Waiting.
Repair-guy walks by, “We’re looking at it right now and we’ll come talk to you in a few minutes.”
Waiting.
“It’ll be just a few minutes, sorry about the wait.”
Waiting.
Waiting.
“Let me just finish this up and I’ll come get you and we can talk about your car.”
It was about 10:30 pm at this point. (Remember this whole thing started at 5?) I was in a daze, holding back a lot of emotion. It tried to sneak out when I talked to my dad after getting to the repair shop but there were people around so I pulled it together and stayed strong.
Finally repair-guy came over and said we could talk. I called my dad from repair-guy’s phone so they could do the car-talk stuff. I was there listening and the conversation went something like this:
“There’s a hole in the engine about two inches by three inches. It looks like a rod came loose and made the hole as it came out of the engine. I can’t be sure but that’s my best guess.”
Dad said something.
“Yeah, it’s not good. You’ll have to get a new engine.”
Heart sank. Stay calm.
“I can give you some rough prices. Let me look it up.”
Checks something on computer.
“This is a really rough price but it’ll be around $3,000-4,000 for a used engine.”
Heart fell to the floor. All that emotion I had been holding back for hours? Trying really hard–really hard–to get through. As the tears squeezed out, I tried not to think about how much money that was, and somehow pulled it together again.
They finished the conversation. I talked to my dad about staying in Lincoln for the night and renting a car the next day to drive back to Utah (I had to be at work on Wednesday). Repair-guy said they could give me a ride to the hotel and they were willing to pick me up the next morning to get me to the car rental place. It was really, really nice of them to be so helpful.
I got a ride from the cleaning lady to my hotel which was 15 minutes away. It was about 11:00 by the time I checked in to my room. I brought my stuff upstairs and as soon as I opened the door and realized how much I had just been through and how alone I was, I couldn’t hold it back anymore. All the emotion came out in a huge flood and I knew I just needed to clean up and get into bed. I’d process in the morning.
I’m pretty sure one of the most pathetic things is crying in the shower. And then crying yourself to sleep.
I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to handle whatever else could come my way. I got dressed, got my free breakfast, called repair-guy for a ride, checked out of my room, and waited for my ride.
I had no idea who was picking me up but eventually I got a call from a woman saying she was there to take me to the car rental place. I walked outside and saw a car, hoping, praying that it was the person who just called me. Luckily I saw some of my things on the seat and realized I wasn’t going to be kidnapped.
We drove to the other side of town to the rental place. They had gotten everything out my car to put in the rental car so I didn’t have to go all the way back to the repair-place. Bless their hearts!
I got the car, loaded all my stuff, thanked the mystery woman, and hit the road. It was about 9 in the morning and I had 15 hours to drive so I could get to Utah that night. It was smooth sailing from there on out. Just me and my music, all the way back to Provo. I made it there by 11, dropped off the rental car, and my roommate took me home. It was good to be back. I had had a horrible last couple days and I just wanted everything to be normal again. I refused to think about what still had to happen and just went to bed.
Epilogue: My car is still in the Midwest. As far as I know it has a new engine. I'm trying to figure out how to get it to Utah as soon as possible. Every time I drive my car or ride in someone else's car I think about my car and how badly I wish I had it. Every time. For now I'm just driving my good old suburban.
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