As the man wipes his hands on a cloth whose level of dirtiness I can only imagine seeing as it’s the dead of night, he looks at me and my boyfriend (omgwhendidthathappen 🙈).
“Well, I think I fixed it. However, if you’re planning on driving back home, may I suggest you do so… tomorrow?”
I share a look with my boyfriend and he shrugs.
Today was date-day and I drove over to visit my boyfriend with my car.
(Let’s just call him Jay for better readability – my boyfriend, not the car. Duh.)
(My car is called Ursula.)
Anyway, all was well until I set off to go home and this annoying orange light started infuriating me from its location on my dashboard – about right before I reached the freeway.
With a sudden vision of me, a blonde woman alone, waiting it out in the emergency lane for the cavalry to arrive, at night, I decided to try my luck and reach a gas station instead.
Unfortunately, more lights soon joined the annoying orange one and my car went into something I later found out was “a safety setting” – aka Ursula refusing to go any faster than, say, 45 miles an hour.
ON THE FREEWAY! 🚗💥💀
The emergency-lane-vision became stronger, so I did the Next Best Thing and called Jay to tell him I was turning back around.
Safely back in his vicinity, I finally called the cavalry which consisted of one very calm man with a big truck and a bigger toolbelt.
Aaron Klug
“One cannot plan for the unexpected”
Underneath the starlight, starlight (you hear it don’t you 😉), but mostly just the light of a torch, Cavalry Man fixed the error shout-out of Ursula, but is now looking at me and Jay earnestly.
“Miss Vampa, you could probably make it back home perfectly fine. It’s just that I don’t think I was able to fix the underlying issue that may be causing this problem. Not with the tools I’ve been given – I’m merely for emergencies. I strongly recommend you have your vehicle checked out properly ASAP, to prevent this from happening again. In the meantime, I also recommend you stay here for the night and drive back tomorrow. If it does happen again, you’ll definitely be stuck in the emergency lane, alone. Either in the middle of the night OR in the bright of day. Your call.”
Me and Jay share another look – Decision Made.
We thank Mr. Cavalry and Jay hugs me – a hug that lasts until morning, when we both set off in Ursula for my place.
The Plan was for me to go home on Saturday and for him to come over on Sunday, so he could casually meet some friends of mine while avoiding The Fam – for now.
The Reality is we’re going back together, forcing Jay to meet my parents before meeting aforementioned friends.
But even if that could have been an exclamation-mark-shaped-red-flag, just like Ursula we make it back (and through) without a single emergency light flickering.
Milestone unplanned ❤️
Elle Vampa 