Why I didn’t expect to spend $500 today, but did anyway

This morning, after walking two blocks to where I parked my car last night, I discovered my front tire had a massive flat. We’re talking a down-to-the-rims flat, baby you ain’t going nowhere. With not too much remorse I scrapped my plans for school and focused on the larger issue at hand: how to move my car ASAP because, oh yes, I was going to get ticketed by the street cleaners if I wasn’t out of there by 12.

Luckily for me, I renewed my Triple A membership just a month or so ago. Triple A has gotten me out of more scrapes than I can say (see Road Trip Adventures below.) So I called the service and they promised me I’d be rescued within forty minutes. Less than ten minutes later, a tow truck driver showed up. His name was Eric, which happens to be the name of one of the love interests in my current YA manuscript. I took this as a fortuitous sign.

Eric quickly discovered that I had a good-looking spare tire but, oh wait, that one’s flat too. After telling me I needed to replace at least two tires, Eric pumped up the spare enough to get me two more blocks to a local auto body shop. The owner of the shop was super nice but also agreed with Eric’s assessment: you need new tires. Ian concurred, pointing out that winter is coming (which in LA means rain and oil-slicked roads.) The odds were against me. I bought four new tires. I am now $500 poorer. On the plus side, if this had to happen any day of the week, this was the best day. On the down side, I am still $500 poorer.

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