Flat!

This is a heartfelt thank you to a certain teen aged boy -- who exercised the opportunity to be a hero last night when I was stranded by a flat tire in the dark middle of nowhere.  I was returning from a spirited evening of chanting, and I hadn't gotten very far before I knew my tire was munched.  I called Mr. Salamander, who hopped off to the rescue immediately, but since he was at least a half hour away, I decided to get busy.  Eventually, with the aid of a tiny key chain light, I located the manual and the various necessary bits and pieces, which Honda had quite effectively hidden in a secret compartment I thought worthy of a drug smuggler. 

Just as I had everything all spread out,  a pick-up truck pulls off the road in front of me and out pop a teenage boy and girl, ready to help.  She, crucially, had a flash light.  With his mouth full of braces, he seemed an unlikely (or at least severely under-aged) savior; however, to the amazement and appreciation of his girlfriend and me, he very carefully read all the instructions twice, and proceeded to have the whole job finished in under 10 minutes.  By the time Mr. Salamander arrived in his mechanic's jumpsuit, they were already on their way, and I had cleaned up the pieces.

Shrugging off my offers of reimbursement my young man muttered something like, "actually it was kind of fun."  I love  that he got to show off in a good way for his girl friend, while reminding me what it is about teen boys that I just love.