John pulled right into the auto body repair shop.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“We have to get this rental car fixed. We didn’t take the insurance and if we return the car like this, the rental company is going to charge us a fortune.” John replied.

“So is an auto body shop.” I argued, “Drive me to AutoZone and I’ll get it fixed.”

“AutoZone, what the hell are they going to do? AutoZone doesn’t do body work.” John said.

“Trust me.” I countered, “As a single mother, I’ve gotten plenty of car repairs done at AutoZone. Just drive me there.”

“Okay,” John said with a smirk, “If you think so…”

We pulled into AutoZone and got out of the car. As I went to walk inside, I turned around to find that John was right behind me.

“Oh no, go stand over there, away from me,” I said, “I’ve got to do this myself.”

John reluctantly stood off to the side and waited.

As I approached the counter of the parts desk, I was greeted with a smile by an employee with a name tag that read, Carl.

“What can I help you with today?” Carl asked.

“Well Carl,” I began, “I have a bit of a situation on my hands…”

I went on to explain the circumstances that led up to and included the scraped, yellow painted side of my rental car and how I failed to take the insurance that went beyond the hundred-dollar deductible that my credit card provided.

“I know just the thing.” Carl said, as he lead me down the correct isle to locate the product I needed.

Carl handed me two seperate containers and a cloth. Ten dollars each. Not too bad I thought.

I  thanked Carl, paid the twenty dollars and walked out the front door.

“I got it!” I yelled to John.

He replied, “So that’s going to fix it? How much was that?”

“Twenty dollars.” I smiled, as I opened one of the containers and dampened the cloth.

“This is ridiculous.” John stated.

“Just wait over there John.” I instructed as I went back inside.

A few minutes later I returned with Carl in tow.

“Carl, I’m really not sure how this works.” I said.

“I’d be more than happy to show you ma’am.” Carl said with a smile, as he began to spread on the first product and really put some elbow grease into the application.

Carl and I began talking and exchanging stories about rental cars and car repairs.

“You see,” Carl said, “Once you wipe all of this off, then you can apply the second product…just like this.”

John waited patiently as Carl worked and recounted a story about how he took a rental car to an outdoor concert. He said that he and his friends sat in lawn chairs that they had placed on the roof of the car. When the concert was over and they removed the lawn chairs the entire roof of the car was dented.

“What did you do?” I asked.

“We were young, we just returned it that way and left it in the parking lot. We were scared shitless, but we never got a call from the rental company or got in any trouble.”

We both laughed and before I knew it, Carl was detailing the door jams and the rental car was perfect. No one would ever be able to tell that anything had happen to the car at all.

I handed Carl a twenty dollar tip and thanked him for all that he had done.

When Carl went back inside, John walked over and said, “I can’t believe this! You just got our car repaired for forty bucks!”

“Yes, I did!” I smiled, “Stick with me and I’ll show you the ropes.”

“It doesn’t hurt to be a pretty blonde.” John said as he gave me a hug.

I blushed and glanced at the time.

“We’ve got to get on the road.” I said, “I have to get home and get to work. We’ll drive as far as we can then find a hotel for the night.”

How hard could that be?

Stay tuned for PART 4 and the rest of our adventure.

My Life I Swear