So, about a week ago I was driving out of my driveway to leave and I passed a car coming the other way, a very new one in fact, that I heard before I saw. I work on cars quite a bit as I have mentioned before, so I could tell immediately that there was some SERIOUS friction involving metal, and the car was hopping up and down a little, so I could tell they were driving on a very flat tire. It was just dark out so I figured it was a girl who was too scared to stop on our somewhat secluded suburban road. She was barely moving so I was able to turn around and pull up beside her. I motioned her to roll down the window and told her she had a serious flat tire and it was critical for her to get off the road and change it, and I offered my driveway which was by then just in front of her. She turned into the driveway where I thought I was about to simply change a flat tire for a stranger. This is where it gets interesting.
So I worked at a tire store for about a year, and I can honestly say I never saw anything this bad in that whole entire time. One tire was flat, and the other was completely GONE! She was driving on the bare rims down the street, but the thing that tipped me off something was REALLY up was the passenger's mirror that was broken off and hanging by the wire. I looked at this girl who was my age, early 20's, and said "Did this involve another car?"
She was a mexican immigrant who had two children, I discovered, after noticing the car seats in the back seat. She spoke english well enough I was able to talk to her. At first she acted very shocked and confused, and kept saying "It just started making this noise!" I told her I'm a car guy, and I just can't buy that story. I told her you could have been cold asleep and the impact that took those tires and mirror off, and bent the front strut would have immediately made her wide awake. Immediately, she started sobbing. I thought "Oh boy, this is one of those days where everything has gone wrong," I could see it all over her. So I said "Look, I don't even know you, but I can tell when somebody needs a hug." She very willingly accepted, and I could tell I was in for a pretty dang good story. I could tell something worse than the car was wrong in her life, so I started asking her a lot of questions hoping to sort out what to do about her situation and how to help her. I reassured her that I'm on her side and I wouldn't get the police involved since she said it didn't involve another car, and there was no indication of anything like that. So through a downpour of tears, I got it out of her. She had just been dumped by her boyfriend, who found out about her being with her OTHER boyfriend. She worked at a restaurant with the father of one child, and lived with the father of the other child. A very complicated love triangle that by its nature I'm sure is a constant stress. She was terrified to tell the one guy who owned the car, a 2007 import sedan, that she had wrecked it. Her phone died, so I allowed her to use mine. She told both men about the situation, and she received a pretty good dose of verbal abuse from them over the phone by her interpretation of it.
She had been dumped by one of the men and decided to go out drinking to forget about all her sorrows. Apparently she had been in trouble with the law for public intoxication or a DUI before, but somehow she escaped any sort of counseling for it. She left the bar and made it halfway to my house, an area with tall curbs, where she blacked out and woke up to a huge impact. She was trying to limp it home but in that state she was in no condition to face the man or to drive another 2 miles that involved 90-degree turns and possibly police patrol (this road is way overpoliced). So the important thing was I had gotten an intoxicated driver off the road, but I was trying to figure out how to help her situation. She started getting suicidal, saying how she wasn't pretty, wasn't smart, screws everything up, nobody loves her, she's all alone in this world, and now the car. Well after lots of careful encouragement I persuaded her that her night could have ended a LOT worse, and told her that it was her lucky day because she didn't do body damage, which would've costs hundreds or thousands more, and she didn't get in a wreck and die or get a DUI, or hard someone else and do time. Plus her kids need her, etc. etc. etc. And I actually managed to greatly improve her mood until she was actually smiling and laughing, she said I was "So funny"- I guess humor know no bounds- through depression, intoxication, and a language barrier she managed to feel better. I gave her some Kleenex and water bottle telling her she was probably pretty dehydrated between the alcohol and the waterfall coming from her eyes, which elicited even more laughter. When I got out the bundle of Kleenex I brought from the house, which was like, probably literally 75 or so, I said "Here, I know it's a lot, but I didn't know if it was going to sprinkle or pour." Again, more laughter.
She was still not able to tell me what she wanted to do, because she didn't want to face the music in her state. So I made sure her youngest wasn't dependent on her to eat, and then began offering to let her stay on our sofa. She was afraid my parents would turn her in, but I let her know my mom was an alcoholic 30 years ago and that she certainly would understand. She kept saying I was such a good and nice person, and I told her my parents are where I got that from, to come in and meet them.
So, I helped her to the front door and very diplomatically explained the situation to my parents to give them an idea of the seriousness of the matter without making it sound like the light calamity that it was. They were all smiles and hugs and offered to let her stay there for the night, which was definitely a good thing considering she mentioned that her boyfriend was abusive sometimes.
It took an hour or so of talking to her to finally get her in the house, but I pictured it going nowhere good to just sit there, she increasingly grew fonder of me the longer we embraced. At one point she reached back and turned the light on saying "I want to see your face!" After turning the light on, she was like "Ohh, you are so handsome!" It was then that I realized sje must be REALLY drunk! Just kidding
But she seemed shocked all the way around that someone who is nice and attractive would possibly take an interest in her life or be kind to her. I ended up staying the night at a friend's house due to the sensitive nature of her romance life, not wanting to leave any possibilities open for later misunderstandings with large men I don't know. My dad ended up taking her home and explaining the car situation to the boyfriend, who supposedly took it better than expected. My dad offered to drive the guy around, this being their only car, to locate tires, rims, and a strut for it. By the time it was all over, the guy was telling my dad he wanted to take him out for a nice dinner! I helped with the more complicated parts, and later when I met the boyfriend, I was pleasantly surprised to discover he had nothing but gratitude and respect for me, he shook my hand and told me I am a good man with a smile on his face.
Long story short, it all just felt like a big episode of MacGyver. I am just going about my day, and here the universe drops into my lap a girl who was on a collision course with disaster, and I was able to help her out, be a friend when she needed one, and in some way restore a little bit of her faith in humanity and herself. I could never believe that all my years of watching Mac didn't have an impact on my perceiving the situation, being brave enough to get involved and try to help, and persistent enough to get the truth out of her once I read between the lines and figured out what was going on.
I hope none of that sounded self-glorifying, I really did nothing spectacular by my measure, I would help anybody change a couple of tires and cry on my shoulder if they needed it, I am just glad that be being in the right place at the right time I could make the world a better place, one person at a time. I am debating whether to drop by her restaurant every once in a while, show that I care, and provide a little accountability. At the same time though, I don't want to stir the shark tank with the two guys. I could use some input on that, I can't quite figure out what Mac would do on that one?
"It's a real ugly thing to see in a dog. It's even worse in a human being." --The Golden Triangle
"I'd like a 16-inch pizza, run it through the garden, hold the chovies." -- The Eraser
Well, and I had to compress the springs with spring compressors that normally you would use a big ratchet or wrench on. My dad started to do it the long way so I got out an electric impact gun that made the job about 30 mins shorter. It just zipped the springs down with little effort. I also used my SAK to cut the duct tape off the driver's mirror that was holding it on from a prior incident with a car wash- so SAK's, duct tape, and a little cleverness were involved, I assure you 
