Ol' Smokey

At last! My own car.

I breathed in the smell of dust and old hockey gear. Yup, definitely going to want to get it cleaned, but still my own car!

I've loved Ty's Jeep Cherokee for years, so finally after much harassing and out of the goodness of his family's collective heart I bought it.

I was so excited to drive it to school this morning. I got up early and gazed at it as it sat all shiny with dew in the driveway. I started it up and drove it in to the city from Chestemere.

Things went down hill from there.

Somewhere on 16th Ave something went horribly wrong with the engine.

I first noticed the distinctive smell of burnt oil, which I immediately assumed was the Honda in front of me. Then came the smoke...Oh the smoke...the white smoke billowed out from under the hood of my beautiful Cherokee. I mouthed the words "oh crap" and pulled into a parking lot. There I sat, in a cloud of carcinogenic fumes with my mouth hanging open is dismay.

As some of you may know, I'm not a real car enthusiast, and therefore had absolutely no idea what to do. My first thought was "Oh Buddha, please don't let my beautiful Cherokee explode into a million charred pieces."

Then began a series of panicked calls to everyone in my phone book. Apparently people have better things to be doing at 8 o'clock in the morning than answer my calls. I finally got a hold of my Dad, who said he'd find me and take a look. He popped the hood (which I hadn't done as I was terrified of seeing a burnt up cat or smoldering fire inside) but wasn't able to find anything wrong with it. He said we'd take a look at it tonight, so I drove the rest of the way to school.

I said a few silent prayers during the day "Please...Please don't let me see a giant cloud of black smoke coming from the parking lot, only to find nothing but a smoldering crater in the ground" As it turned out, my poor injured Cherokee was still intact.

Next came the quietest, coldest drive of my life. I didn't dare turn on the heat or radio so as to not upset the delicate balance of smokelessness, all the while chanting...just a little further...just a little further...

My big white Cherokee is sitting out front right now. I'm inside, pacing back and forth, kneading my hands, waiting for the diagnosis. I will keep you all posted of the verdict and recovery of my new car.

As a side note, if you ever want to attract unwanted attention and stares, try going to class smelling like a burnt tire. Wow.