Mark was tooling down the interstate highway lost in his thoughts, he was pulling his flatbed trailer behind his pick-up. That stupid landlord had told him he could not park his trailer at the apartments because his truck and his motorcycle already took up two parking places. The only way he could keep his trailer there was park the truck or the bike on the trailer and that was a royal pain to pull the ramps out and load one of them every night. Mark knew he needed to find somewhere to store the trailer that was secure and cheap.
Mark saw the headlights of a car coming up on him fast, the small Chevy had to have been going eighty five as it blew past him. Just as it cut back over into Mark's lane, a cloud of smoke, dust and debris exploded into the air. Mark could see the cars brake lights swerving through the cloud as the driver fought for control of the vehicle. Diving into the passing lane, Mark avoided the car as it slid to the shoulder. The Chevy looked like it hit the guardrail, stopping a few feet from the bridge abutment. Mark pulled over at the other end of the bridge, grabbed his flashlight, tucked his pistol in his belt, and walked to the car to see if everyone was ok.
Krista and Ramona were out of the car before Mark got across the bridge. "Are you ok?" he asked.
"Yeah, I think so." answered Krista. "We hit something in the road and all hell broke loose."
"We almost hit the bridge." Ramona added as she leaned against the car shaking..
"But neither of you is hurt, right?" Mark asked again. They both shook their heads. "Was there anyone else in the car?" They both shook their heads again. Mark continued, "Well, lets look at the damage to see if you need a tow truck."
The car was two inches from the guardrail, there did not appear to be any body damage. Mark looked under the car, a retread cap from a semi truck tire was hung up beneath the motor.
"Did the car die when you got stopped?" Mark asked as he tried to pull the rubber from under the car.
"Before." said Krista. "As soon as we hit what ever it was, we lost our power steering and the brakes didn't work very well."
"Your going to need a wrecker and a repair shop." Mark said. "Being Friday night, you are probably stuck here until Monday when the garages open up."
Krista and Ramona whispered to each other for a minute, then Krista said, "We don't really have the money for a tow truck or a big repair bill. We have another three hundred miles to go before we get to someone that can help us. I don't think we can get anyone to come get us tonight."
"Well," Mark thought out loud, "I might be able to at least get you off the highway and see what got torn up. At least you would be in the city."
"Could you?" Krista said. "We would really appreciate it. Once we know more about the damage, we'll know what we need to do."
Mark could not get his trailer in front of their car so he waited for a big break in traffic, made a U-turn, and backed his trailer up behind the vehicle. After he put his ramps in place, he tried to start their car to put it on the trailer. The motor would barely turn over and it would not start. He backed up the trailer sliding the rear wheels up the ramp. When the ramps got to the front wheels, Mark got out a small hand winch and pulled the car the rest of the way onto the trailer.
After they had driven the thirty miles to the edge of the city, Mark tried to call his friend that owned a shop but he was gone for the weekend. Mark drove to the shop, he had the keys and the alarm code. His friend occasionally used Mark's trailer and Mark sometimes used the shop to work on his truck. He backed the trailer inside, unhooked it and pulled the truck outside so the door of the shop would close.
Looking under the car, Mark said, "You sure aren't going anywhere tonight and you might be stuck here a lot longer than Monday. Your car is leaking transmission fluid, it looks like there is a hole in the pan."
"Crap!" said Ramona. "What else is wrong?"
Mark popped the hood and stepped up on the trailer. As he opened the hood there was a huge chunk of tire wadded up where the alternator and serpentine belt mounted to the motor. "Wow." he said. First thing you'll need is a new alternator, a new belt, and probably a new water pump. The A/C unit looks Ok and so does the belt tensioner. If we get all this stuff out of here and don't find anything else broken, you could get everything except the transmission pan at the parts store in the morning. It would be a long shot, but we might be able to find a pan at the salvage yard."
"How much do you think all that will cost?" asked Krista.
"Everything except the pan should be less then two hundred dollars." Mark replied.
"Does the parts store take Visa?" Krista asked. "We only have about fifty dollars cash between us."
"The parts store does, but the salvage yard won't." Mark said. "A dealer would if they had the part in stock."
"What can we do?" Ramona asked.
"We can get all of the cleaned out and be ready to go get the parts in the morning." Mark said. "Then, if we can find everything, I can pay for the pan and you can buy me that many dollars worth of stuff at the parts store. I have a few things I do need that should cover it."
"Oh thank you!" squealed Krista. "What can we do to help?"
"Since we are going to be here quite a while." Mark began, "would you like something to drink?"
"You better believe it." said Ramona. "I'm a wreck."
Mark pulled two twenties out of his jeans pocket. "There is a liquor store right next door, get me a twelve pack of Miller and get yourself whatever you would like." He handed the money to Krista.
