Patrik was a small-town boy. He lived in a cozy house with his dad. They had a big garage next to their house and sign hanging above the garage that said, “The best mechanic in town.” Patrick’s daddy used to fix cars in the garage. People from all over the neighborhood would come to him with their cars because he could fix just about anything. Patrik always watched his daddy at work. He learned from him. Even when he was just a little boy, he was very handy and could fix a lot of things on his own.
One morning, just as Patrik and his dad were having breakfast, they heard a stranger’s broken-down car coming towards them. Its engine sounded like it was coughing. When they looked out the window, they saw black smoke billowing from its exhaust. The whole car was jumping and jerking. Patrick and his father went outside to greet the owner of the car. The man arrived on their doorstep.
He got out and started to explain, “Hello, please help me. I don’t know what the car needs. I’m driving it around town, and this is what it does. It just won’t ride. It’s jerking. Black smoke is coming from the exhaust. I don’t know what to do with it.” “We’ll take a look at it,” Patrick’s dad assured the man and pulled the car into the garage.
Patrick’s dad spent the whole day looking at the car. He examined it from every angle, but couldn’t get to the bottom of it. Why is it running so badly? He was unhappy with the car. He kept wondering what had happened to the car. It looked as if everything was perfectly fine on it. It didn’t make any sense at all.
The next day, Patrick got up early in the morning while his dad was still asleep. He decided to get up in the dark and go to the garage to help his dad. He would look at the car and try to see what was wrong. He walked around it. He checked it from all sides. He looked under the hood and looked at the engine. Nothing broken anywhere. Patrick sat thoughtfully on the ground beside the car. “What’s wrong with you, buddy? You’re hiding something from me and you won’t show it! What’s bothering you? Why don’t you want to ride? There must be a reason,” Patrick thought out loud.
“I don’t want to give strangers rides anymore,” suddenly a voice came from the garage. Patrick jumped up and stared at the car with his mouth open. He walked closer to it. He put his hand on it and asked, “Are you talking?” “Yes, but please don’t tell anyone. I’ll tell you what’s wrong with me. But please don’t tell anyone I can talk,” the car confessed. Patrick immediately shook his head in agreement. At that, the car immediately spoke: “I don’t want to give rides to strangers anymore. My master is good. He takes care of me. But he makes his living by driving people all over town. To the airport, to the train, to a party, everywhere. Those people stick gum all over me, throw garbage at me, dirty my seats,… And I’m tired of it and I’m sad. That’s why I pretend I can’t drive. So that my master never gives ride to a stranger again!”
Patrick listened to everything and thought about how to solve it. He knew that it bothered the car , but he also knew that his master needed the job. Suddenly, he figured something out. He took a large piece of paper and wrote on it, “Any damage will be charged to the customer and will result in throwing out of the car.” He carefully taped the sign to the car so that everyone could see it and it wouldn’t come off. “That should help. Anyone who gets into you will read it. And if someone hurts you, just pull over, open the door and throw them out. Then everyone will remember to treat you nicely. And I’ll tell your master that he can’t take the sign down, that I’ve set up this program for you, and that you simply let rude people out of the car immediately.” The car was satisfied. It thanked Patrick and looked forward to his master coming to get it and to showing him how well it could drive.
To this day, Patrick’s dad still has no idea what was wrong with the car. But he was proud to see that it was driving again without any hiccups. And Patrick? He’s proud of the fact that he’s known the do’s and don’ts since he was a little boy.
