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Humor: Adventures with a shopping cart.

One day a friend of mine stopped by my house and asked if I would check the brakes on her car. She knew I was a bit of a shade tree mechanic.

"What makes you think something is wrong with them?" I asked.
"Every time I slow down I hear a clunk at the back of the car."
"When did you first notice the problem."
"Just now when I left the farm store. Do you suppose I put too much in the trunk?"

"I don't know, let's have a look."

When I walked around behind her car I saw a shopping cart up against the bumper. Upon closer examination I found the end of a garden hose wedged in the wire frame of the cart. The other end was pinched in the trunk lid with most of the hose inside. Only a few feet of it was outside the vehicle.

"Why are you towing a shopping cart behind your car?" I asked.
"I didn't know I was." She said nervously.

After I stopped laughing (and her face ruturned to its normal color after turning several shades of red) I asked her to tell me exactly what happened. She had stopped at the local farm store and bought several items. Among them was a roll of garden hose with just a twist tie holding it together. When handling it at the checkout, the twist tie broke and it started to unravel. When she walked out to the lot she was in a hurry and noticed a cart stand right next to her car. She pushed the cart half into it, opened the trunk and started transferring everything. She put the hose in last, but was in such a hurry she did not notice the end was still lodged in the cart. She slammed the trunk shut and left the store not knowing the cart was in tow.

She drove several miles this way pulling the cart along behind her. Every time she slowed down the cart would run into her bumper and she heard a clunk. Thinking something was wrong with the car she came to my house instead of going straight home.

"Didn't anybody try to tell you something was wrong?" I asked.
"A few people blew there horn and waved but I thought they were just being friendly"

At this point we both had a good laugh and I freed the cart from its tether. I brought it back to the store but I hauled it instead of towing it with a garden hose.

As I drove home I thought: Isn't it amazing how a two cent broken twist tie can change your whole day.

Learn more about this author, James Dreamer.
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