My friend looked puzzled when I started laughing after she said, “I was doing ok, then I got off track.”
It wasn’t because of anything she said; it was what happened to me before I met her for lunch.
I was off track in the car wash. I decided to run through the car wash that I pay for every month, whether or not I get my car washed.
Since I was meeting my friend who always has a clean car inside and out, I decided to show up in a clean car. There was no line at the car wash. Great! The little gate raised up, I pulled in slowly and put the car in neutral. Ok!
I did notice that my steering wheel was turned to an interesting angle, and once moving, the ride was rougher than usual. Then I heard a young man yelling, “Stop! Stop!” I looked, and there he was, looking startled, yelling and waving his arms.
I had to roll down my window a little so I could hear him instruct me to back up and which way to turn the wheel. I did that, and then he yelled “stop” again. I want to point out that I was following his instructions exactly.
I was happy no one was in line behind me. Except when I looked, there were four cars waiting for me to get back on track. I’m sure they were all wondering who could be so stupid as to not get on track in the first place.
Then the young man, who seemed more than a little peeved, started giving me instructions to move forward a bit. Once again, I couldn’t hear him so I hit the buttons; unfortunately, both buttons for the front windows, the car moved forward just a bit, which put the water and soap into gear.
Maybe it wasn’t a lot of suds and water, but from where I was sitting in a very cute dress, if I do say so myself, I was sure I was experiencing a tsunami.
I got my window rolled up and realized the other window was open when I saw water and bubbles barreling down the inside of the door, filling the little storage compartment.
Finally, I got on track, went through the tunnel of cleanliness, making sure I didn’t put my car in gear before it was time and drove out. Rapidly.
This place has great vacuums, but I shot out of the area as fast as possible. Can you imagine the looks I would have gotten while cleaning the inside of the car?
Walking into the restaurant, I waved my skirt to dry it in the hot summer air and thought, “Well, it could have been worse.” It’s a wonder I didn’t leave the sunroof open.
