A Story I Never Tire of Telling
I love a good story. As a father I’ve learned that stories are a great way to teach your sons. Stories have a powerful ability to teach in a memorable way, but without just plain telling your kids what to do.
When one of the best men I know was in his late teens, he took on the role of friendly neighborhood roadway superhero. Some inner mixture that was part nice guy, part superhero complex, and part medieval chivalry compelled him to stop and render aid to those in distress on the side of the road.
Pushing stalled cars out of intersections, changing tires, giving a lift to those stranded were all in a day's work for him. This fellow has a good natured face and a disarming manner so the incongruity of seeing him pull over in his semi-souped up 90s Camaro and hop out to offer assistance was nothing short of hilarious. Perhaps I have an unfair bias against souped up Camaros.
Anyway, many a friend and family member had been in the car with him when in the blink of an eye they found themselves sitting alone in the car on the roadside. The open driver side door where our hero had recently made an abrupt exit to render aid was the only clue to his whereabouts. That and him running down the road to throw his weight behind a stalled vehicle two blocks from a gas station.
I think I’ve adequately painted a picture of our hero.
In his late teens while working at a retail store our hero developed a crush on a girl working in another department. As fate would have it, one day when he was leaving work he discovered this girl was stuck in the parking lot with a flat tire. A veritable maiden in distress she was.
Our hero naturally offered his services and began the process of removing the flat tire. The girl confessed she had zero knowledge about cars and instead of putting on a spare he offered to take the tire to have it repaired.
This done, he placed the tire back onto the car and hand tightened the lug nuts. Having done many flat tire changes, our hero knew it’s best to hand tighten the nuts, lower the jack to put the car back on the ground, and then tighten the nuts with the tire iron since the wheel won’t turn once it’s on the ground.
Our hero was right about all this. He also was perhaps a little distracted by the maiden he was rescuing and forgot what turns out to be the most important part of tire changing. To be continued.
After receiving many thanks, and bidding his no-longer-in-distress maiden adieu, he went home perhaps hoping this experience would open the door to furthering their acquaintance. Surely it would at least give him a reason to talk with her next time he saw her. Indeed it would.
While our hero was reveling in his latest rescue, the girl was driving home. What were her thoughts at this time? The narrator can only guess. What were her thoughts as she rounded the corner to her street and one of her tires came off and rolled down the road striking her neighbor’s car? Many can probably guess.
Unbeknownst to her, and to our hero, the last little step of the tire change had been overlooked. The lugnuts had not been tightened with the tire iron once the car was on the ground. And the distance from her place of work to the last turn onto her street was the exact right amount of tire revolutions to work those hand tightened nuts off.
Oh to be a fly on the wall when they next saw each other at work… But we’ll have to leave that conversation to your imaginations.
Like I said, I love a good story. This one is great because it highlights the virtues of young men (even Camaro drivers) taking care of those in need, and teaches boys the proper way to change a flat tire. And it also teaches my sons, never, ever to let that uncle touch their tires.