April 1st Commute

Ron was quietly daydreaming his way home in the afternoon commute.  His thoughts were lazy and disconnected as he ignored the traffic around him.  This reverie was ended sharply by a noise which began to emanate from under his hood.  The clank, clank, clank sounded serious, so he eased his car over to the shoulder and stopped.  Cars were speeding by, so he carefully stepped out of his vehicle and walked around to the front.

The gritty smell of the exhaust from the traffic was overwhelming compared to the air-conditioned comfort of the car’s interior.  Ron lifted the hood slowly to contemplate what was causing his misfortune, but the mass of hoses and wires was a complete mystery to him.  While he stood there wondering what to do, a tow truck eased in behind him.

The burly driver stepped to the pavement and walked to where Ron stood.

“Looks like you’re having some trouble, buddy.”

“Yeah, can you take a look?”

"Sure, just give me a minute.”

He bent over the engine and checked several places.  Ron looked on in quiet bewilderment.

The mechanic shook his head.  “Looks like you got a major problem.  What was the car doing before you stopped?”

“I was driving along normally until the engine began to miss.  I just filled up with gas and the battery is only six months old.”

“Mmm.  Not good at all.  Sounds like you might have thrown a rod or done some other serious damage to the engine.”

B-But it was working fine a few minutes ago, he thought to himself.  What could possibly have happened?

The shock and dismay that he felt must have been plainly evident on his face, because the tow driver immediately said “April Fool! Just a loose spark plug wire.  No charge!”