I was coming home from Costco yesterday when suddenly my “check engine” light went on. That kind of thing really panics me.

I immediately called Susan.

Susan is my go to girl for any worrisome automobile situation since her cousin, Allen, is not just movie star handsome but he owns an auto shop.

I also call her for any health symptom that could be terminal since she is a veritable encyclopedia of things that look bad but aren’t (unless it’s on her in which case it’s definitely curtains).

I never, and I mean never, call Susan for her advice on something delicious to eat because everything she thinks is good is probably green, has beans in it and tastes like crap.

Anyway Sue called her cousin and he told her he would check out my car.  I was really happy because a few years ago I had an accident and when I went to him he got my car fixed for almost a thousand dollars less than the estimate Toyota gave me.

Naturally I asked Susan to cancel her dentist appointment and come with  me since last time I saw Allen I was a married woman and even though he “claims” to love his wife, I was worried that me being a divorcee now would be too much for him so better safe than sorry.

It’s a good thing I did too.

Even though he didn’t look at me or speak to me about anything but my car I could tell it was hard for him to keep his mind on business.

He checked out my car and told me it wasn’t anything I had to worry about.

He did say if it happened again I should let him know and he’d order the part.

His lips said it would be about $450 to fix but his eyes said it would be about $450 to fix.

Being a woman alone I have to be constantly alert.

Just as I learned how to turn on the charm, somehow I’m going to have to get someone to teach me how to turn it off or there’ll be hell to pay.