Car Trauma and Little Women
Sunday, KB and I wanted to see a matinee of Little Women: The Musical at the Kennedy Center. So, Ernie and I headed down to Germantown for the day.
About halfway there, I looked down at the dashboard to see the “check engine” light on and the thermometer in the red. Perfect. I called KB, explained the situation and decided, rather than risk the car dying on 270, I’d cross my fingers and continue on. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it.
As soon as I got off 270 and had to stop at a red light, the car sputtered and choked, and smoke started wafting out from under the hood. So, there Ernie and I were, sitting in five lanes of traffic, with the car completely dead. I called KB, explained where we were, and asked her to come get Ernie, so I could get towed.
When I called for a tow truck, I was told it would be about a 45-minute wait. Just then, a tow truck happened to be driving by, so I flagged him down and asked if he was available to tow me two miles down the road to the Honda dealership. Luckily, he was free and able to help me out.
Turns out that the oil gasket was leaking and caused a hose to swell and burst. The high temperature also burned out the coil in the distributor assembly, as well as the thermostat. It’s all gibberish to me, but how can I argue? I don’t know anything about cars. As George on Seinfeld says, when talking about auto mechanics, “They can make up anything. Nobody knows. ‘By the way, you need a new Johnson rod in there.’ ‘Oh, a Johnson rod. Yeah, well, you better put one of those on.’”
Well, it took two days and $1,100, but my car is back in running order. Whew!
KB and I made it to the evening performance of Little Women on Sunday. I’m glad I saw it, but it’s not something I need to see again. There were a few good songs (“Astonishing,” “Some Things Are Meant To Be,” “Days Of Plenty”), but most of the music seemed like an afterthought. And, oddly enough, the second act was much better than the first.
There were a lot of kids at the performance, which surprised and pleased me. I’m always glad to see parents introducing their children to the theater at an early age. Sitting next to me were a mother and her daughter, about six years old. The daughter was very well behaved and seemed thoroughly interested in the performance. Like toward the end of the second act, when Marmee approached a mournful Jo in the attic. Jo began yelling at Marmee, venting her sadness and frustration at Beth’s death. The girl sitting next to me started crying softly and leaned into her mother’s side, hiding her face. Her mother put a comforting arm around the girl and stroked her hair. The daughter then wiped her eyes and stayed huddled close to her mother for the rest of the show. Very touching.
About halfway there, I looked down at the dashboard to see the “check engine” light on and the thermometer in the red. Perfect. I called KB, explained the situation and decided, rather than risk the car dying on 270, I’d cross my fingers and continue on. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it.
As soon as I got off 270 and had to stop at a red light, the car sputtered and choked, and smoke started wafting out from under the hood. So, there Ernie and I were, sitting in five lanes of traffic, with the car completely dead. I called KB, explained where we were, and asked her to come get Ernie, so I could get towed.
When I called for a tow truck, I was told it would be about a 45-minute wait. Just then, a tow truck happened to be driving by, so I flagged him down and asked if he was available to tow me two miles down the road to the Honda dealership. Luckily, he was free and able to help me out.
Turns out that the oil gasket was leaking and caused a hose to swell and burst. The high temperature also burned out the coil in the distributor assembly, as well as the thermostat. It’s all gibberish to me, but how can I argue? I don’t know anything about cars. As George on Seinfeld says, when talking about auto mechanics, “They can make up anything. Nobody knows. ‘By the way, you need a new Johnson rod in there.’ ‘Oh, a Johnson rod. Yeah, well, you better put one of those on.’”
Well, it took two days and $1,100, but my car is back in running order. Whew!
KB and I made it to the evening performance of Little Women on Sunday. I’m glad I saw it, but it’s not something I need to see again. There were a few good songs (“Astonishing,” “Some Things Are Meant To Be,” “Days Of Plenty”), but most of the music seemed like an afterthought. And, oddly enough, the second act was much better than the first.
There were a lot of kids at the performance, which surprised and pleased me. I’m always glad to see parents introducing their children to the theater at an early age. Sitting next to me were a mother and her daughter, about six years old. The daughter was very well behaved and seemed thoroughly interested in the performance. Like toward the end of the second act, when Marmee approached a mournful Jo in the attic. Jo began yelling at Marmee, venting her sadness and frustration at Beth’s death. The girl sitting next to me started crying softly and leaned into her mother’s side, hiding her face. Her mother put a comforting arm around the girl and stroked her hair. The daughter then wiped her eyes and stayed huddled close to her mother for the rest of the show. Very touching.
posted by Amanda at 9:49 PM
1 Comments:
The girl sitting next to me started crying softly and leaned into her mother’s side, hiding her face. Her mother put a comforting arm around the girl and stroked her hair. The daughter then wiped her eyes and stayed huddled close to her mother for the rest of the show. Very touching.
What a beautiful observation.
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