The Helper

This is a true story about myself that happened awhile ago . . .

Walking out the door having hugged all that I have known, the little brown Citation sits in the driveway waiting for me. The trailer is so weighed down by a reckless packer; the car creeps in an upward angle as the back-end pleads for the road. My piano which I could not bear to leave a half a country behind is loaded towards the front creating a comical v shape of the two vehicles under the weight of its cargo.

So excited by the unknown possibilities of the Seattle skyline, I wave goodbye to the cold winters of Minnesota. I can hardly wait to reach the shore 2000 miles away.

I purchase a cheap car whose doors are covered in rust. Down at the local auto shop I find gold tinted paint to match my Chevrolet. For several hours, I naively cover all the rusted spots in hopes that no one will notice how old the Citation really is.

As the door creaks open, the metal clashes in tones of pain. The journey in the beginning is good. Not quite listening to my dad’s wise advice, I hear that I need to add a little more oil as well as gas. So I pass through Minnesota and construction in South Dakota as farmers in trucks wave to the traveling stranger. Each time I stop, I top-off my oil and gas.

By the time I hit Idaho, my car is acting a little strange. Arriving at the beautiful mountains before Coeur d’Alene, my car moans as it attempts to climb the hills. People honk and yell as they angrily pass me by. Eventually the car breathes its last breath as black smoke overwhelms the small brown potato.

A kind elderly man on his way to his maintenance shop that just happens to rent Uhauls, stops to help me. He tows my car for free and takes me out to lunch to visit at a local restaurant with his family. After discovering what I have done, he offers to buy my car for scrap because I have blown a head casket and to fix it is more than the car is worth.

As he grabs the handle of the door, the door falls off its hinges. He smiles at me and says “It’s all right, this will work”. An unknown stranger becomes a friend and I eventually find my way to Seattle.