It is scary having to worry about being stuck in the middle of nowhere and not knowing what to do or where to go. The only other time my Mustang failed to start was in the parking lot of a temporary job up in the Alameda County some three years ago prior to getting this current full time employment in Santa Clara, CA.
It was summer and the air was very hot. I was one of the last people to leave this building and did not have to keys for this place.
I tried starting my car many times over. I tried adjusting the automatic transmission to make sure it was on ‘Park’, tried rocking the machine back and forth while still seated and tried to disable the alarm manually from the steering column and with my remote control. Click, click went the alarm and still no good. The engine was dead and I was sitting in the car without the air conditioner working. I was worried.
I couldn’t figure out what went wrong. At least I had my cell phone and the battery is running low. Great, this made this situation much harder. Good thing ‘Squirrel-Ling’ answered the phone and told me to try putting the transmission on ‘Neutral,’ which I did and the car rolled slightly forward into the bushes up front because I didn’t set the parking brakes. This didn’t work either.
I started to panic and tried leaving phone messages to (once again) ungrateful relatives living two minutes down the road. This was not helping and as a last resort had to call the insurance company on what remaining batter power I had left on my cell phone. This was such unfortunate luck on us temporary workers! I didn’t have cash on me but luckily had something left on my seven credit cards.
The tow truck wouldn’t arrive for another one hour! And the sun was already setting in an unfamiliar neighborhood in the middle of an industrial park with no one else in sight. It’s was another creepy moment for me.
At least the weather started cooling off and had to use the restroom badly too! This was not good and had to try starting this engine soon or I’ll have to answer to nature behind the many bushes I mentioned earlier. This was an insufferable time in my life.
I tried starting the engine again and it worked! Oh, the joyous sound of purring engines gave me relief. I managed to call the insurance company and cancel the request when my cell phone went dead. I told myself to buy the phone charger for hooking up to cars next time.
I found out later on that if I lifted the rubber covering over the steering column and blew into it this would cool down and the alarm system enough for me to start the engine. Being stranded is not fun and if I wasn’t a strong willed individual I’d cry and became a hopeless mound of sorrow.
Being scared and stuck is no fun at all especially when one is alone or at night to make matters worse. I’ve been lucky enough many times to avoid being and feeling left to my own devices. I know that there is support of real people or helpers of unknown forces. No one is ever truly in any danger with some faith at least.
Copyright © 2007 by Fluffy von der Flynn. All rights reserved.
Leave a Reply