Was it me? Was the gnawing I heard under the hood of the car the next morning just in my head? Was I going crazy? The car started fine, sounded fine...except for that faint gnawing...that steady gnawing, which got into my head. the gnawing question of what was wrong with the car as I stared at the check engine light brightly lit in a sickly yellow hue. I was glad that we had an appointment to get the car ready for winter the very next morning but the gnawing chewed in my brain and in the car.
The drive uneventful, we got to our mechanic and told him...the check engine light was on. The gnawing feeling growing as the car's fate was now in his hands'. I noticed the irony of the Cthulhu bumper plate, which quickly turned to dread, it was no match for the gnawing...in my head nor the car itself. The wait began...
The wait was long, and there had to be a diagnostic run on the car as there was a leak detected on the initial diagnostics. It had to be done, it set my nerves on edge...the gnawing, the constant gnawing in my mind. I had had too much coffee that morning waiting for the appointment to go and I went back to where our faithful mechanic had the hood of the car up and was working. I asked to use the washroom and on the way out he told me to stop. He wanted to show me something....
My heart skipped a beat, what was wrong? Was this going to be the end of our dear car that has been so good to us over many years? Our trusted mechanic told me to come closer to the car...and said the initial diagnostic was wrong...rodents were the cause of the sickly yellow check engine light to appear. They had been gnawing on the wires...and they were busy rats. How can I assume it was rats? An easy question to answer, because there are many rats in the parking lot of where we reside and with the weather turning cold, they like to nestle in the warmth of an engine of a car that has recently been driven. It seemed as if there were hundreds of rats gnawing on the wires of the cars' electrical bits. Again, I was thankful that our trusty mechanic could not only fix it but make it very difficult for the rats to get their greedy maws onto the wires again.
I came back into the waiting room, my husband and our mechanic's trusty dog looked up waiting for the news that I had to share. The dog, just laid back down, with a lazy wag of the tail and a big sigh to put him back into his doggy dreams. The husband was not surprised in the least. We were both disgusted but relieved that it wasn't something much worse. After an hour and a half of waiting, the car was ready to go. The credit card dented, we were on our way. Thankfully, our trusty mechanic discounted the diagnostics because it was not the leak he had anticipated to find. On our way we went, but when will the gnawing come back? I still hear it in the deep recesses of my mind...the constant gnawing of the rats in the car.
I hope you enjoyed my HP Lovecraft inspired story for today's blog, minions! I decided that it would make for a good Halloween treat and just something different to mix things up. I know I'll be posting pre-Halloween, but it will be back to the arty art news and the like. Until next time minions...make sure the next time you get in your car that there's no gnawing coming from under the hood.