The Alternator

4/30/06 –5/6/06

By C. Zaitz

My grandma just turned 90 and I drove to NY to help celebrate. I had a lovely time with family, but it was a short visit and a 7 hour rainy, gloomy, and otherwise dreary drive back across Canada to Michigan. I noticed when I slowed down the battery light came on in my car. Yikes. But when I sped up it disappeared. Hmm.

I was halfway through Canada when it got dark. Was I just tired or were my headlights flickering?

60 km from the Ambassador Bridge, I noticed the windshield wipers slowing and the console and head lights dimming. Hours before, my spider sense had told me to shut off the radio, giving me plenty of quiet time to listen to the symphony of knocks and pings from my aging Sunfire. Every few minutes I heard a “thwap” from under the hood. I told myself it was just the wind, but I knew something was afoot.

Around 10pm I saw a star; a brilliant blue-white star twinkling and snapping in an otherwise black and gloomy sky. I knew it had to be Sirius; no other star would be so bold on a night such as this. I was glad to see Sirius. I thought it meant that the rain would end and I wouldn’t have to use the battery-draining wipers anymore. No such luck. A convoy of semi trucks roared by me flinging greasy road spew onto my windshield. Sirius disappeared, rain squalls started, the wipers wiped furiously, and within 15 minutes the car was completely dead. I sat there contemplating things while sitting in a little truck pull-off. One kind truck driver looked under my hood, but we agreed there was little to be done. It was the alternator. So while I waited for the tow truck, I scanned the clearing skies over Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

It was well after 11pm and Sirius had already set, but Procyon twinkled at me instead. Procyon is the brightest star in Canis Minor, the Little Dog. The Gemini twins appeared nearby as did Saturn, and then I caught a glimpse of Regulus, the brightest star in Leo the Lion. Now there is an amazing star- it’s nearly 4 times bigger than the sun but it spins once every 16 hours. It spins so fast it’s flattened out like an egg. If it spun only 16% faster it would tear itself to shreds.

I thought about that as I sat in my little car. It was a dwarf among the giant trucks at the little pit stop and I felt rather nervous at times, but Jupiter crept up behind me from the east and made me smile when I saw him. He looked very bold and confident.

My knight in shining tow truck eventually arrived, took my car to a garage to await the morning, and very kindly chauffeured me to a motel where I did the same. The sky was once again socked in with clouds, but I am forever grateful for the comfort of the clear moments when I saw my old friends. And I’m also grateful to all the folks who are out there at the dead of night helping out other folks who need assistance.

The sun came out the next morning, the alternator was replaced and I crossed the Ambassador Bridge, happy to be back home. Now I journey to Germany but I will be back with more adventures, hopefully of a jollier nature.

Until next week, my friends, enjoy the view!