The Craft of Automobile Maintenance

Written for the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge with a word limit of 300.


The prompts: This story must contain the words: flannel shirt, flashlight, flat tire


The Craft of Automobile Maintenance


The only thing missing from this picture is a junkyard dog. Sandy turned her attention to the pond on the far side of the small rural road. I bet I can skip my Blackberry all the way across that thing, she thought. In accordance with Newton’s Fourth Law, her car had coasted to a stop in one of the few remaining communication black holes left in the country; the other locations all being somewhere in South Dakota.

Leroy came out of the garage, wiping grease covered hands on the front of what appeared to have been, at one time, a white flannel shirt. Now it was just a mobile rag with sleeves. He waved Sandy over for an apparent update.

As she started to walk over, butt-crack Wally came out and grabbed Leroy by the arm. Together the two of them walked under the car which had been up on a lift for the better part of three hours. Wally used a flashlight to point out something for Leroy whose hand followed the beam of light into the bowels of the undercarriage. He drew back a can of beer that he had apparently left there earlier in the day. He slammed it down with gusto and followed up with a loud, appreciative burp.

Now that his thirst was momentarily satisfied, he looked around as if trying to find something to do. Only when his eyes fell on Sandy did he remember that his beer-holder was actually her car. He walked out to put her mind at ease.

“Ma’am, can you tell me one more time what happened?”

“Well, Leroy, I was driving down the road when the car pulled to the right. I got out and saw that I had a flat tire.”

Nodding thoughtfully, Leroy returned to his troubleshooting.

word count 300