10. The Car God, Renounced, 2

Scott was out in the shed at the airstrip when his cellular vibrated in his pocket. He picked it up and saw as he brought it up to his ear past his face that it was Lana.
“Hey, Babe, what’s up.”
“Scottie, my car’s dumped all of its antifreeze. I was out shopping, then I thought I’d take a drive. I got as far as Salem. I hit a dive, had a drink, and when I got to my car on the other end, I found this big puddle under it. I thought I’d check with my favorite gear head to see if he thought it was ok to drive it back to Parkersburg.”
“Nope. You’ll warp the head, if you haven’t already. Has it been overheating?”
“Yes. I meant to tell you about that.”
“Fuck! Now you tell me!”
“Scottie, don’t yell. I’m stuck. I guess I need to be rescued.”
“Right. Well, I’ll wrap up out here and get to it then. You’ll have to keep yourself entertained. Beat it back to that bar and have another slug or two. But don’t get so shitfaced that you can’t deal with some very batshit driving.”
“OK. Thanks. I’ll owe ya.”
“Yeah.”
It was now after dark. She walked back the way she’d came to the little bar. She immediately fell back into her fantasy. It would spill out into Amy Tells All as soon as the long night of driving and filling the radiator with water was complete. It took Scott a few hours to get to her. He found her in all her allure, absolutely alone in the rural bar. He popped the hood of the Honda and with a flashlight that he asked her to hold, and snapped off the radiator cap. He took the flashlight and peered.
“Empty,” he said.
“Bummer,” she said.
From his car he fished out a gallon jug of water. He poured.
“You got oil in the water. Your head gasket is breached. Shit. Big job.”
In her mind, her head gasket was also breached. Huge job. Her many thoughts were dangerously commingled.
“OK, Lana, here’s what we have to do. I’m going to drive this car and you’re going to drive my car. I’ll keep an eye on the temperature indicator, and when it gets too high, I’m going to stop, pull over, and you should do the same. We’ll wait a bit for the whole shit to cool off, refill the radiator, and then repeat. Until we get to Parkersburg. It’d be way safer to tow, but as I see it, she’s gonna need a new head, a new gasket, a tear down, a rebuild, all of that. I don’t see the point of adding a long tow job to the expense.”

He was matter of fact. She took him at his word. They did it this way and the trip to Parkersburg took until about 3 AM.

Once back in town and at home, they went to bed and slept like a pair of logs.