March 18, 2002

the descendent of Wayland?

I may be having a Stupid Day. This morning, I rowed a double with Egret, drove to
the gym, showered, came out, put my key in the ignition …. and couldn't turn it. I
tried several times, and jiggled the steering wheel, in case that was impeding the
ignition, but no luck. Fortunately, being as prepared as a Boy Scout who carries
matches AND a lighter, I am a member of AAA. I called them, and they sent out a
locksmith. Which sounded odd to me, but the woman assured me he could deal with
anything up to and including replacing the entire ignition.

I waited
almost an hour there in front of the gym for the locksmith to come. When he got
there, he told me it was likely he'd need to rip the whole ignition out and put in
a new one. Then he leaned into my truck, laid hands on the key to let it know its
master had arrived, moved the steering wheel slightly, laid one finger along his
nose, muttered an incantation I didnŐt catch, blew pixy dust into the ignition,
and smoothly turned the key and started the ignition. He claimed that the steering
wheel, which I'd turned all the way to one side to pull into that spot and hadnŐt
recentered, was binding the ignition, and that all he'd done was to turn the wheel
a bit. He even turned the wheel again and had me try it. However, I'd rather
believe it was magic. That way, I feel less of an idiot for not being able to
start the truck myself. And besides, I did try turning the wheel before he
ever got there. I know I did.

I got to work by nine, but had to tell
my boss what had happened, since I'm usually there by eight and had called to say
I'd be a bit late. He listened, then said, "Yeah, sometimes it's the simple things
that really mess you up." I like my boss. And then he said some things about how
fast I'd been picking up on things here that made me feel not so stupid after all.
But I still favor the magic-locksmith theory.

Posted by dichroic at March 18, 2002 11:36 AM
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