The Spare Change

She made a turn into the half full parking lot and we leaped up in our seats when she had accidentally hit the curb. She shouted profanities while parking the car. We were in a hurry to get to a doctor's appointment. We had been a bit lost that made us run a little behind. We even used the GPS to get there however we still got lost. I went to support my relative, Meredith.

We had just made it there on time. We waited quite some time in the waiting room. We both played on our phones when Meredith was called. We had waited some more inside the white room. It was fairly cramped inside but there was enough seating for the two of us. We browsed through the magazines. Most of them were really dated. A balding old man in a lab coat came in. He handed Meredith a pamphlet for her condition and sent us on our way. He had been incredibly rude. We spend no more than five minutes with him. We were both complaining about how rude and how much that had been a waste of time. Our hearts sunk when we noticed that the front passenger side tire on Meredith's 2002 black, convertible Thunderbird had been flat.

We both freaked out. Neither of us knew what to do. We both had never changed a tire before. Meredith suddenly realized she had a spare tire in her trunk. We searched, "How to change a tire" on our phones. We both hoped the spare would work. We weren't sure if it would even work since she had bought the car used from a private owner.

She had some junk in her trunk and so we had to unbury the spare tire. It took the both of us to get the tire out due to its weight and it was wedged under a cloth covering. We got the jack out as well. We struggled to get the lugnuts off the old tire. We really didn't have anyone who we could call to help us out. Our other relatives were busy at work as well as her boyfriend at the time.

We were pretty stumped. We had taken turns trying to loosen the lug nuts. We still kept trying to remove the lug nuts when a colored man in his 50s or 60s approached us. He had an appointment at the same place as Meredith and he needed some money for a bus ticket. He offered to help us change the tire for some money.

Meredith and I exchanged glances. We could have really used the help. We pulled out our wallets and pooled our money together. We gave him a bit more money than he had asked for. At first, he had struggled a bit as well. He was able to remove the lug nuts and jack up the car. He removed the tire and I helped him with the old one. I then rolled the spare over to him. It only took him about half an hour tops. If not for him we probably would have been stranded there for quite a length of time. We both thanked each other and he went on his way to the bus stop.

Meredith drove us to the nearest tire place which was basically across the street from the parking lot. We had to use the highway to get back home. The place was pretty empty. They waited on us quickly. Meredith worried she wouldn't have quite enough money for the tire. I offered to pay for the tire change and she hesitantly accepted. We didn't have to wait long for the tire change. She got a used tire and we were able to make it home.