And the grass won't pay no mind

What a day. When I got in my car after work, it wouldn't start. I was hoping all I needed was a jump, but when I saw the puddle of engine coolant under my car, I knew it wouldn't be that simple. I called Triple A and braced myself for a long wait.

I went back into the office and asked Jeff if he'd ever gone to garage a little up the block from us and if so, were they reputable. He said everyone in the office had gotten their cars fixed there at one point or another, but mostly because of the location. He then said "C'mon", and we walked over to the garage. He called over the owner(?) and explained my situation to him, adding that I'm an employee of his and should be treated well.

The guy, George was his name, eagerly accompanied me to my car to assess the situation. I was duly impressed by the help I was getting so far. My good fortune remained intact when Triple-A arrived just as we got to my car. It had only been about ten or twelve minutes since I'd called them. The guy got out of his truck, attached his jumper cables to my battery, and it started immediately. He was only there about four minutes.

George asked me to drive the car over to his garage so he could check the battery and the source of the leak. When I arrived, he rapidly put the car on a lift and had one of his guys take a look at it. It only took a few minutes for the mechanic to give his diagnosis: I needed a new battery---the one I had was shit --- and I needed my engine coolant changed because mine was a thick, cruddy mess.

They went to work on the car while I returned a call to Mara. I spoke with her for about twenty minutes and when I got off the phone, it looked like my car was all set. I paid George over two hundred smackers and, as I made my way to my car, asked him if they'd fixed the leak.

"No, there was no leak. We just added new coolant", he said.

I walked over to my car and took a look beneath it. There was a steady drip of coolant --- not an encouraging sign. "That looks like a leak", I said.

"Probably just over-fill. I wanted to get you out of here quick so I didn't clean up the way I usually do", he said.

"I don't know", I said. "I mean, we saw that it had been leaking earlier, so it would stand to reason that that's what it's doing now."

"Do me a favor. Take the car around the block and come back. That should get all the over-fill to dry."

I did what he suggested and wondered why a rag wouldn't do the same trick. It was approaching five o'clock and all I wanted to do was go home. When I returned to the garage, there was still a noticeable leak, so, upon George's urging, I went for another spin around the block. When I got back, same results.

They put the car on the lift for another look and after another thirty minutes, the mechanic determined that coolant was leaking from the reservoir. Really? I would never have guessed!

I'm leaving the car with George when I get to work tomorrow so they can replace the reservoir. I figure by the end of the day, I'll have dropped between three and four hundred bills. And good timing, too, since it's nearing the end of the month and I have an unusually large amount of money I need to pay for bills.

Kind of sucks, but man, this situation could have been a lot shittier. With that in mind, I'm not too devastated over what happened and will not be taking my life this night, which means you'll have to share space with me on this planet for a while longer yet.