Car Trouble

Joanne tried her best to just forget about what she was (or wasn’t for that matter) wearing. The continued rub of the seatbelt against her bare skin served as a constant reminder that she was currently a tinted window away from being seen naked by anybody who bothered to glance in her direction.

After about an hour, Joanne had just begun to calm, when her daughter suddenly spoke up, a waver in her voice. “Uhh, mom? The engine’s getting a little hot...” Joanne leaned over, and noticed rather quickly smoke had begun escaping the hood, and the car was quickly starting to smell of burnt electronics. “Pull over! Pull over, quick!” She yelled, her face reddening.

In just the nick of time, the car pulled over on the freeway near an exit, and shut off. The car was quickly starting to fill with smoke, causing Joanne and her daughters to start coughing. “Let’s get out!” Sam exclaimed, as she opened her door. Lacey followed suit, and both girls walked around the car to the passenger side.

Joanne had begun to freak out. She looked down at herself, wishing with all her heart that she had something more than just her hands to cover with. A long groan and wavering sigh later, Joanne opened the passenger side door, and covered up with both of her hands.

Joanne suddenly felt very, very ****. With their close proximity to the exit, a countless amount of cars kept passing by to get off the freeway. Joanne groaned to herself, as she crouched down behind the car. “As if this day couldn’t get any worse...” Joanne muttered to herself, as she lightly banged her head against the side of the car.

Smoke had stopped billowing from the front of the car, so Sam took it upon herself to open the hood and take a look. The inside revealed the origin of the smoke: a boxed in area labeled fuses. A black liquid was oozing around inside the box, and bubbles were pouring upwards. Sam huffed to herself, before pulling out her phone to find the nearest mechanic shop.

About ten minutes later, a tow truck with a green logo on the side rolled in front of Joanne’s car, and halted to a stop. A tall girl with blonde hair and grease stained overalls stepped out of the driver’s side door, and stuck a hand out to greet Joanne.

“Hi! My name’s Beatrice, but you can call me Bee. Nice to meetcha! ” The girl yelled, a wide smile spread across her face. She noticed Joanne as she moved closer, and began to laugh. “Good lord, where’s this girl’s clothes run off too?” Bee exclaimed, as she collapsed into a fit of laughter.

Lacey was first to speak up. “She can be kinda forgetful, and left the house completely naked. We’re going on vacation, and she forgot to put her bag in the trunk. I’d offer her something to wear, but she’s a bit too large for my clothes or Sam’s.”

“So you left the house like that? That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in weeks!” Bee said between spats of laughter, wiping tears from her eyes. Joanne couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “Glad you find it funny...” she muttered to herself.

After a few minutes of laughing, recollecting herself, and laughing again, Bee finally got back on topic. “Anyway, lemme take a look at your problem.” She said, as she moved towards the opened hood.

After fifteen minutes of work to open up the fuse box, Bee took a step back, and tutted to herself. “I don’t have the tools on me to fix this, we need to take this back to my paw’s shop.” Bee looked down at Joanne, and her heart strings became taught with sympathy. “Tell you what, I’ll do y’all a package deal since you seem to be down on your luck. For the tow, the replacement parts, and labor I’ll charge you $100 flat. Sound good?” Bee explained, looking down at Joanne with a smirk on her face. Joanne’s weak, apathetic head nod confirmed her approval, and Bee jumped up with joy. “Y’all are gonna love Paw! He will think this is the funniest thing in the world!”