The sky was dotted with white clouds on this sunny, summer day. Birds were chirping and I could hear a lawn mower from up the street, the neighbor cutting his grass. I was out in my driveway, working on my car, as I usually did.
I loved living in north-eastern Ohio. We had all four seasons here and no season was really bad... we had nice, reasonable summers and nice, reasonable winters.
I'd had a long week at work, where I managed an automotive parts store. The job worked well with my car hobby and I often found myself tinkering with cars... both with my current car and with the one in the garage that I was fixing up. I'd worked the last seven days in a row, long, full days. Today was Wednesday and my day off.
And, for once, my day off matched the weather perfectly... a beautiful sky and eighty-five degree temperatures.
It was about four in the afternoon when I heard a car coming down the road making a horrendous sound... like a whale humping a cat.
"Ooh. That's not a good sound," I said, looking at what was causing the noise. A black, Chrysler 300 sedan was slowing down in front of my house, parking on the side of the road. I could hear the young woman behind the wheel cursing loudly even before she got out of the car.
"Fuck! What the fuck God damnit!" she said, walking to the front of the car. "Oh my God! Why does this always happen to me?!"
Trying to be helpful, I walked down my driveway. "Is there a problem?"
"Does it look like there's a fucking problem?" she said angrily. She was not in the mood for conversation.
"Hey!" I said. "Don't bite my head off, I'm just trying to help. Ok?"
She just looked at me closing her eyes.
"Do you want me to call Triple-A for you?"
"Oh... as if I couldn't do that myself," she said, looking at me again as if this whole thing was my fault. "I'll get my phone."
"Alrighty then," I said sarcastically.
"Hi, yeah," she said, holding her phone up to her ear. "My car broke down and I need to get towed." She pulled her wallet out of her purse and took out her membership card, reading the number off for the representative.
"What are you talking about?" she yelled, her anger swelling again. "I've had a membership for the last three years!" It didn't sound like things were working out for her. "What the fuck? My card's expired? Oh my God... will you just send a tow-truck over here..." Suddenly, she dropped her phone from her ear and looked at the screen. "What the fuck? She hung up on me. Oh my God, this is the worst day ever!"
"Listen... I can either call you a tow-truck, which could take a while, or I can look at your car for you," I offered.
"What? Are you a mechanic now?" she asked, obviously doubting I could do a thing to help her.
"No... but I work with cars all the time and manage a parts store," I said. "I have experience with cars."
She looked doubtful still, but realized she didn't have many options. "Alright... come on."
"Why don't you pop the hood," I suggested as I stood in front of the car.
"Ok... um," she said, opening the driver's side door and looking around at the controls. "It's somewhere around here. I don't even know how this thing works." Suddenly the hood popped up and I moved to raise it.
"Yeah, there it is," I said.
"Sorry, I don't even know how my own car works," she said, embarrassed. As I took a quick look at the engine, she came around and stood beside me. "Look, I really appreciate the help. I know I was kind of a bitch but I'm not having a good day and this damn thing just started making this crazy sound and breaks down. I don't know what the fuck is wrong with it."
"Well, look, just stand back and let me do my job. Alright?" I asked. I didn't like people looking over my shoulder. I really needed room to do this.
"Oh, are you one of those guys that likes to take charge?" she giggled, holding her hands up as she backed away a step.
"Yes, and gets really dirty when I'm doing it," I said, giving her a wry smile.
"Well, maybe we should take things slow and wait until after you fix my car. How about that Mr. Mechanic?" she said, giggling.
"You liked that huh?" I smiled at her. She seemed like a fun woman to tease and play with, even if she was biting my head off just a few minutes ago.
"I'm Scott, by the way," I said, extending my hand.
"I'm Riley," she said, smiling. She took my hand and lightly shook it. I could swear she looked familiar but I couldn't figure out why.
"Well let's see what we're dealing with here."
I looked over her engine, then grabbed some tools. It took me about an hour to find the issue and then about thirty minutes to fix it. Luckily it didn't require any new parts, but she would have to take it to a mechanic to have it formally corrected soon.
"Ok... I think that's it," I said, wiping my dirty hands on a while rag I had with me. I was used to having very dirty hands. "Why don't you try starting it up really quick."
