Proud Owners

I made the last payment on the Suburban two weeks ago.

We now own all of our vehicles.

So you know it was bound to happen.

We were headed to Ryan's company picnic and stopped at the Lewis tent sale for a look see at the bargains.

Ryan thought the price of the dog food just wasn't low enough, he wanted to check out Kmart. We ran in and out and the truck turned over and over and over and over but would not start.

It was hot. We had a car full of kids. It was hot. We tried again and again and again to start the vehicle. Lots of people walked by. Why are so many people at Kmart in the middle of the afternoon? They are probably looking for cheap dog food.

A very nice gentleman with a very small cab asked if we needed a jump. Ryan told him that he was pretty sure it was the fuel pump. The man gave Ryan a ride to a tow shop a couple of blocks away.

A very large tow truck arrived to the cheers of my children. Until they realized that, unlike Caillou and Rosie, the would not be riding along. Much to their chagrin we made the 4 block trip on foot. Ten feet to be exact. A stroller does not fit in the suburban with the cooler. Our shoes will never be the same. The city is a very dirty place. My youngster's pink shoes were tar black after a couple of blocks. She walked right out of her shoes a couple of times so her feet matched, too.

I wished I had brought the camera for the tow truck picture and the pink shoes.

The kids said that Caillou was very lucky because he got to ride in the tow truck when his daddy's car broke down. I made a mental note that my kids watch too much t.v.

A very nice woman asked if we needed a ride in her car. We declined. It wasn't like it was 90 degrees or anything. It was only 88 degrees.

The mechanic assured us (never believe a mechanic) he could have the vehicle up and running in an hour or so. Emphasis on "or so".

We walked to Dairy Queen and got ice cream cones. The kids begged to go to Thunder Road. We said, "No, we don't have enough time." It was a lie.

I said, "I am not going to get the milk until the car was done just to be sure". Ryan said, "It has to be done, just get the milk."

I bought the milk at Sunshine foods. I walked across the street to the mechanic. The truck was not working yet. The parts store was closed now. He would have to finish it tomorrow.

Ryan called his brother. I called my brother. Ryan's brother brought us a very tiny 4-door sedan. We buddy buckled the babies in the middle of the backseat and piled everything in the trunk and on top of the kids. It is a good thing we did not buy dog food.

Ryan stopped at Lewis to buy the dog food. He squished it in the trunk.

We drove home. I nuked some hot dogs and made creamed green beans. The kids were starving. It was 8 p.m.

Morals of the story = when you need dog food just buy the stuff at the tent sale already; the city is dirty; there are very nice people in the city even though it is much bigger than the village; when you make the last payment on something it will not be the last time you spend money on it.

The truck is still not fixed.

The end.