The sky was pouring buckets as she was driving down Interstate 77, flowing with the traffic at about 65 MPH when she heard a DING. She looked down at her instrument panel.  The Low tire pressure light was blinking. She could see that her driver’s side tire was down about 3 pounds. She barely got the thought out, about needing to stop at a gas station and have it checked, when the indicator showed the tire had dropped from 33 lbs down to 25.
As she had been taught years before, she took her hands off the wheel for a brief second. The car didn’t pull to the right. Ahh, must be a problem with the sensor. Just then the tire indicator, popped up the pencil likeness of her car, showing the tire dropping 25, 15, 12, 8… Suddenly she could hear it. THOP! THOP! THOP! THOP! Then ZERO… the tire was flat.
She eased into the breakdown lane.
As she had left the interstate, with one eye on the speeding bumper to bumper traffic, she noticed everything was totally drenched from the down pour.  OH CRIPES! WHAT NOW?
Karen had only been in her new town and state about three weeks. Her mind went to the friendly gas station owner she had stumbled onto, when she accidentally took a wrong turn attempting to find a Shell station her daughter had recommended. She knew she had put the name in her phone.  Ayup, there it was, All Star Quality fuel, Front street. Quickly she googled it on her I-phone. The address and phone number popped up, she called.
Hello? Hi, you probably don’t remember me, but I stopped in and talked with the owner a little over a week ago she said. I just moved here from Maine. I am on I-77 going North, about 1500 feet from Exit 49b to Statesville and my tire just went flat. Can you help me?
The young man on the other end, told her to hold a moment while he went to get the boss. She could barely hear their talking back and forth. Finally, an older gentleman’s voice said, hello? Her reply, was YES? He stated, we don’t do road service, but we have two numbers that you can call that won’t screw you out 400 dollars. Got a pen?
Breathing a momentary sigh of relief, she reached for a receipt from the store she had just left off the previous exit, grabbed a pen and said, I’m ready.
He gave her two numbers. One he said was a tire place that might possible do road service, and the other a wrecker service in case the first number didn’t work. Politely, thanking him for taking the time to help her she hung up.
DEEP BREATH, she encouraged herself as the cars continued to whoosh by on her left. She dialed the first number. A young man answered the phone and she explained her predicament. The place sold used tires and unfortunately didn’t do road service either, but he had a number she could call that should.
