You Really Had To Have Been There

On Wednesday when I happened to be in the building where one of my former clients lives, I ran into him in the lobby while waiting for an elevator. I was there to provide service for another aide's client. Gump found the necessity to stay home on the day of service more than he cared to cooperate with. Since he was costing the company money to pay me to show up when he didn't choose to be there, he was removed from my roster of clients.


He's moving and needing to get rid of some things. He had some books he knew I was interested in. Biographies of Chuck Berry and Bob Dylan. A couple of books about the Beatles and the British Music Invasion of the 1960's. There is also a book called "Good Rockin' Tonight, Sun Records and the Birth of Rock and Roll". He tried to give them to me when I was his aide, but as his aide I had to refuse to accept them. I had offered to pay him for them, and he refused the money. We had reached an impasse so the books remained with him. Until Wednesday. I'm no longer his aide, haven't been for more than 90 days the office requires us to have no contact with their clients. It was now legal for me to accept the books IF he offered again. Which he did as soon as he saw me, and I gladly accepted.

I put the books in the trunk of the car and by the time I got home had forgotten about them. Until today. Until I got stranded in the bank parking lot for over an hour waiting for Hubby to come rescue both me and my vehicle.

I had to do my regular Saturday client this morning. Stopped on my way there to get gas and as I pulled away from the pump, the brake light came on. I tested the brakes and they were working fine. So, I continued on to the client. Worked there for two hours, stopped at the office to drop my paperwork through the mail slot and went on to the bank. I had brakes the entire time. There was no indication of any real problem, so by the time I got there, I assumed it was a faulty idiot light. That is, until I came out of the bank.

The pavement was perfectly dry when I pulled into that parking spot. Upon exiting the building, I spied a small puddle near the driver's side rear wheel. Upon closer examination, the puddle appeared to be shiny and wet looking. Had to come from my car. Which explained the brake light coming on. I called Hubby, and told him I had a leaky brake line. I was going to try to nurse it home since I had brakes, when I pulled in. He asked me how big the puddle was and when I told him it was 2 to 3 inches in diameter, he told me I didn't have any brakes now. I took his word for it. Groaned when he said it would be over an hour before he could get there, but made the wiser choice to wait.

So, there I was with nothing, I thought, to do except watch the cars pull in and out of the parking lot as they went on their merry way to accomplish whatever they set out to do this lovely Saturday. That particular plan of action would have had me frothing at the mouth within 10 minutes. Then I remembered the books. Never in my life have I been so grateful for having had a spell of the forgetful. If I hadn't forgotten them, they wouldn't have been there to occupy me in my time of need. Waiting time was closer to an hour and a half.

I walked over to the convenience store for a cold bottle of Diet Pepsi and went back to my car. Set the driver's seat back far enough to be comfortable and settled down to wait with a good book and a cold drink.

In retrospect I might have increased the risk of an accident by driving around when I suspected a brake problem. Sometimes to assess a situation and make a determination of which course to follow it's necessary to take all circumstances surrounding the problem into account. I knew Hubby was busy until near noon. I didn't have any reason to believe that there was an immediate problem, since I had no trouble stopping. I knew enough to check for evidence when I did stop and then to call Hubby with available information so he could make a determination of what to do. I also, taking into account the fact that I might have an imminent brake failure, traveled on roads that I knew wouldn't have much traffic on them. All roads that were posted at slower speeds with fewer stops so there was less stress on the brakes.

Hubby will fix the car tomorrow and I can finish my running around on Monday after work. I didn't panic, I just did what I could do and left the rest to someone who knows more about these things. Actually, if today could be considered a testing of my patience, I think I passed!