The "There's A First For Everything" Story

It was an ordinary day.  My wife had just walked in from the garage and she didn't look happy.  I waited until she had settled into her chair and then I asked her about her day.  "I had to get gas today!"  Wow, that is really news, since she has never, ever pumped gas into any vehicle that we have ever owned.  I should point out what an accomplishment that was, since she is ...... well I can't mention age, but I can tell you that she's been on Medicare for almost a full year.  Get the idea that this is big news.  Our car posts a message on the dash when it is low on gas.  The message comes on when we reach 50 miles left in the tank.  That message appeared 3 days ago and I just plain forgot to fill up the tank.  In our household we each kinda have assigned jobs.  One of mine is to fill up the cars, mowers, weed-eater, leaf blower and snowplow when they need gas.  Carol went to work yesterday and had no problem.  This morning she figured she still had plenty when she saw that it said 19 miles till empty.  Heck, she only has about a 3 mile trip to work.  Well, today at work they were celebrating the retirement of their boss and she had to go pick up the ice cream cake that they had ordered.  No problem, since her friend and fellow worker, Sue, said she had ordered it at the Dairy Queen which is a stone's throw from the Parish Resource Center where they both work.  Off Carol went in the near-empty car to pick up the cake.  She entered DQ and asked for the cake that said, "Best Wishes Scott."  After searching they asked her when she had ordered it.  Gave them the date and they searched again.  "Are you sure you ordered it from this store?" they questioned her.  Then it hit her that Sue may have ordered it from the store in the nearby town of Columbia.  They made a call and said it was in Columbia.  Columbia is about 5 miles from the DQ where she was presently standing, but she had to get the cake.  What to do?  She left the parking lot with the window down and the AC turned off.  Figured she could save gas that way.  Even turned off the radio to conserve gas.  Does that work?  She made it to the DQ in Columbia, picked up the cake, and headed back to the PRC.  Now she's getting really low.  Then it struck her she not only needed gas to get back, but to get home.  I could just about see the steam coming out her ears by now.  She realized that she had an ice cream cake in the car and without the AC it might melt. 

Proof!

So...... she pulled into the first gas station she saw.  She got out of the car and tried to follow the instructions on the pump.  Put your card in here ... she did.  Then up pops the message, "Do you have a rewards card" ..... stumped now.  She saw two construction workers entering the convenience store close by and asked them if they could help her.  She explained that she never pumped gas before and didn't know what to do about the message that was displayed.  Seems they didn't know either so she made a quick trip into the store and the clerk came to her aid going to the pump with her to help.  First thing the clerk did was walk to the rear of the car and look at the license plate. "Just wanted to see if you were from New Jersey. (In NJ they always pump the gas for you)  Well she got the gas started for Carol and the rest was up to her.  

How much should she put in the tank?  She pumped until she got close to $43.00 worth and stopped the pump.  Continued with quick squeezes until she was right on $43.00.  "Why that amount?" I questioned her.  "Well, I thought that seemed like maybe half a tank so that's why I chose that amount."  As I sat there looking at her I thought that I never better let that ever happen again or I might not get any more chocolate chip cookies which is one of her jobs to do in our marriage.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.