Z/Web

Grandpa came home from the hospital. Even this wasn’t as simple as it sounds. First, my van’s battery was dead, as I expected, as it has a slow drain and if it’s not driven at least once a week it won’t start. Then, on my way to pick up Grandpa, my Neon started shuddering and not accelerating correctly. The “check engine” light came on. Unfortunately, I had a tight deadline: I had to get Grandpa home from the hospital in time for his next infusion of medicine which was to begin in a couple hours. Fortunately, the car made it, though it wasn’t happy. The hospital’s ten minutes away and by the time we got home, it was overheating. I just made it to my driveway. After getting Grandpa settled, I called a tow service to jump the van (it wouldn’t jump connected to a car), which worked, but the tow guy knew something about cars and didn’t like the sound of the engine. He checked the oil and found it was completely dry! I’d been meaning to get an oil change for a while (for both vehicles) but had kept putting it off. Unfortunately, my car knowledge doesn’t extend much further than knowing where to put the key — it had never occured to me to add oil (they usually do that when I change it). Anyway, we added oil and the van seemed okay — at least the engine sounded better, though apparently the alternator belt was too tight and that’s what was making the squealing sound on startup. We checked my Neon and found the same problem — no oil — and added some there also. During this period the nurse arrived to show me how to administer Grandpa’s new medicine — he’s on a 24-hour a day pump that shoots in the antibiotics. Everything was happening at once!