Chapter 414. We Encounter a Strange Spaced-out Girl Stranded on the Highway. (7/10)
“Your reaction just now suggested otherwise.”
“What reaction?”
“Your face was definitely a shade redder just now.”
“That’s your imagination. It didn’t get redder at all.”
“Then would you say you’re good at farming?”
“I’m not bad.”
“But you’re not saying you’re good either.”
“I’d say my farming skills are at the very least average. When it comes to my farming knowledge though, I’m confident.”
“Oh? So your understanding is good, but you’re bad when it comes to putting your knowledge into practice?”
“Yeah… somethin like that.” Dawn averted her eyes away to the right.
“Hey, so what are we doing?” Rosa interjected. “Are we just going to wait around all day until her dad calls back or are you going to drive her back to her place to pick up a battery? Personally, I’m not afraid of some wild feral hogs. I’ve hunted them before too.”
“Huh? A pretty city girl like you has hunted wild feral hogs before?” Dawn asked interestedly, noticeably surprised by Rosa’s sudden revelation.
“Yeah, I have.”
“It’s not good to make stuff like that up. If you’re just boasting or putting on a brave front, you really shouldn’t. You shouldn’t underestimate wildlife. They can be quite fearsome and your life could be put in serious danger if you take them lightly.” Dawn was quick to conclude Rosa was merely boasting.
“I’m not kidding, when I was a lot younger, my father took me out into the wilderness for survival training. I had to kill animals by myself for my own food.”
“How old were you exactly?”
“Hmm… it was typically every summer for two months between the ages of seven to ten.”
“What sort of father goes and dumps a little girl out into the wilderness to fend for her own life? And he let you use a gun at that age to hunt? Is he crazy? I was only allowed to hunt with a rifle when I turned fourteen.”
“It’s not like he dumped me out there. I asked him to take me there. Also, I never said I used a rifle to hunt.”
“Huh? You didn’t hunt with a rifle? Then… you hunted with only a knife?”
“Well, something like that. I’d typically lead them into traps before killing them though.” Rosa confidently blew on her fingernails with a mysterious smile.
No way… she used just her fingernails to kill them? Isn’t that impossible? Was this considered part of her family’s training method she spoke of before?
Well… if she targeted the eyes and areas with lower muscle mass to get them to bleed out... maybe it was possible. No, she said she led them into traps before killing them. She probably restrained and weakened them in those traps and only finished them off with her nails when they couldn’t resist anymore. Yeah, that definitely made a lot more sense than hunting wild animals by only using her nails.
“That’s pretty impressive. Is this sort of thing… considered normal for girls from the city?” Dawn asked a bit anxiously.
“It’s nothing much.”
“No way… the one thing I thought I was better at…”
“Don’t listen to Rosa, it’s not common at all. She’s an exception, a total oddball. Most people who live in the city would be completely helpless if they were suddenly dumped in the wild and told to fend for themselves. They wouldn’t last a week.”
“Really?”
“Hey, I’m not an oddball.”
“Yeah, really.” I naturally ignored Rosa’s rebuttal.
Dawn breathed out a sigh of relief. It seemed her ability to hunt was the one thing she took pride in.
“An-y-way, back on the topic at hand, you two should just head to her farm. You don’t need to worry about me. I’ll be just fine. If anything comes up I have reception on my phone and can call to notify you if something comes up.”
“Well, if you’re sure you’ll be okay and Dawn’s fine with it, I guess I don’t mind.”
“Uh, but it’s a major inconvenience. You two have already helped me plenty. You’re on a vacation together, won’t this ruin your plans?”
Rosa laughed a bit and explained, “Haha, don’t worry about it. We never had any concrete plans to begin with. The most we had in mind was sightseeing and relaxing a bit, so this isn’t really changing much.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
“But… you’re letting another girl go for a ride with your boyfriend.”
“Oh? What’s there to worry about?”
“What do you mean? Aren’t you concerned… something… uh… happens?”
“Oh! That’s what you mean. Hehe, try taking him if you can.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Are you saying that because I’m a stupid country girl he has no interest?”
“No, not at all. He’s just a tough cookie. Even if I tried pushing another girl on him he’d resist with everything he has and push them away while treating them like the plague.”
“Huh? He would?”
“Yeah, he would.”
Of course, one Rosa is hard enough to deal with as it is. I get a headache whenever I remember how many troublesome women I’ve gotten myself entangled with. Another one is absolutely not… I better not finish that thought. I’ve got to stop thinking about it. It’s just foreshadowing something awful to come. Every time I have this exact same thought, something always goes horribly wrong.
At some point, I’ve got to just move out of the city if I no longer want to have so many women problems.
“Then… if the two of you are really fine with it… I’ll take you up on your offer.”
“Can you let me see your vehicle’s insurance and registration?”
“Sure.”
Dawn pulled it out from the dashboard and handed it over. I took a picture of it, then handed it back over to her.
“What did you need it for?”
“To get the exact make and model. We need that to ensure the battery is compatible with it.”
“Yuh coulda just asked me what it was. I at least know that much.”
“Maybe, but there are sometimes small differences in models that can make a difference in the battery you need for your vehicle.”
Dawn put the windows up, locked the door, stepped out of her truck, and closed it. It seems the battery had enough juice to at least do these things while it was connected to my motorcycle’s battery.
I put my seat back in place after I disconnected the jumper cable clamps in the opposite order we connected them. Once the batteries were disconnected, I retrieved a small toolkit I’d packed from our bag in case an emergency popped up and I had to do maintenance on my motorcycle myself. It was pretty useful to have around.
“What are yuh doing now?” Dawn asked when I opened my toolkit up.
“I’m going to remove the battery and bring it with us.”
“What are you doing that for?”
“Well, though it’s unlikely to happen, if we leave it out here and someone passes by and sees your vehicle abandoned on the side of the road, they might smash the window then try to hotwire and steal it. They would probably have a vehicle with a more powerful battery, so it’s not impossible that they’re able to jumpstart it successfully and drive off with it. If there’s no battery in it, at least they can’t do that unless they have another battery with them that also happens to be compatible. Now if they bring a tow truck though, then you’re just tough out of luck at that point.”
While I explained I popped open the fuse box cover on top of the battery and used a small socket wrench tool bit to loosen and remove the nuts for the negative battery terminal, battery retainer hold-down bar, starter cable, battery plates, and lastly the positive battery terminal.
“Please stop using the L word.”
After removing the battery retainer hold-down bar and fuse box on top of the battery using a flat head screwdriver to unfasten the clips, I removed the battery tray protector from the side. The battery slipped out nice and easy as I pulled it up and out of the tray.
“So quick?”
“Yeah, changing a car battery is actually pretty easy so long as you have the right tools. You can save a decent amount of money on labor costs, about $40, if you know how to do it yourself. It doesn’t even take that long either.”
“You’re sure yuh did it right?”
“Of course.”
I studied electrical engineering. If I didn’t understand a battery of all things, or at the very least how to change one, I’d be the biggest joke in the world. If an electrical engineer can’t even change a battery on his own, what good did he get out of his degree? It might as well be some super expensive toilet paper. At least, that was what I liked to tell myself to cope with reality.
Chapter 414. We Encounter a Strange Spaced-out Girl Stranded on the Highway. (7/10)
“Your reaction just now suggested otherwise.”
“What reaction?”
“Your face was definitely a shade redder just now.”
“That’s your imagination. It didn’t get redder at all.”
“Then would you say you’re good at farming?”
“I’m not bad.”
“But you’re not saying you’re good either.”
“I’d say my farming skills are at the very least average. When it comes to my farming knowledge though, I’m confident.”
“Oh? So your understanding is good, but you’re bad when it comes to putting your knowledge into practice?”
“Yeah… somethin like that.” Dawn averted her eyes away to the right.
“Hey, so what are we doing?” Rosa interjected. “Are we just going to wait around all day until her dad calls back or are you going to drive her back to her place to pick up a battery? Personally, I’m not afraid of some wild feral hogs. I’ve hunted them before too.”
“Huh? A pretty city girl like you has hunted wild feral hogs before?” Dawn asked interestedly, noticeably surprised by Rosa’s sudden revelation.
“Yeah, I have.”
“It’s not good to make stuff like that up. If you’re just boasting or putting on a brave front, you really shouldn’t. You shouldn’t underestimate wildlife. They can be quite fearsome and your life could be put in serious danger if you take them lightly.” Dawn was quick to conclude Rosa was merely boasting.
“I’m not kidding, when I was a lot younger, my father took me out into the wilderness for survival training. I had to kill animals by myself for my own food.”
“How old were you exactly?”
“Hmm… it was typically every summer for two months between the ages of seven to ten.”
“What sort of father goes and dumps a little girl out into the wilderness to fend for her own life? And he let you use a gun at that age to hunt? Is he crazy? I was only allowed to hunt with a rifle when I turned fourteen.”
“It’s not like he dumped me out there. I asked him to take me there. Also, I never said I used a rifle to hunt.”
“Huh? You didn’t hunt with a rifle? Then… you hunted with only a knife?”
“Well, something like that. I’d typically lead them into traps before killing them though.” Rosa confidently blew on her fingernails with a mysterious smile.
No way… she used just her fingernails to kill them? Isn’t that impossible? Was this considered part of her family’s training method she spoke of before?
Well… if she targeted the eyes and areas with lower muscle mass to get them to bleed out... maybe it was possible. No, she said she led them into traps before killing them. She probably restrained and weakened them in those traps and only finished them off with her nails when they couldn’t resist anymore. Yeah, that definitely made a lot more sense than hunting wild animals by only using her nails.
“That’s pretty impressive. Is this sort of thing… considered normal for girls from the city?” Dawn asked a bit anxiously.
“It’s nothing much.”
“No way… the one thing I thought I was better at…”
“Don’t listen to Rosa, it’s not common at all. She’s an exception, a total oddball. Most people who live in the city would be completely helpless if they were suddenly dumped in the wild and told to fend for themselves. They wouldn’t last a week.”
“Really?”
“Hey, I’m not an oddball.”
“Yeah, really.” I naturally ignored Rosa’s rebuttal.
Dawn breathed out a sigh of relief. It seemed her ability to hunt was the one thing she took pride in.
“An-y-way, back on the topic at hand, you two should just head to her farm. You don’t need to worry about me. I’ll be just fine. If anything comes up I have reception on my phone and can call to notify you if something comes up.”
“Well, if you’re sure you’ll be okay and Dawn’s fine with it, I guess I don’t mind.”
“Uh, but it’s a major inconvenience. You two have already helped me plenty. You’re on a vacation together, won’t this ruin your plans?”
Rosa laughed a bit and explained, “Haha, don’t worry about it. We never had any concrete plans to begin with. The most we had in mind was sightseeing and relaxing a bit, so this isn’t really changing much.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
“But… you’re letting another girl go for a ride with your boyfriend.”
“Oh? What’s there to worry about?”
“What do you mean? Aren’t you concerned… something… uh… happens?”
“Oh! That’s what you mean. Hehe, try taking him if you can.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Are you saying that because I’m a stupid country girl he has no interest?”
“No, not at all. He’s just a tough cookie. Even if I tried pushing another girl on him he’d resist with everything he has and push them away while treating them like the plague.”
“Huh? He would?”
“Yeah, he would.”
Of course, one Rosa is hard enough to deal with as it is. I get a headache whenever I remember how many troublesome women I’ve gotten myself entangled with. Another one is absolutely not… I better not finish that thought. I’ve got to stop thinking about it. It’s just foreshadowing something awful to come. Every time I have this exact same thought, something always goes horribly wrong.
At some point, I’ve got to just move out of the city if I no longer want to have so many women problems.
“Then… if the two of you are really fine with it… I’ll take you up on your offer.”
“Can you let me see your vehicle’s insurance and registration?”
“Sure.”
Dawn pulled it out from the dashboard and handed it over. I took a picture of it, then handed it back over to her.
“What did you need it for?”
“To get the exact make and model. We need that to ensure the battery is compatible with it.”
“Yuh coulda just asked me what it was. I at least know that much.”
“Maybe, but there are sometimes small differences in models that can make a difference in the battery you need for your vehicle.”
Dawn put the windows up, locked the door, stepped out of her truck, and closed it. It seems the battery had enough juice to at least do these things while it was connected to my motorcycle’s battery.
I put my seat back in place after I disconnected the jumper cable clamps in the opposite order we connected them. Once the batteries were disconnected, I retrieved a small toolkit I’d packed from our bag in case an emergency popped up and I had to do maintenance on my motorcycle myself. It was pretty useful to have around.
“What are yuh doing now?” Dawn asked when I opened my toolkit up.
“I’m going to remove the battery and bring it with us.”
“What are you doing that for?”
“Well, though it’s unlikely to happen, if we leave it out here and someone passes by and sees your vehicle abandoned on the side of the road, they might smash the window then try to hotwire and steal it. They would probably have a vehicle with a more powerful battery, so it’s not impossible that they’re able to jumpstart it successfully and drive off with it. If there’s no battery in it, at least they can’t do that unless they have another battery with them that also happens to be compatible. Now if they bring a tow truck though, then you’re just tough out of luck at that point.”
While I explained I popped open the fuse box cover on top of the battery and used a small socket wrench tool bit to loosen and remove the nuts for the negative battery terminal, battery retainer hold-down bar, starter cable, battery plates, and lastly the positive battery terminal.
“Please stop using the L word.”
After removing the battery retainer hold-down bar and fuse box on top of the battery using a flat head screwdriver to unfasten the clips, I removed the battery tray protector from the side. The battery slipped out nice and easy as I pulled it up and out of the tray.
“So quick?”
“Yeah, changing a car battery is actually pretty easy so long as you have the right tools. You can save a decent amount of money on labor costs, about $40, if you know how to do it yourself. It doesn’t even take that long either.”
“You’re sure yuh did it right?”
“Of course.”
I studied electrical engineering. If I didn’t understand a battery of all things, or at the very least how to change one, I’d be the biggest joke in the world. If an electrical engineer can’t even change a battery on his own, what good did he get out of his degree? It might as well be some super expensive toilet paper. At least, that was what I liked to tell myself to cope with reality.
