STRANDED BY THE ROADSIDE

The past couple of days have been absolutely dismal. Returning home from the movie theater late Saturday evening, my right front tire blew out and set off a string of undesirable events. I managed to nurse the Ford sedan off U.S. Hwy 17 and into a Blockbuster Video parking lot, where I attempted to replace the offending tire. As luck would have it, I was missing the mystery tool that would unlock the stupid anti-theft lugnuts, allowing me to complete the tire change. (Please explain to me the reasoning behind anti-theft lugnuts....is tire theft really that common?)

So my next move was to call the 24-hour roadside assistance hotline included with my cell phone service. A mechanic with a truck bed full of tools at his disposal soon arrived and replaced my blown tire with the miniature spare in my trunk, and I did eventually make it home, albeit at 3:30 a.m. The next morning, I was on the way out the door to head to work when I noticed that the spare tire had deflated overnight. Attempts to reach a few relatives who weren't in Asheboro with my family were unsuccessful, so I had to wait for a taxi for over an hour and finally made it to work nearly two hours late.

One of the managers at the coffeehouse where I work (the current manager count is four, although the number could increase at any time) gave me a good dressing down for being so late and warned me that I'd lose my job if I was late again. After scraping maybe four hours of sleep and then sacrificing time and money to get transportation to work at great personal expense, the last thing I needed was to put up with a lecture from a third-rate wannabe boss, but I managed to act apologetic enough to save my skin for the time being. Not happy with work though--not by a long shot.

Sunday evening was devoted to writing an argument-based research paper due at 9 a.m. sharp Monday morning. I got maybe a half hour catnap before it was time to get ready to leave for school. Today I have to go spend money I don't have on new tires....provided I can temporarily inflate the spare with Fix-a-Flat enough to get me to the service station, that is. The past couple days have been exhausting and all I can say is something's gotta give. If my current luck continues, I'll be in a padded room within a month.

Mmm, I can almost taste those little white pills already.