Looking for Zebras

So my car died.  Well, not completely, but it's not working.  I got off the train last night, walked to my car and unlocked it--no problems.  Then I tried to turn it on and got nothing.  Didn't even pretend to turn over.  I double checked that I didn't do anything stupid like leave the lights on (nope, that was all copacetic).  So I called Dave, mildly frustrated, who was at home and could get to me quicker than a tow truck.

Being handy with cars, Dave of course wanted to investigate the problem a bit.  So he poked around, tried starting the car himself, watched the gauges (as they did nothing) and poked at all the connections and fuses running from the battery and the power distributor.

Hungry and in need of a bathroom, I was growing cranky at the examination.  So I texted Stacy, my one friend who knows about cars and boys trying to fix problems without success.

Me: I love my husband by my car battery seems to have died in the train station parking lot and rather than jump it, he's been checking all the fuses for the past 10 minutes.

Stacy: LOL.  Breath deeply, he's a "c" personality, he's checking all the little things to be sure it's just a jump you need and not a tow.

Stacy: He hears horses but wants to look at all of them in case there's a zebra.

Me: Best. Line. Ever.  I do suppose I have to love him.

I did convince Dave to at least try to jump the car because he was ready to leave without even doing that.  Not wanting to call a tow truck only to find out we could have been done and over with it, I asked if he'd at least try to rule out the possibility.

Me: Well he was right. I do need a tow.

Stacy: Zebra!!!

I laughed and got out of my car-trauma induced funk.  Stacy's good for that.  Plus she's a Spanish teacher who does a wicked funny Russian accent and will whip it out at random occasions with a whole Russian "old country" persona.  Everyone needs a friend who will randomly change accents and pretend to have lived a different life.

Dave and I left the car in the parking lot, went home and had dinner.  Then we called AAA for a tow and headed back to the car to wait.  Dave brought a volt meter this time and confirmed that the battery had plenty of power so clearly the problem was something electrical or with the car's computer.

About an hour later, the tow driver came and essentially ran through all the checks that Dave did and then some.  Eventually he either ran out of ideas of Dave wore him down by repeating, "Yeah, we really just need a diagnostics check, so let's just tow it to our mechanic."  Meanwhile, I texted Stacy again.

Me: The tow truck driver was looking for zebras too.

Me: He did not find any.

Stacy: LOL.  Alternator?

Me: Probably electrical.

Stacy: Bummer, replace 10 fuses cuz one blew.  I hate that!

Me: He checked all the fuses.  It's probably a wire or computer issue.

Stacy: Not a zebra.  A Horse of Many Colors.  Silly boys, mislead by hoofbeats.

Me: I'm imaging you saying this in a Russian accent.

Stacy: Good.  Is much funnier, ja.

I cringed watching him hook my car (unnecessarily--the driver was very cautious) and we drove off to leave our mechanic a reason to scratch his head in the morning about why our car randomly showed up.  I still don't know what's wrong with it, but Dave will talk to the mechanic this morning.  I'm not sure how he feels about horses and zebras.