I was driving home from my mothers house the other day when something went terribly wrong..

My car, Helga, for which I named because she was a big strong car that seamed indestructible at the time, had suddenly started beeping at me.  At first just one beep when the ‘CHECK GAGES’ light came on, then another Beep a minute later, then another.  By time we (my brother and I) were just down the road from our parents house my car was ringing loudly with an annoying ‘DING DING DING DING’ noise that had my brother and I both very concerned.

I looked down at my gages, and to my horror it said my engine was over heated!  But how?!  I had just started driving it down the road and there was snow and ice everywhere!

My brother and I quickly decided that this probably wasn’t a malfunction with the computers, as many other times have been, and quickly did a loop around the block back to my parents’ house.

The best my dad and I could see was that Helga was out of coolant for her engine.  This was confusing, because my family had checked the coolant and anti-freeze levels in all of our cars before winter and we knew that every car in the family was good to go..

My father and I quickly ran up to the local store and got some antifreeze, driving home quickly to put it in my truck.  Everything seamed fine, my truck was running smoothly, and so on my way back home my brother and I went.

~

The next day, I had needed to get up early to go into work at nine o-clock in the morning.  At the break of dawn my brother, grandmother, and I had gone outside to scrape half an inch of smooth pure ice off Helga’s windows from the freezing rain that plagued us the night before.  I quickly thanked my lucky stars for my family, gave a pep-talk to my car about driving on the ice, and off I went to work.

The car did not beep, it did not slide on the ice, nor did it give me any trouble on the slush from the quickly melting snow/ice.  Half way to work however, I had noticed my ‘CHECK GAGES’ light was on again and quickly looked over to where the engines heat was.  It was pointing all the way to the right again, indicating that something was wrong.

‘Did I have a leak in the coolant chamber?  Or was it something much worse than that?’ I had wondered.

“Just make it to work Helga, just make it to work.”  I chanted to my car as I slowly drove across the ice to my work.  When I had finally made it to work (fifteen minutes early) I called my mother to let her know what was going on and that the truck was overheating again.  She had told me that her and my dad would pick my car up from work, bring it to my mechanics, and have it back before I got off work that evening.  Nothing to worry about.  Right..?

Thinking that there was truly nothing to worry about, I locked my doors and went inside to work.  HOWEVER, would anyone like to take a guess what I left IN my car when I locked it..?

Anyone?..

If you guessed ‘car keys’ than you are correct!  After realizing I had left my keys in the car, I quickly called my mother (again) and told her that Marshall (my brother) had a spare key for emergencies.

So on the icy roads my parents drove, first to get my brothers spare key, and then back to my store parking lot to open my car…  Only, come to find out that the ‘spare key’ my brother had was for turning the car on, NOT for unlocking the door!  (Don’t ask..  That’s a whole other story..)

At this point, I am already clocked-in and working, my parents out in the parking lot with a tow truck trying to get my car unlocked, I had told my manager on duty what was happening so that he didn’t get worried when a tow truck came up to our tiny store parking lot, and my parents were coming in every once in a while to give me updates on Helga.

Finally, the tow truck had unlocked Helga and got the key out, my father had gotten more coolant for Helga so that she would make it as far as my mechanics, and my mother had told me that they would keep me updated and pick me up from work if need-be.

~

When my parents came back after getting my car checked out, I was on my lunch break.  It was then that they gave me the crushing news that Helga would need a new engine if she were to survive.  This would cost me $6,000 that I clearly didn’t have!  I was crushed.  I was outraged!  But I was also at work and I had to keep a smile on my face and tears out of my eyes.

My work is the place I go to escape my worries.  I leave my worries at the door and for six to seven hours a day I enjoy a blissful day of talking to customers and stocking boxes.  This day however, I had tried my best to remain calm and I was doing all that I could not to think about what was going to happen to Helga and how much money I was probably going to have to spend.

I took a few deep breaths, let my co-workers know what was going on, and then returned to my parents to ask them what on earth I was supposed to do next.  The answer from them and from my mechanic was; ‘buy a new car and sell the old one for scraps’.

The only problem was, where was I going to get that kind of money?!  I didn’t have money saved up to buy a brand new vehicle, I hardly had the money to keep this one going!  I had bought Helga with the knowledge that it was only a temporary car until I could afford better, but this was ridiculous!

I had said a quick ‘see-you-later’ to my parents when my lunch-break was over and they had promised to pick me up after work to take me home.

What was supposed to be a quiet and calm day at work turned out to be a day where anything and everything could go wrong.  For an optimist though, I took this time to think of the good things that could would come out of this.

1. I needed a new car eventually, so I might as well get one before I buy my farm.
2. I had a bit of money saved up for a down payment on a property, and although it pained me to use that hard-earned and long time saved money for a new car, at least I had it there just in case.
3. The cracked windshield, broken door panel, and the half tank of gas that I was worried about this morning?  Not a problem now!
4. And finally, this meant that I could get a car that ‘I’ wanted, not a car that the sleezy dealership I had bought Helga from had talked my dad into getting for me.

My mother came to pick me up after work was done, and we had decided that with all of these icy roads, I might as well just stay a few days over in their guest cabin so that they didn’t have to drive to pick me up and drop me off everyday while we were looking for cars.

Lucky for me, I had had the next two days off from work and in my eyes that was plenty of time to dip my foot in the water and see what other cars were out there..  Little did I know just how hard this would be!

To Be Continued…

Click HERE to read Helga Part 2; The Story of Raven!