Evelyn couldn’t wait to try out her new car. She’d saved up for two years in order to buy it. She’d seen it on the car lot and immediately fell in love with the shiny, yellow convertible. The salesman had just delivered it to her house, and it sat, gleaming, in her driveway. When she got in the front seat, she breathed deeply. There was nothing like the scent of a brand new car. She backed out of her driveway and drove off. The wind blew her hair as she raced down the dirt road and pulled out onto the highway. She went faster and faster.Then, she decided to try it on ‘roller-coaster hill’. She pushed the accelerator down to the floor and watched as the speedometer registered one hundred and continued climbing. She flew through the air coming over the crest of the hill, then braked just in time to arrive at the stop sign at the highway. It was the most fun Evelyn had had in years, so she decided to see just how fast her new yellow car would go.
She took it out to the highway, again, and headed for a long, straight stretch she knew that ran past the river into Georgia. She passed a few old farm trucks and a tractor en route to another field. Then, she floored it. Zoomed towards the bridge, hair flying, and the need for more excitement fueling her intentions. As she passed a large billboard proclaiming home cooking at the next truck stop, a patrol car pulled out behind her. It wasn’t long before she noticed the flashing light in her rearview mirror. Feeling reckless and invulnerable, she decided to floor it one more time before she pulled over for the inevitable speeding ticket.
But something strange occured. She pushed down on the accelerator and nothing happened. In fact, the more she pushed, the slower she went. She just managed to steer the new yellow car over onto the shoulder of the road before it quit completely. By this time, she was more worried about having trouble with her new car, than she was about getting a speeding ticket. “In a hurry?” asked the young highway patrolman. “It’s brand new and it’s done quit on me. I’m taking it back to the car lot and getting one that works right.” Evelyn complained.
After he wrote out her ticket, he began to feel sorry for her. He couldn’t leave her out here on the highway, but he didn’t want to leave his lucrative spot behind the billboard in order to take her to get help or take her home. So, he decided he’d give the engine a look. Perhaps something had come loose and he could hook it back up for her. Then, she’d be on her way and he could get back to the business of writing tickets. But, everything looked fine under the hood. So he got into the driver’s seat to see if he could get it to start.
About the time Evelyn started crying because her new yellow car had quit running, the young patrolman burst out laughing. “What’s so dern funny about my new car breaking down the first day I got it?” she sobbed pitifully.
“Lady,” he laughed, “you was so busy checking out the speedometer, you forgot to check out the gas gauge!”
