If you read the post about the Damsel in Distress and Dude in a Dilemma, please read this post:
Last night, Amanda called me shortly after I got home from having dinner with her and Braden. It was about 8:30 pm and she was stranded on the shoulder of an overpass on the 610 Loop in the Galleria area. The car had run out of gas. It was dark. It was raining. And she had a four-year old in the back seat.
This situation called for my husband duties to kick in a few months early.
It dawned on me that I was being given a chance to redeem myself from the flat tire incident. Unlike the previous incident on that bright, sunny Sunday morning in the park in a rarely-used driveway with birds chirping and gentle breezes caressing our skin, this new damsel-in-distress situation would be a REAL test -- a woman and child stranded on a highway on a dark and rainy night with cars and trucks and 18-wheelers flying by at over 60 miles per hour.
As I left the house, I wished I had a cape.
About 30 minutes after she called, we were safely at a gas station filling up the car so she could be on her way home. Kudos to Amanda for never once panicking, and kudos to Braden for being brave and courageous (something we had prayed for the night before during the proposal).
Hilburn ... I would like my "man card" back now, please.
observations | conversations | exhortations
3 comments:
(DISCLAIMER: Please read the following with tongue firmly planted in cheek)
As Paul Harvey would say:
In a minute you'll hear the Rest of the Story.
It was a dark and stormy night. No, these aren't the opening words of a bad writing contest. Well they are, but not this time. No, it was a dark and stormy night as the beautiful Amanda and the handsome young lad Braden were zooming (yes, it was zooming -- for that is the only way Amanda knows to drive) around Houston in their borrowed Explorer. Borrowed from the newly named fiance -- Murray.
When all of the sudden: cough, sputter, coast. On a busy freeway. Amanda quickly reached for her phone. Whom to call? Hilburn (Big Guy) is my Handymanny (a name given to him by Braden, also known as Little Guy), but Murray is my man. Hilburn changed the tire last time (while Murray watched). But Hilburn is probably teaching right now (the latest student evaluation called him "an amazing teacher"), so Amanda reached down, perhaps a little reluctantly and dialed her man.
What if SafeClear gets here first? she thought. Am I going to have to pay $75? If I do have to pay it, will Steven pay it for me? Thoughts raced through her mind as Murray pulled up behind HIS disabled vehicle and gave it the go go juice necessary to send it on its way.
REDEEMED! Yes, that's what Murray thought. Hilburn has to give back the mancard now. No more European carryall jokes. Free at last, free at last! Thank God almighty (and the gas station), I'm free at last!
But the car was on empty when our gallant hero loaned it to his double-dutied damsel in distress. The Mancard Society is withholding ruling on the return of the mancard pending further investigation.
And now you know...
The Rest of the Story!
The car was NOT on empty when I gave it to her!
And, when I did give it to her, it was so she would not have to drive her car with a plastic bag for a window -- right next to her son's car seat!
So, will my Man Card be mailed to me, or will you send it electronically?
Close enough to empty.
Maybe I can give it back to you when you help me move.
Post a Comment