the story of my car (1)

*sigh...*

life is testing my patience. unfortunately, life underestimated me. i am really patience under any circumstances. sometimes, i think, my level of patience, at any given moment, is off the scale, to the point, where.. at times when i should be screaming in agony at the unfairness of this life, instead, i just stood feeling hollow.. at times, numbness overcome me..

my car broke down again today, 28th june 2009.. :(

bulan nih saja, dah 3 kali my old battered car broke down and left me in despair.

1. the first time..07th june

it was the day after jane wedding. masa nih sanak saudara sibuk berangkat pulang. as usual, i am always almost willing to send everybody to anywhere they wanted to go. in most cases, to the bus terminal. lebih kurang sejam dr kampung ke terminal bas.

i always enjoy driving alone. it gives me loads of time to think. if car could talk, he probably will tell me to shut up and just drive and spare him my out of tune singing and most of the time, the self-monologue.

on dat day, lepas hantar pakcik makcik, i was driving home alone. dah jadi habit for me to glance every now and then to the temperature. bila pandu kete lama nih, kena alert la. i was shocked to see the needle reach HOT. ok ok.. calm down. instinctively, i switched on the hazard and drove to the side.

ok, dont panic. its probably false alarm. lgpun, masa tu, traffic gerak perlahan, sun is scorching hot, so it might be temporary. i just stop and tunggu jarum tu go down. it took my car about 40minutes for the needle to go down to normal.. *sigh..* it was so hot, my eyes cannot tolerate sunlight dat much, i just close my eyes, and pretend it was not hot and sit serenely under the scorching sun... *sigh..*

bila jarum ke normal, i start the car again. alhamdulillah, the engine roar, and i sped off. ooopss, after 10km, the needle shot up to HOT again. ok.. ok.. calm down again. dont panic. carik hp nk call bapak, what the heck, my hp has died on me. OH NO. ok ok.. dont panic. i opened the bonet and a whooshing sound escaped. phew.. my car is totally hot. i check tgk2 kalau ada bocor, but there was none dat i could see.

maybe the engine was too hot and water just evaporates n turned to vapor. i dare not open to fill water, so, i sat again under the scorching sun and wait.. i have to wait until the needle goes below normal coz normal means its stil not safe to open the cap. *sigh..* just my luck right?

so i waited.. and waited.. i pretend to sleep and dream that it was winter and i tried hard to remember all the good things dat ever happened to me and all the good memories.. i pretend it wasnt hot n sit peacefully in the sun..

and it took me almost 2 hours b4 i can gather enough courage to open the cap. oh crap. the tank was empty. n i had filled it with water b4 this morning. *sigh..* must be leaking somewhere. ok ok. wheres the bottle of water i always kept? its gone. oh no.. kat mana pulak nak cedok air? *sigh..* just my luck again.. i saw what looks like a contractor house bcoz ada bnyk traktor kat luar. maybe leh mintak air kat sana..

i sauntered along, put on my best smile and approach the house.

holy crap. 3 really big dogs started running towards me. big black dogs with baring fangs. the K9 type. i stood frozen on the ground, unable to move. i steeled myself and stared at the dogs. they barked so loud my knees started to wobble. tetiba, the three dogs stopped about 1.5 metres away, but still barking at me. dont run, dog sense fear, i heard myself saying it. i stared at the dogs, numb by fear. not long then, the owner come to the rescue..*sigh..*

i said hi and told him my car broke down and could i borrowed a bottle and filled water in it? he was a chinese man and he told me he saw me sleeping for almost 2 hours so he thot i was resting. he filled up two bottles of water and helped me filled up the tank. thank god.. i am not going home yet bcoz home is about an hour away n im still near the city. so i sped off to the first workshop i saw.

i pulled into one of the big workshop. *sigh..* there was no one in sight. just my luck. i jalan2 sekitar bengkel tu, finally a yound man emerged and he told me all mechanics are not available, they were doing work offsite. damn.. my patience is wearing thin. i told him the problem with my car, and would he please look at it and fix it. maybe dia kesian kot, so he walked over to one of the big red tow truck and knock at the door. oh, a guy was sleeping inside the truck. apparently, he was the towtruck driver.

i citer kat diorang my problem, n the towtruck driver told me that i was lucky bcoz ppl usually never bother to check the temperature. dia siap puji2 sbb kata i nih alert. hehe.. when he opened the cap, the water that i filled b4 was already gone. he said one of the tube leaks, you can only see it if you filled the water while the engine is running. he gunned the engine and true enough, water started to leak out from the small tubing that connected to the radiator.

he replaced the tube and check again for leaks. alhamdulillah, no leaks anymore. he was so cheerful, and i was so thankful. he handed me his bisnes card and told me to call anytime anywhere if my car is giving me any problem again. sharif masly was his name. he was friendly, or perhaps he was friendly because i have this big happy smile plastered all over my face. he said im good to go, so finally, i asked how much is the cost. surprise surprise.. he said dont bother, the tube cost only few cents.. erk.. i instist on paying..n he insist it was nothing.. the other young boy was smiling stupidly.. i insist on paying but he refused.. i feel awkward la.. so i took rm10 n give it to the young man.. since he didnt want it. maybe they could buy drinks or split it up n buy rm5 reload each.

i bid them goodbye as cheerful as i can n speed off. all the way, i prayed that my car please dont die on me again please please.. alhamdulillah, i reached home unscathed. mak dah risau, sbb pakcik makcik dah smpi destinasi, n i plak yg tak sampai2. hehe....

the next day 8th june, i have to drive all the way to kk to send off my other makcik2 n pakcik2. its 3 hours drive. this time, not only my car broke down again, but i have uninvited guest in my car.

a ghost was sitting behind me as i drive home at night on 8th june..

but i have to save the story for later since i am home alone again for this week...

wont want to have an uninvited guest in the house. ha ha ha..

till then.. :)