Looking into a Man's Mind with a Microscope

When I left home for Bible Study, my sweet Al assured me he had tightened the bolt on the battery connection, and everything was working fine.

He gave me instructions, “If the alarm beeps, it means the cable is disconnected from the battery. Pull up the hood and reconnect the battery. There is a little switch under the dash that turns off the alarm. (When my purse was stolen, my beeper was taken, too.)

I made it to town, no problem. After the Bible Study, feeling like I had met with God, I thought all was well. I jumped into the car. It wouldn’t start. I pulled up the hood, connected the battery, I flipped the switch under the car dash, the alarm continued to beep, and the car was dead as a doorknob.

I worked and worked, trying to connect the battery while the alarm was sounding. A good soul came to my distress. He tightened it again. He said, “The connection looks like someone has taken a sledgehammer to it already. You really need to have this replaced.”

The car started, and I said, “I’m not going to the grocery store, I’m not going anywhere but home, Al is going to have to deal with this problem.” On the way home, I thought, I can do this. I’ll stop by the parts store and get the part. I’ll leave the car running. Al can put it on when I get home.

I stopped at the parts store. I walked into a man’s world. Three customers looked up. I said to the man at the counter, I need a battery cable. He said, “How long.”

“No, you don’t understand, I don’t need battery cables, I need to replace the cable to the battery. Come out to the car and let me show you.” I heard a chuckle from a couple of the male customers. I paid no attention. I was a woman on a mission. I took the employee out to the car, opened the hood, and pointed to the trouble. He said, let me get the manager.

The manager came out and I explained that the cable kept jumping off the battery and the alarm would go off. The manager listened patiently.

He looked at the situation, and said, “Oh, you just need an end. It’s called an end.”

I asked, “Do you have one?” I went on my tale of woe again. “I live out on the Blanco, wa,wa,wa,wa. If I could get what I needed, then Al wouldn’t have to come back to town.”

“Yes, I have one. I understand, I live further out than you do, when I go home, I don’t want to turn around and go back.”

“Thank you for understanding. How much does an end cost?”

“$5.00.”

“I’ve gone through all this pain for $5.00? I can’t believe it.” I paid him, and I drove home.

Al was in the yard. “Al, we need to talk.”

He said, “Oh no, this sounds like trouble.”

“You better believe it. For only $5.00, you have put me through agony. I’ve driven through town with the alarm beeping, and I’ve been stranded time and again. When I leave home, I pray that I can get home again. I bought an end for the battery, please put it on.”

Al couldn’t understand. He said, “I tightened it really tight.”

I told him, it wasn’t about tightening really tight, but to buy an end.

After putting on the part, he said, “It was so tight, I had to take a breaker bar to loosen it.”

I thought to myself, I know, I saw what it looked like. Sometimes I would like to choke my sweet Al, but I need him too much to live without him. Maybe, I’m looking at Al’s world through a microscope and I need to turn it around and look through the telescope. Possibly, I need to see the bigger picture.

Final Brushstroke! Only $5.00 took care of the problem. We live in two different worlds, but what would we do without each other?