Push!

'The car won't start. The familiar wail echoed up the stairs.
Brandi sighed and pulled on her boots. It was time for the
morning run. In the rain. It was always raining when
Robin left the car lights on.


"Coming!' She had perfected the art of shouting a sigh.
Rattlebox, the four-wheeled money pit that
identified as a motor vehicle, smirked on the driveway,
its nose pointing down the road. Thankfully, they lived on
a hill.

'Ready? Go!' Robin yelled from the driver's seat and released the
hand brake. Brandi leaned into the trunk and pushed. Harder.
It was always difficult to get Rattlebox moving but once the
dratted machine was on the street it suddenly remembered the
freedom of the open road and gathered speed. It kangarooed as
Robin let in the clutch. It hiccuped. It coughed. A puff of
noxious blue fumes shot out of the exhaust as the engine caught.
Brandi was exhaling and missed it but she inhaled the next lot
as Robin gunned the engine to roar and clank his way
to the intersection. She turned back towards home. If the
silly clot stalled it, he was on his own. She would be in
the shower.

It had been the usual, inauspicious, start to the day. Things
improved. Brandi bought a lunch sandwich and a lottery ticket
in the shop and won not an inconsiderable amount of money.
And did not tell Robin. He would only blow it on something
ridiculous like a trip to Churchill to see the polar bears.
When the money came through she bought a new car. An
electric one. No more bump starts. The very first time
Robin used it to go to work, a wail assaulted her ears.


'The car won't start!' He had forgotten to plug it in.

300 words