Burmese Connection. Ashish Basu

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СКАЧАТЬ curbside, Kip could see John doing some yard work. His yard needed attention after the recent rains—leaves were scattered all over.

      On seeing him, John called out, “Hey, Joey, come and say hello to Uncle Kip—he is here.”

      By the time Kip climbed the two steps onto the porch, Joe was out greeting him. Much as he would have liked to, Kip could not hang out with John and Joe for long because John had work. John had to do a series of conference calls with his creative director. John’s company was outsourcing parts of the shooting to a company in Austria where the COVID-19 lockdown was less intense and movie production was going on uninterrupted. Like Norway, Austria managed the lockdown well. They closed the country early and opened early, and movie production was continuing there as per CDC guidelines.

      Joe told him that he was hoping to get admission into Arizona, that he had a good GPA, but his SAT scores were low. Joe thought he did not make it in the first list of admitted students because of his SAT scores. Kip encouraged Joe to stay positive and said that his admission would probably come through because of the low volume of international students this year. Kip had read that news item on the internet and also watched the president of the University of California system say so to a reporter on live TV. Joe said he was hopeful because some of his classmates had just started receiving their scholarship and admission offers. After a while, Kip picked up the car keys, joined John and his son Joe for a quick falafel sandwich lunch, and departed for San Rafael.

      He topped off the gas talk in a Shell gas station on Los Feliz Boulevard and picked up a few bottles of water and a bag of snacks for the six-hour drive back. He knew once he reached the Interstate 5, he would have a pretty smooth drive at this time of the day. Because of the recent wildfires in Southern California, there was a rerouting of traffic on I5, based on what he had heard on the car radio—Kip hoped that would not impact him too much. He should be able to manage.

      As he headed toward I5 Northbound, Kip told himself that he had made a good decision; there was really no point in pushing himself to go to San Diego today. It made no sense to him. It was not a great idea to just wait in Burbank Airport till 8:00 p.m. for the next flight and then learn that there had been a schedule change. Travel had really become a nightmare in 2020 because of the lockdowns. In terms of traffic and driving, it was not just San Diego—he had to take into account the driving distance to Chula Vista as well. Within minutes, Kip drove out of Glendale and hit the freeway, and the car handled itself well. That was one thing he liked about the cars made by Honda. Like his friend John, he liked cars made by Honda for their reliability. The traffic on I5 was light, and he was making a steady seventy-five miles an hour.

      After all, ninety-six thousand miles is not that big a deal for an Acura made in the early 2000s, Kip told himself. The temperature outside was seventy degrees and sunny; it was indeed beautiful California weather for driving. Given the beautiful weather and the broadcast from the local PBS station, Kip did not need to stop soon. He crossed the suburbs of Los Angeles, Bakersfield, and decided to do a gas refill and coffee break. He stopped over at a gas station and an adjacent Denny’s at Buttonwillow. After he filled the gas tank, as he was departing the gas station, he heard a noise coming from the undercarriage of the Acura.

      He ignored it for several minutes as he went around the overpass and merged onto Northbound I5. He thought the noise was caused by the vibration of a part that had become loose. Kip thought that it may be a loose body part, and at steady freeway speed, the vibration and sound would subside. It did not quite work that way as the sound increased steadily—it did not change with speed. As he was crossing Kettleman City and going toward Coalinga, the sound increased considerably, and he had to stop on the shoulder right after the junction of I5 and State Highway 33. For a few minutes, Kip sat inside the car and thought about the options he had. None of the options seemed very appealing.

      Finally, he thought maybe switching off and cooling the engine might help. Kip switched the engine off, let the car cool down for fifteen minutes, and attempted a restart, but this time, the engine would not even start. When the car didn’t start after several attempts, Kip realized that it would be dark in a few hours, and he did not want to be stuck on the shoulder of I5 after dark. With cars traveling on I5 at eighty-five miles an hour, that would be a very bad idea in the middle of nowhere in the truest sense of the term. Also, towing might not be available by the American Automobile Association (AAA) after dark, so he decided to call the California AAA toll-free number from his iPhone.

      The emergency roadside service of the AAA said that the estimated arrival of a tow truck from Los Banos was an hour later. So Kip went inside the car, switched on his blinkers, and waited. He wanted the speeding cars to see him because of the blinkers. An hour later, a very impressive looking AAA towing truck came and parked about fifty feet ahead of Kip on the shoulder. The car had all kinds of lights on its sides and also on top of the driver’s cabin. The driver came down from the truck, took Kip’s membership card and driver’s license, and filled out some paperwork. After that, he tilted the cargo section of the tow truck and winched John’s Acura on the tow truck—the Acura fit into the flat cargo bed pretty well. The bed could accommodate sedans and trucks.

      As soon as Kip settled on the front passenger seat, the driver started his drive back to Los Banos. The first AAA approved auto shop they ran into was full, so the tow truck driver had to take Kip to Dick’s Auto Repair a bit further down the road toward Merced. Kip got down and explained the problem to Dick, the owner. Dick nodded his head and said he understood the issue; he said he had repaired this type of problems in the past. He said it was quite common with old fasteners.

      He explained that some of the fasteners used in the undercarriage had become loose. And those had to be replaced with original Honda or Acura parts as soon as possible; otherwise, the larger parts would sustain damage, which would cost more. He was hoping that the problem would not be complicated because that Acura was his only transport back to San Rafael, and he was delayed. Dick had the Acura lifted in his repair bay and inspected the undercarriage with a powerful flashlight designed for inspection.

      After doing a visual inspection, he hammered a few places and declared, “I can repair it—it is not going to be expensive, about three hundred dollars or so, but it will take time because I have to get a part from another store in Morgan Hill. I can get it done in eight hours tops.” When he heard the time estimate from Dick, Kip’s heart sank; he realized that he was looking at the possibility of spending the night at sleepy Los Banos, for which he was not prepared. Not the ideal situation to be in, but Kip had seen much worse days in the US Army.

      Dick went inside, made a couple of calls, and came to Kip with a smile. “Good news and bad news: the good news is the part is available and it is coming; the bad news is it will take two extra hours. I’ll have my night shift guy get it all done, and you can pick up the car in the morning.”

      Kip could drive long distances for ten to twelve hours in the daylight, but he was not a good nighttime driver because he had a tendency to doze off. Kip reluctantly decided to spend the night in Las Banos to avoid night driving. Dick’s shop was on Highway 152, and on his way in, Kip had seen a Walmart. One block from there, across from the Walmart, there was a La Quinta Inn. Kip was in no mood to go and look for another hotel.

      Kip decided to visit the Walmart first because he felt there was a high likelihood that he would get a room. Los Banos cannot be crowded with visitors at this time of the year, Kip thought. Kip had to do a bit of shopping at Walmart for toothpaste, razors, and bottled water. After Walmart, Kip went to the La Quinta Inn to check if rooms were available. Luckily, rooms were available, and the front office staff were very helpful—they even ordered pizza for him. There were few guests, and Kip took a room on the third floor to avoid the white noise from I5.

      Kip was in no mood to step out again for dinner, so he had accepted the hotel manager’s offer for the pizza. Los Banos was almost in the middle of California and on I5, so the hotel was not heavily booked during the week. СКАЧАТЬ