when I took Ashtyn and ran to Smith's for potatoes and garlic (for the soup) and some cookie ingredients for a ward party Ben and I were going to later.
The trip should have only taken me twenty minutes. We're close to Smith's, I only needed a couple things, I used self check out, I was in and out so fast.
I loaded Ashtyn and our two bags of groceries into the car, got in myself, and ... the car wouldn't start. It just turned over and over.
"No, no, no," I thought, thinking of all the food I had waiting for me in the kitchen. Sometimes our car turns over a couple times before starting, so I kept trying. I pulled out my phone and called Ben, but he didn't answer (he was in the middle of recording videos).
Ashtyn was starting to get restless and someone knocked on my window. I opened the door (our windows don't open) and she asked if I needed help. We talked about the problem for a minute and she had me try pumping the gas pedal before trying to turn it on again. It didn't work.
"I think you're out of gas," she said finally. "It's turning over, so it's not the battery."
"Okay," I said, getting out of the car and holding back tears. It didn't make sense to me that we would be out of gas. Our gas gauge doesn't work, but the light that tells you if the gas is low works and we usually go about 300 miles before needing gas. We were only at 230. "At least we're right by the gas station." I gestured to the Smith's gas station. The lady agreed, giving me a little more advice as she walked away and I unbuckled Ashtyn from her car seat.
When it was our turn at the window, I asked for a gas can. The attendant looked at me blankly. I tried again, explaining that my car was right over there and I just needed to put some gas in it.
"I know what you're talking about," she said finally. "But I don't have one."
"Oh," I said. "Okay." I didn't know what to do. I stood there for a moment, not sure what I was going to do. The lady just watched me.
"We could help you push it over," someone said from behind me. There were two guys waiting in line there. "But you'll have to steer. Which car is yours?"
I thanked them and walked over to my car with them. I buckled Ashtyn back in the car seat (surprisingly, she didn't cry, I think she knew something was up) and steered the car backwards as they pushed it to a gas pump. Then I got Ashtyn out again (luckily, the day was warm) and stood in line for gas again. I hadn't brought my debit card, just cash, so I only had six dollars to put into our poor little car, but if it wouldn't start because it was out of gas, that would've been enough.
I put in the gas, buckled Ashtyn in, and dubiously tried to start the car. It still wouldn't start.
Barely holding back tears this time, I called Ben again. He answered. We talked about the problem for a moment and he suggested trying to get a start from someone. In the meantime, he called his dad.
I thought we had the cables, but I couldn't find them (they were inside the toolbox we have in our trunk), so I asked the lady pumping gas in front of me if she had some. She didn't, but she worked in the pharmacy and said she would find someone at her work and send them to me. I was basically in tears, but felt relieved that she would help.
A couple minutes later, a guy pulled up with cables and we hooked them up. By this time, Ashtyn was done with this new experience and starting crying (probably because she was still in the car while I was out). We let it sit for a minute and tried to start it, but it didn't work. We waited longer, it still didn't work. He revved his engine a few times, it still didn't work.
About this time, Ben's dad got there to help. We gave up on trying to jump it and the they pushed us back into a parking spot. The guy left and Ben's dad started tinkering. I got Ashtyn out and we watched videos of her on my phone (she loves watching videos of herself). She also got to pretend she was driving the car, which she thought was great fun.
My soup was toast. Ben had seen the rice cooking, thought it was just rice, and (because it was done cooking) drained the water out. I had him put my bread in, though, so that turned out alright. We had leftovers for lunch and I put Ashtyn down for her nap late, but what do you do?
All in all, we're really very blessed. We have the money to fix whatever is wrong with our car. We had lots of family nearby willing to help and plenty of strangers wanting to help as well. And, perhaps one of the biggest ones for me, through the entire experience, Ashtyn was really good. We definitely got the better end of a bad situation.
No comments:
Post a Comment