Another Miracle!

Everybody has something in their lives that totally discombobulates them. Some issue which has burned you so many times in the past that now when it comes up you get so worked up about it, you become completely scatter-brained and can't think rationally. My issue happens to be my truck's yearly state inspection. As a writer, I take every rejection personally and my truck failing inspection is no different. It's as though whether or not I can keep my truck in working order speaks to what kind of man I am. I hate driving around with that big, red 'R' on my windshield and feeling as though it should just be tattooed on my forehead to save everyone the time. Actually, I probably take this particular rejection worse than most because I know it's coming and have time to think about it.

You see, I don't have a good history with these things. Since my family mechanic doesn't do inspections, I find myself trying out various garages, each shadier than the last and featuring a mechanic who fails me for some issue which is always very serious, but, in an amazing coincidence, he could fit me in and fix this afternoon for only a few hundred dollars. (I hate dealing with shady people, but because I don't know a ton about engines and am totally out of my element, I really hate dealing with shady mechanics.) Often before the inspection is even over I feel a sense of dread, as my mind starts to wonder, "Alright, how screwed am I about to get?" Having time to let my mind come up with new and inventive degrees of just how bad this is going to be makes it even worse.

Now, for the last couple of years I have found myself repeatedly failing my inspection because my emergency brake won't hold to the designated RPMs. There has to be some kind of design flaw with Mercury Mountaineers, because I had the e-brake totally replaced when I first bought the truck, then repaired twice after that and yet every June it's a source of problems. Before owning this car I had never even heard of people failing due to their e-brake, but it has now happened to me three of the five times I have had the truck inspected. It will be close, but not close enough that the guy feels like letting me pass. As such, before I even took my car to be inspected this year I decided to test my e-brake in my driveway and see if it would hold, or was at least pretty close. It wasn't.

Once again, after getting it repaired last year, it was no longer holding to the necessary number. I planned on simply bringing my truck to my trusted guy without bothering to fail the inspection first, but my dad convinced me to bring my vehicle down to the place where his truck gets inspected, because he feels they may be a little more... how shall we say, relaxed, with the numbers. And if they weren't and I still failed he trusts these guys enough to feel confident they wouldn't screw me in repairs. So, I dropped my truck off and the woman told me to come back in an hour. I told her I would because, while I could have told her just to call me when it was fixed, I certainly didn't want to tell her I fully expected it to fail. Still, I wasn't full of high hopes.

Since I was expecting the car to fail inspection, when the hour past I decided not to bother securing a ride down to the garage. I thought I would just drive another car, be told my truck failed, tell them to fix whatever was wrong and that I would pick it up after the re-test tomorrow and then drive myself home without disrupting anyone else. I even parked a couple lots down from the garage because I wanted to do a quick errand after everything was set at the garage and it was easier to walk over than drive around. That's how sure I was I was going to fail.

Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans. Imagine my surprise as I walked passed my car and instead of seeing the expected red 'R' it turned out my truck passed inspection after all. I paid the woman inside, who gave me no outward signs that I now owed them a favor. Either they never tested the e-brake or it somehow fixed itself on the ride to the garage. Personally, I wasn't about to ask.

While I was internally ecstatic, I suddenly had the issue of needing to drive two cars home. I didn't want to leave my truck there and openly admit I drove myself over because they should have failed me, so I jumped in my truck, drove it up the street to where the other car was parked and did a quick exchange like I was in the mafia and trying to shake an FBI tail, a la Joe Pesci in "Casino". I drove the second car home, then had to get a ride back to the other parking lot where my truck was now parked.

Overall the entire process was a lot more convoluted than it ever should have been, all because I had convinced myself of an outcome that didn't come to pass. So, let that be a lesson to me going forward: I need to stop worrying about things I can't control and instead of planning for the worst maybe I should start expecting the better outcome and plan for that instead. Or, at the very least, only get my car tested at this garage going forward.