My car broke down,
and I was stranded in the middle of the desert on a cold summer night. Wind whipped across the flat plains of the Mid-West and froze the tip of my nose. My eyes watered from the sand being blasted into my face, and the resulting tears froze as they dribbled down my cheeks. It was midnight, and the damn car wouldn’t start. I called AAA. As I began to reach my thumb to the “disconnect” button on my cell phone, a tow truck emerged from the distance, slowly making its entrance from the misty dark to the pale light of the moon which shone on my situation like the lime light on a stage.
A man in overalls hopped down from the tow truck. He had left his engine and the lights on to help out the moon. Without a word, he clanged his boots over to the front of my car where he slammed his elbow to the hood Fonzie-style to pop it open. He took a gander for several moments, and finally lifted his head to squeeze “dead battery” from his rusted throat. With that, he pulled out my battery - which seemed to fit in the palm of his hand - and threw it to the desert sand. Then the man reached into the chest pocket of his overalls and pulled out a small object which fit perfectly into the void where my battery had once been. He closed the hood, nodded his head, and headed back for his running tow truck. I turned the car on successfully and watched him drive away back into the darkness. With a touch or curiosity, I shut my car off to examine what he had done to magically jumpstart my car. After opening the hood I learned that a single garbanzo bean was powering my car. I turned the key and continued driving.
