Regarding Ivy

A few months ago my mechanic, Tom, retired. He gave Ivy her last check up which cost about $350 and included changing her gas filter and cleaning the carburetor for what I reported as “running rough”.

The price was great but disappointment loomed in the air when he responded to my question, “Did you change the second gas filter?” with “They only have one gas filter.” Disappointment morphed quickly into an undetectable annoyance when he continued with, “She is still running rough and backfires, just feather the gas pedal.”

As I left his lot, feathering my gas pedal, I thought to myself, I was involved when my previous mechanic made the decision to add the second gas filter, and Tom has worked on my bus before. How did he not see it?

Now imagine this: I have finished up at an event. Ivy is packed up and I get into the driver seat. Instead of firing her up and taking off like the cool girl I am, I have to “feather the gas pedal” and as you watch Ivy from behind she is passing a series of small backfires through her tail pipe and is sputtering her way out of the driveway.

I guess you could even call it vanity, but this filter has become an obsession. I have no doubt that I could change the filter but while I tackle all sorts of things myself, lying on the ground under Ivy and taking a face full of gasoline is not on my to-do list.

So as Tom sits by the creek sipping his beer and casting his fly rod, I am pretty sure he is not thinking of me and my second filter but I am thinking of him every time I “feather my gas pedal.” Hopefully that will all change next week when my friend changes the filter for me.

Here’s to Tom and his retirement!

Sharon