Last Saturday

It was a week ago. Seven days. My, how time flies.

I had to work. Naturally. Spent the entire day cooped up in my little cube, fussing over other people's code and the fact that they don't know how to write it, and I can barely decipher it, and most of the time it doesn't work the way it's supposed to work when it's loaded onto the hardware.

Spent the day sitting, typing, coughing, wandering to the lab and back again, drinking hot tea, trying to clear the phlegm from my throat, not hungry enough to eat anything. A whole day, wasted at work.

The plan was to make a Costco run after work, pick up a few things, head home, get some rest, try and have enough energy left to teach the kids Sunday morning.

The plan fell apart when I exited the building at five-thirty and found the car as dead as a doornail. Doofus has left the headlights on again, and the battery was dead.

And there ain't nobody else dumb enough to be at work this late on a Saturday night.

Cheryl was still sick at home, running a fever. No way I'm calling her on this one. Darn it, I'm gonna push it over to the edge of the parking lot where there's a hill, and try and get it going down the hill and pop the clutch. If she don't start that way, I'll walk to Costco and buy a new battery.

Coughing and wheezing, extremely short on energy and breath, I man-handle the car to the edge of the parking lot and get it going down the hill.

Unfortunately, though the hill is steep enough, the resistance to forward movement due to the lack of sufficient air in the tires keeps it from going fast enough. I try a few times anyway, but it's pointless.

Time for a walk to Costco.

I walk, wheezing and coughing again, in air that is cold and wind that is biting, and arrive just as they are closing the doors. Yup, the place closes at six on Saturday nights. Not sure why, just does. Great.

I turn around and walk to a nearby Target, but they don't carry batteries.

Now comes the dreaded moment. I walk back up the hill to the work place, to my desk, call Cheryl, and ask her to come get me. Maybe we can get the car jumped.

She - without complaining, mind, even though her brains are boiling at 102 degrees - comes out and waits patiently while I flail away at trying to get the car started. But the battery is too deeply drained. It won't start, not even when I completely disconnect the dead battery and try to jump directly from hers. It don't wanna play.

Defeat. Despair. And tired, aching weariness. We go home, have some hot soup for dinner, get the kids set up for the evening (baths, showers, etc.). Then later, back out we go. First stop, no fooling, we're going to buy a battery outright. Tried Sears first, their automotive department was closed. They suggested WalMart. Don't usually shop there, since it's not really close by, but we get out there and find one (too expensive for my taste, but we're not feeling picky right now), then back to the car and plop it in.

It works.

So back home we go, our adventure over for the night, our bodies still feeling miserable, but at least our cars are working now.