Better At Kindness Than At War
Hey.
Today was a gamer's convention at west Knoxville. I played a matinee session of Pirates of the Spanish Main versus the Dread Buccaneer Kyle, who kicked my poopdeck. I was both outnumbered and out-Captained, and suffered one ship sunk and one captured before I was forced to concede. Not very auspicious...and we were BOTH utter rookies.
I decided to skip the nightcap session, went shopping, and came back to Rather Manor to rest off the adventure.
I was alone about twenty minutes when a woman pulled her dying Nissan into our driveway. She's a waitress at the Huddle House at the truck stop about five miles from here, and was attempting to take her dubious vehicle home when it gave out from overheating. I went outside to offer her help, but she told me she had already called her husband, and he was on his way over.
Sure enough what started as being alone turned into a traffic jam (for Injun Warpath, at least) with her husband, her son (who had no idea his mother's car had broken down) and my parents, who were returning from dinner at a friend's place. When the husband tried to restart the car after a dose of water to the radiator, we saw a huge leak under the car near the site of the water pump. Eventually, the husband and wife called for a tow truck, once the car was loaded on the truck husband and wife went home. The son left before the tow truck arrived--it looked like he had other priorities at the time (not something I would argue).
I told the woman when I first spoke to her that our family comes from a long line of Good Samaritans. We've changed other people's tires, jump-started their cold-seized engines, and did what we could to get fellow travelers back running again if we could and were in a position to do so. "Being stuck on the side of the road sucks," I said.
I'll probably never be able to repair a car myself, and need to know a good mechanic for the rest of my life. But if I can get somebody back towards where they need to be, I'll do it.
Today was a gamer's convention at west Knoxville. I played a matinee session of Pirates of the Spanish Main versus the Dread Buccaneer Kyle, who kicked my poopdeck. I was both outnumbered and out-Captained, and suffered one ship sunk and one captured before I was forced to concede. Not very auspicious...and we were BOTH utter rookies.
I decided to skip the nightcap session, went shopping, and came back to Rather Manor to rest off the adventure.
I was alone about twenty minutes when a woman pulled her dying Nissan into our driveway. She's a waitress at the Huddle House at the truck stop about five miles from here, and was attempting to take her dubious vehicle home when it gave out from overheating. I went outside to offer her help, but she told me she had already called her husband, and he was on his way over.
Sure enough what started as being alone turned into a traffic jam (for Injun Warpath, at least) with her husband, her son (who had no idea his mother's car had broken down) and my parents, who were returning from dinner at a friend's place. When the husband tried to restart the car after a dose of water to the radiator, we saw a huge leak under the car near the site of the water pump. Eventually, the husband and wife called for a tow truck, once the car was loaded on the truck husband and wife went home. The son left before the tow truck arrived--it looked like he had other priorities at the time (not something I would argue).
I told the woman when I first spoke to her that our family comes from a long line of Good Samaritans. We've changed other people's tires, jump-started their cold-seized engines, and did what we could to get fellow travelers back running again if we could and were in a position to do so. "Being stuck on the side of the road sucks," I said.
I'll probably never be able to repair a car myself, and need to know a good mechanic for the rest of my life. But if I can get somebody back towards where they need to be, I'll do it.