Pitter Patter


If you've been reading here for awhile, you know of my love affair. I try not to let a day go by, without taking him for a spin. He's always available. He waits with anticipation, in his cozy garage, until we connect and off we go. This particular day was no different.


I was in a bit of a hurry and was thinking more of my destination than the time spent together. I turned the key, pushed the start button, shifted into 1st, and revved the engine. What was that? It sounded like he was complaining. Rattle, rattle. I revved again. It was a bit quieter. I could hardly believe what I was hearing. How could he betray me like this? We've only been together for 18 months. Isn't this still the honeymoon phase? I take such good care of him, shouldn't he be purring like a well fed cat?



Hmmm...He does sit quite low to the ground. I had hit that speed bump, in the dorm parking lot, a bit hard. I'd heard a small scrape as I passed. But what is enough to cause damage? Had I knocked something loose? I didn't have time for this! Get over your hurt feelings and let's move on-I have things to do.


I pulled out of the garage and into the street. Clunk. What was that? It sounded like a piece of metal hitting the pavement. I reversed back into the driveway. With the engine running, I opened the door to the house. "Do you hear that? It's making an awful rattling noise."




Michael suggested it might be the air conditioning. I switched it off and revved. Nope. It was still clattering. His advice was to leave my friend at home and take the Suburban. Grrr...my pride wouldn't let go.




I marched into the street to see if I could find anything. This was laying in the street.









It didn't look like anything that belonged to my car. I wondered if somehow it fell out of my car. I could think of only one place it could have been hiding. I grabbed a flashlight to make an inspection. I peered in the 1st hole. Nothing. I looked in the second. Inside it appeared as if something had fallen into the pipe. I pulled this out.







It all make sense now. A certain little boy is fascinated with cars. He also loves to figure things out. My guess is, at his height he took a look at my car. He saw two perfectly good holes and wondered what should go inside.


Sitting right there behind him were some fine looking tools that fit nicely. He must have popped them in place feeling very proud of himself. (Thanks Ethan for getting my heart racing!)

Once removed, the rattling subsided. We drove off in harmony once again.