Chapter 412. We Encounter a Strange Spaced-out Girl Stranded on the Highway. (5/10)
Before she had the chance to turn the key in the ignition and drive off in a fluster, I made a move, “I see. In that case, how about we exchange contact information? We’re going to be around here for the next week and we don’t really know anyone. It’d be a good idea if we can at least get in touch with someone we know if anything comes up.”
“Uh… are you asking for my phone number?”
“Yes. But if you’re uncomfortable giving it out to a random guy, you can just give it to my girlfriend.”
“N-No, it’s not a problem. Uh, my phone number. Let’s see, what was it again?” Her hand fumbled around the passenger seat to pick up her phone.
When she pressed the power button she froze up, “Ah. I forgot. It died. The whole reason I was in this situation was because of it.”
“You don’t remember your phone number?”
“N-Normally I do, but I’m drawing a blank right now. I’ve… never exchanged contact info with a guy… from a city before.”
“Uh, if I leave do you think you’ll remember it?”
“Probably…”
“Hold on, we have a charger with us, we can just charge your phone.” Rosa made that suggestion.
“I don’t have the adaptor for the car with me though.”
“No problem, we have a power bank.” Rosa stuck her hand into a side pocket on our bag tied down to the back of the motorcycle and pulled it out.
“Here you go.” Rosa passed the phone side connector of the charging cord to Dawn through the window that was down. Dawn connected it to her phone and allowed it to charge as she
“I’ve never had or used one of these before. The city really does have a lot of convenient stuff.” Dawn absentmindedly muttered out.
“You don’t have one? What if there’s a power outage on your farm, your phones are dead, and you need to call for help in case of an emergency?” I couldn’t help but ask.
“We have an emergency backup generator.”
“Oh, right. I forgot farms tend to have those.” I felt a bit stupid, it should have been pretty obvious that was the case. Your average person in the city didn’t have much of a need for a backup generator. Only businesses typically had backup power generators in the city.
It only took a few minutes for her phone to turn on. When it powered up, she held her phone up to me and flashed her phone number.
I quickly noted it down and put my phone away only for her to awkwardly ask, “Uh… your number… are you not… planning to… uh… tell me it?”
“Huh? Is there a need for me to give you my number?”
“Huh? Uh… no… now that I think about it… there isn’t, is there? Also… now that I think about it… your girlfriend probably wouldn’t be too happy if I had it.”
Despite her face remaining serene as always, her shoulders slumped down a bit as her gaze lowered.
Rosa secretly elbowed me.
“I was just kidding.”
I took my phone back out of my pocket and showed her my number.
Dawn’s eyes shot back up as she peaked in Rosa’s direction and asked slightly nervously, “Really? It’s okay if I have your number?”
“Sure. You can take Rosa’s number down too.”
“Is it… okay if I consider you friends?”
“No, it’s not.”
“Haha… right, I’m getting ahead of myself. I’m an acquaintance at best. What person from the city would want to be friends with some country hick anyway?”
Rosa was pinching my back right now.
Stop being mean to her was what she wanted to convey.
“Look, you’re mistaken. I don’t have friends and don’t plan to become friends with anyone, it has nothing to do with you. I’m just antisocial is all. As for Rosa though, I’d be more than happy if you became this lonely girl’s friend. She doesn’t have many female friends in the city. You’d be doing me a great favor if you befriend her.”
My lips twitched as Rosa pinched even harder.
Dawn’s eyes rose up to Rosa and asked insecurely, “It’s okay for me... to be your friend… Rosa?”
Why do I feel like I’m suddenly playing wingman to hook Rosa up here?
“Yeah. As he said, I’m not friends with too many girls in the city. It’s really hard for me to get along and relate with them.”
Dawn added Rosa’s number and sent her an immediate text to make sure she input it correctly.
Rosa checked her phone and a small smile formed on her lips as her fingers pinching my back slackened. Was she happy to have made a new female friend? Somehow… I couldn’t help thinking her reaction was a bit too cute. I had an urge to hug her but resisted that frivolous impulse.
“We should really get going now. You should be good from here, right?”
“Uh, yeah, I think I should be fine.”
“Alright then. Maybe we’ll see each other again while we’re still around.”
“Yeah.”
Dawn turned the key in the ignition and… the three of us froze up when we heard the sound of the engine.
Vrvrvrvrvr. Vrvrvrvrvrvr. Vrvrvrvrvr.
“...”
What followed the sound of the engine trying but failing to turn was… silence.
Dawn stiffly turned her head our way. Those serene eyes didn’t look like they wanted to cry, but everything about the situation screamed that she wanted to cry. It was slightly comical.
“Dead car battery?”
She robotically nodded once. “It… seems to be the case…”
“Haaaaah. Isn’t your luck a bit too bad today?”
“It really is…”
“Do you have jumper cables? We could try to jump-start it using the battery from my motorcycle.”
“I do have them, but… do you think your motorcycle has enough juice?”
“Hmm… for a pickup truck? Hard to say. But it couldn’t hurt to try, right?”
“Where are they?”
“They’re in the back.”
Rosa looked over the side panel of the trunk and retrieved the jumper cables.
While I fiddled with my motorcycle seat where the battery was hidden beneath to remove it, Dawn popped the hood of the trunk and Rosa asked, “Does the order I connect it matter?”
“If you care about safety, then yeah. First, connect the red clamp to the positive terminal of the battery.”
“Okay, done. Do I connect the black one to the other terminal now?”
“No. Hand me the other clamps first.”
“Here you go.”
“Thanks.”
I first connected the red clamp to the positive terminal, then the black clamp to the negative terminal.
“You can attach the black clamp to a piece of unpainted metal in the car.”
“Not the negative terminal on the battery?”
“Though you technically could, car batteries can vent hydrogen gas due to the internal chemistry of the battery which is very flammable. The current doesn’t start to flow until you make that last connection and very often there is a little spark when you connect that last clamp. If you make that last connection close to the battery then the spark could ignite the venting hydrogen gas. It’s pretty unlikely for this to really happen, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
“Nerd. You could’ve simplified your long-winded explanation with ‘car go boom’.”
Rosa attached the black clamp to a piece of the metal frame under the hood.
“Am I a caveman?”
I turned the key in the ignition to start my motorcycle.
“Dawn, start the truck now.”
“Kay.”
Vrvrvrvrvr.
Vrvrvrvrvrvrvr.
Vrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvr.
Dawn let out a dejected sigh, “Haaaaaah.”
“It really isn’t your day, huh?”
“Tell me about it…”
“Hmmm… either there really isn’t enough juice for a jump start or the battery is completely dead.”
“Should I try again?”
“No, let’s give it fifteen minutes to see if it will charge. It’s better to figure out if the battery is completely dead or if it just needs to be charged. It’s possible that you have a busted alternator as well and doing this you can figure out the likelihood of it being one over the other. Haha… though if you’re really unlucky… it might just be both of them that need to be replaced.”
“How much would that cost?”
“Well, the battery including the cost of labor might be around $200. As for the alternator replacement… it can vary quite a bit but I’d think it’d probably be in the $500-$800 range if you include labor.”
“If I kick it… do you think it’ll work?”
Chapter 412. We Encounter a Strange Spaced-out Girl Stranded on the Highway. (5/10)
Before she had the chance to turn the key in the ignition and drive off in a fluster, I made a move, “I see. In that case, how about we exchange contact information? We’re going to be around here for the next week and we don’t really know anyone. It’d be a good idea if we can at least get in touch with someone we know if anything comes up.”
“Uh… are you asking for my phone number?”
“Yes. But if you’re uncomfortable giving it out to a random guy, you can just give it to my girlfriend.”
“N-No, it’s not a problem. Uh, my phone number. Let’s see, what was it again?” Her hand fumbled around the passenger seat to pick up her phone.
When she pressed the power button she froze up, “Ah. I forgot. It died. The whole reason I was in this situation was because of it.”
“You don’t remember your phone number?”
“N-Normally I do, but I’m drawing a blank right now. I’ve… never exchanged contact info with a guy… from a city before.”
“Uh, if I leave do you think you’ll remember it?”
“Probably…”
“Hold on, we have a charger with us, we can just charge your phone.” Rosa made that suggestion.
“I don’t have the adaptor for the car with me though.”
“No problem, we have a power bank.” Rosa stuck her hand into a side pocket on our bag tied down to the back of the motorcycle and pulled it out.
“Here you go.” Rosa passed the phone side connector of the charging cord to Dawn through the window that was down. Dawn connected it to her phone and allowed it to charge as she
“I’ve never had or used one of these before. The city really does have a lot of convenient stuff.” Dawn absentmindedly muttered out.
“You don’t have one? What if there’s a power outage on your farm, your phones are dead, and you need to call for help in case of an emergency?” I couldn’t help but ask.
“We have an emergency backup generator.”
“Oh, right. I forgot farms tend to have those.” I felt a bit stupid, it should have been pretty obvious that was the case. Your average person in the city didn’t have much of a need for a backup generator. Only businesses typically had backup power generators in the city.
It only took a few minutes for her phone to turn on. When it powered up, she held her phone up to me and flashed her phone number.
I quickly noted it down and put my phone away only for her to awkwardly ask, “Uh… your number… are you not… planning to… uh… tell me it?”
“Huh? Is there a need for me to give you my number?”
“Huh? Uh… no… now that I think about it… there isn’t, is there? Also… now that I think about it… your girlfriend probably wouldn’t be too happy if I had it.”
Despite her face remaining serene as always, her shoulders slumped down a bit as her gaze lowered.
Rosa secretly elbowed me.
“I was just kidding.”
I took my phone back out of my pocket and showed her my number.
Dawn’s eyes shot back up as she peaked in Rosa’s direction and asked slightly nervously, “Really? It’s okay if I have your number?”
“Sure. You can take Rosa’s number down too.”
“Is it… okay if I consider you friends?”
“No, it’s not.”
“Haha… right, I’m getting ahead of myself. I’m an acquaintance at best. What person from the city would want to be friends with some country hick anyway?”
Rosa was pinching my back right now.
Stop being mean to her was what she wanted to convey.
“Look, you’re mistaken. I don’t have friends and don’t plan to become friends with anyone, it has nothing to do with you. I’m just antisocial is all. As for Rosa though, I’d be more than happy if you became this lonely girl’s friend. She doesn’t have many female friends in the city. You’d be doing me a great favor if you befriend her.”
My lips twitched as Rosa pinched even harder.
Dawn’s eyes rose up to Rosa and asked insecurely, “It’s okay for me... to be your friend… Rosa?”
Why do I feel like I’m suddenly playing wingman to hook Rosa up here?
“Yeah. As he said, I’m not friends with too many girls in the city. It’s really hard for me to get along and relate with them.”
Dawn added Rosa’s number and sent her an immediate text to make sure she input it correctly.
Rosa checked her phone and a small smile formed on her lips as her fingers pinching my back slackened. Was she happy to have made a new female friend? Somehow… I couldn’t help thinking her reaction was a bit too cute. I had an urge to hug her but resisted that frivolous impulse.
“We should really get going now. You should be good from here, right?”
“Uh, yeah, I think I should be fine.”
“Alright then. Maybe we’ll see each other again while we’re still around.”
“Yeah.”
Dawn turned the key in the ignition and… the three of us froze up when we heard the sound of the engine.
Vrvrvrvrvr. Vrvrvrvrvrvr. Vrvrvrvrvr.
“...”
What followed the sound of the engine trying but failing to turn was… silence.
Dawn stiffly turned her head our way. Those serene eyes didn’t look like they wanted to cry, but everything about the situation screamed that she wanted to cry. It was slightly comical.
“Dead car battery?”
She robotically nodded once. “It… seems to be the case…”
“Haaaaah. Isn’t your luck a bit too bad today?”
“It really is…”
“Do you have jumper cables? We could try to jump-start it using the battery from my motorcycle.”
“I do have them, but… do you think your motorcycle has enough juice?”
“Hmm… for a pickup truck? Hard to say. But it couldn’t hurt to try, right?”
“Where are they?”
“They’re in the back.”
Rosa looked over the side panel of the trunk and retrieved the jumper cables.
While I fiddled with my motorcycle seat where the battery was hidden beneath to remove it, Dawn popped the hood of the trunk and Rosa asked, “Does the order I connect it matter?”
“If you care about safety, then yeah. First, connect the red clamp to the positive terminal of the battery.”
“Okay, done. Do I connect the black one to the other terminal now?”
“No. Hand me the other clamps first.”
“Here you go.”
“Thanks.”
I first connected the red clamp to the positive terminal, then the black clamp to the negative terminal.
“You can attach the black clamp to a piece of unpainted metal in the car.”
“Not the negative terminal on the battery?”
“Though you technically could, car batteries can vent hydrogen gas due to the internal chemistry of the battery which is very flammable. The current doesn’t start to flow until you make that last connection and very often there is a little spark when you connect that last clamp. If you make that last connection close to the battery then the spark could ignite the venting hydrogen gas. It’s pretty unlikely for this to really happen, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
“Nerd. You could’ve simplified your long-winded explanation with ‘car go boom’.”
Rosa attached the black clamp to a piece of the metal frame under the hood.
“Am I a caveman?”
I turned the key in the ignition to start my motorcycle.
“Dawn, start the truck now.”
“Kay.”
Vrvrvrvrvr.
Vrvrvrvrvrvrvr.
Vrvrvrvrvrvrvrvrvr.
Dawn let out a dejected sigh, “Haaaaaah.”
“It really isn’t your day, huh?”
“Tell me about it…”
“Hmmm… either there really isn’t enough juice for a jump start or the battery is completely dead.”
“Should I try again?”
“No, let’s give it fifteen minutes to see if it will charge. It’s better to figure out if the battery is completely dead or if it just needs to be charged. It’s possible that you have a busted alternator as well and doing this you can figure out the likelihood of it being one over the other. Haha… though if you’re really unlucky… it might just be both of them that need to be replaced.”
“How much would that cost?”
“Well, the battery including the cost of labor might be around $200. As for the alternator replacement… it can vary quite a bit but I’d think it’d probably be in the $500-$800 range if you include labor.”
“If I kick it… do you think it’ll work?”
