The phone rang, which is always a bad sign.
No one likes us. At least not enough to call.
You know those old commercials " I just called to say I love you?"
That doesn't' happen to us.
Oh, there are a few sorely demented folk who love us, but they text.
A ringing phone, however, is almost always bad news.
Well, unless it is a wrong number.
I looked at the display.
This was my cell phone. Our home phone is the 1970's kind. No answering machine, no caller ID, no....okay, it does have push buttons, but those were already around in the 1970's.
It was my son.
The local one.
The one I kicked out the front door, this morning.
The deaf one.
The deaf one would definitely not be calling unless it was an emergency.
I "accepted" and put the phone on " speaker" which is the only option if I want to be able to hear anything.
Of course, this meant my friends would be treated to whatever the emergency was...is..was.
Is.
"Hi Mom, it is me, Aaron."
Obviously, he is used to our 1970's home phone.
"Yes, Aaron, what is wrong?"
"My car won't start."
His car is Carla, our 19 1/2 year old formerly black Honda Civic hatchback.
It is stilla Honda Civic hatchback, but according to numerous friends and neighbors it stopped being black a while ago and is now grey.
Where it isn't' rust colored.
Grey and peeling a bit.
Parking outside for 16 plus years will do that to you.
It might be 19 plus years, but since we didn't' own Carla for her first three years, we really can't say.
"Are you at school?"
"Yes."
"Do you have your AAA card with you?"
He can't look for it and converse , so he hangs up, but calls me back in a minuet to say that he doesn't.
"I will go home and get mine."
And, I realize, I also had better go home and call AAA and pay for the renewal, since the membership expired on June 1st...and I really was meaning to renew it.
Tomorrow.
Because in two days, Ely is doing major driving, so he needs to have a current membership.
So, I go home and call AAA, and renew the membership.
Then, I realize that Aaron is not a member.
We dropped him last year.
It had something to do with our not wanting to pay that $45 extra dollars since he was in Israel and AAA doesn't' make house calls or car calls there.
I spring for the extra money, even though I know he is headed back to Israel.
Well, he says he is, but since he hash;t found a program , yet, for this fall, he may very well put us through another registration crisis at Ivy Tech.
I call Aaron, " I am coming . Where are you?"
He tells me he is on the main street by Ivy Tech, just past Illinois.
"Fall Creek Parkway?"
"Yes."
I tell him to go somewhere and buy a root beer, and I jump in the car that is running and drive downtown.
While I drive I am thinking...How old is the battery?
The transmission was just replaced.
That is under warranty, but how old is the battery.
The starter was just replaced, but by someone I don't' know...so but it is probably the battery.
I drive down Fall Creek Parkway, no Carla.
I go past Illinois.
No Carla.
No cars.
There is no parking here.
I call Aaron, "Go outside and find the street signs and read them to me."
"Illinois"
"Not Illinois, the other one!"
I find him, and that is before we find Carla.
He has come outside and I spot him easily.
He is the only student standing outside on this hot day in a white button up shirt, black dress pants and a tie.
it also helsp that he is at leads 6'3".
He gets in the car, and we drive another block to Carla.
I try it, she won't' start. I do not know what it is. But i had to try because4 I am an optimist.
Okay, I am not an optimist, I am actually either a pessimist and figreu I did the drive for nothing, or a fool, and think i will get lucky and the car will magically start for me.
I call AAA.
I give the lady my membership number.
She doesn't' make any crack s about " Oh gee, I see you just renewed this 30 minutes ago......"
She does ask me to describe any sounds the car made when I turned the key.
"I can't hear stuff like that; I wear hearing aids."
"Well, does it make a click."
"I hear thumps, deep stuff, not clicks. Let me try to start it and hold the phone there."
I do this. She kindly informs me that it is making clicking sound and that it might be the starter.
I am told that the tow truck will be there in one hour or less, and can they text me.
Text? Infinitely preferable to having someone call me, a someone whose voice I can't make out on the phone.
My son and I wait in my car.
The seats are more comfortable.
it might have something to do with them not losing stuffing.
Aaron falls asleep.
I wait.
And wait.
And wait.
An hour later, almost to the minute, the tow truck arrives.
He can tow me to the nearest AAA certified repair shop.
I ask him about other places. The one I like doesn't' do starters.
He mentions two other AAA certified places that are near enough i could go tto them, instead.
I ask him which he thinks I should use.
He tows it there.
Aaron and I leave Carla and drive away.
I know there will be a second part to this Story.
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