This story is true. I was inspired to write it because I have been having dreams and lingering thoughts of a woman I once knew. Wanda was a woman I met while getting my Toyota Land Cruiser worked on in Roseville Michigan, it was 1986. The garage owner was trying to scam her into getting her alternator rebuilt. I knew that it was cheaper to just buy a new one, and that he would just swap out her old one for the reconditioned one and charge her the labor, he never really did. In all honesty she needed a new battery because her alternator was working fine.
I had noticed her daughter Heidi first. Holy cow!! If there was a flawless example of female perfection she was it. Anyway, they had dropped Wanda off at the garage after having left the car there the day before. Heidi and her boyfriend left and I was left waiting by my LandCruiser waiting for the mechanic to finish with his previous customer Wanda. It was late summer and the muggy Michigan heat was heavy in the air. It was going to be a very hot day. I walked up as the mechanic was finishing his cock and bull story about needing a rebuild on her alternator. Wanda was leaning on the hood looking down into the engine bay with a worried look on her face. The mechanic looked up and me and for whatever reason gave me a sour look then left to get the paper work for the rebuild.
I looked and from my side of her hood and said "Hi." She responded in kind with a nice smile. "What's wrong with your car?" I asked.
"Oh I'm afraid I need to have my alternator rebuilt. It won't charge the battery anymore." She said with the worried look in her eyes.
Being familiar with automobile mechanics I asked her a few questions about what was going on and it turned out the battery on her 'Matador' was well over five years old. Once the car did start it ran fine but the battery wouldn't start the car again if she turned off the engine. My diagnosis was that her battery was shot not the alternator. I told her that under my breath so the mechanic didn't hear me tell her she was being scammed. Her eyes brightened and drew a relaxed breath thinking that a new battery was far more affordable than having her alternator redone.
After declining the mechanics 'suggestion' she got a jump start and offered to make me dinner. I left my jeep at the shop for the day. The mechanic didn't do a thing to it because, I later found out, he was pissed at my having screwed him out of screwing a customer. I would later learn that his MO was to over-charge for services and then make alternate arrangements to pay the bill. I had messed that up for him, too bad. Anyway, we went to the nearest auto parts store and had her battery checked and it was shot, not holding a charge at all. So we bought her a new battery and she drove me to her apartment where she made me coffee and some lunch.
She made no bones about her intentions. Wanda wanted me to meet her daughter and maybe convincer her to break up with her boyfriend whom she despised. I would later learn that Heidi was thinking of dumping him only she had no prospects, so Wanda decided to give her one. Only her boyfriend saw right through that and took Heidi a movie and dinner. It was a whole five minutes of talking with Heidi before her boyfriend whose name I never even bothered to get to know had barged in and grabbed Heidi and left glaring at Wanda the whole time. It was apparent that there was no love lost there.
Now that the purpose of our dinner was no longer present Wanda chose to keep her promise to make a nice dinner for me. We went to the grocery store, got what she needed for dinner and then dropped me off at the garage where I picked up my 'untouched' Toyota from a clearly pissed mechanic and followed her to her apartment. We spent the afternoon talking and drinking wine as she made us Greek Chicken. I was surprised at how comfortable I was around her because there was nothing close to the usual awkwardness I usually felt around women. So I felt no problem wrapping an arm around her waist while she made us dinner. She in turn felt nothing awkward about giving me an occasional peck on the cheek followed by a sigh. Being a clueless 21-year-old male I had no idea what her sighs meant. So I just carried on not at all aware of what she might have intended by her occasional comments of "My poor daughter has so missed out". I laughed and kissed her on the cheek and went on being a clueless 21-year-old.