TASTY TALES FROM LOLA'S TEAHOUSE

A KNIGHT IN A STRAW HAT

By: Phyllis Jamison NOVEMBER 2017

Based on: Knight – Gladly – Hotter – Smooch – Easily

Emily Wilson pulled her rather ancient Ford coupe to a stop beside a remote section of the highway because its temperature gauge indicated that its engine was getting hotter and hotter as it climbed a long, steep slope, and prayed that a knight in a shining Cadillac would come along to quite easily attend to the problem, for which she would gladly award him with a smooch of gratitude.

After a few minutes of helpless panic, she got out of the car, lifted its hood, and, using an old beach towel from the trunk, managed to remove the radiator cap and retreat quickly enough to avoid being scalded by the eruption that spewed forth.

After that, she just stood there in the hot sunlight, trying to think calmly. Shading her eyes, she looked back on the way she'd come, gauging how far back she'd seen signs of human habitation, then uphill, hoping for an approaching car from either direction. She prayed more seriously now. "It needn't be a knight in a Cadillac," she pled, mopping sweat from her eyes with the back of her hand, "just someone in a reasonably healthy car to . . ." and then a rattle trap of a pick-up appeared, just capping the hill. She waved furiously, squinting against the sun, with an anxious grin until she saw the truck slowing to a stop.

"Hi!" she greeted the rangy old guy in overalls and a straw hat as they approached each other.

"Troubles?" he asked with a friendly smile.

"Hot radiator," she said, pointing her thumb back over her shoulder at her car.

"Yeah, that happens quite a bit along here. It's a long drag up this hill. I always carry a five-gallon can of water in my truck, just in case."

"Good idea," she acknowledged as the two of them approached her car.

"My name's Howard Pitts," he said.

"Very glad to meet you, Mr. Pitts. I'm Emily Wilson. I'm a stranger in this part of the state. Trying to get to my sister's wedding."

"Hm-mm," he muttered as he leaned over the Ford's front fender and held his hand over its engine to gauge its temperature. It was still ticking. He straightened up, then, and stood stroking his whiskery chin.

"Well, she's still pretty hot. We could try putting water in the radiator and see if the engine will start, but it might just cause more damage."

"Hm-mm." Emily said. "What do you suggest?"

"Well, I'm just going home to my cattle ranch about five miles from here. Why don't you come along? We can call the Tripple-A and you can cool off. "I'll bet you could use some water, yourself," he added with a chuckle.

"That I could!" she agreed.

She got her purse and a fair-sized satchel from her car, and they left the forlorn little Ford sitting there in the hot sun with its mouth agape. In about twenty minutes, they pulled up in front of a pretty farmhouse on the Glen Creek Ranch. Howard's wife, Maybel, and their dog, Patsy, came out on the porch to greet them.

Within minutes, Emily was sipping iced tea and munching an oatmeal cookie in the cool comfort of Maybel's kitchen. Howard had called the Tripple-A, and given them directions to the Ford. They ended up towing it to a garage in Scottsville, the nearest town of any size. The mechanic there phoned the ranch to let them know and promised to call again when they knew anything.

As it turned out, Emily stayed at the ranch for almost a week before the garage called to say the Ford was as ready to travel as it ever would be. Emily and Howard and Maybel all piled into the pickup, with Patsy in the bed, and Emily was soon back behind the wheel of her dubiously repaired car.

She'd been in touch with her sister, of course, but missed the wedding, and by now the newlyweds were well away on their honeymoon. She debated whether to go on to visit her parents in her home town, but instead headed back to Menlo Park, California, where a very anxious Neal Forbes awaited her return.

News of her car troubles and fears about her making it home in that old jalopy had made him aware of how very much she meant to him.

Emily's stay on the Glen Creek Ranch was the beginning of a warm and lasting friendship, and a year later, Howard, Maybel, and Patsy traveled to Menlo Park for the wedding of Emily and Neal, and received a "Thank You Gift": A brand new Dodge Ram! "Without your help and hospitality, I might never have seen this girl again!" Neal told them as he wrapped an arm around his bride.

"You know," Emily confided to Maybel during the reception, "if not for that mishap on the mountain, Neal might never have gotten around to getting serious about our relationship."

Maybel chuckled, gave Emily a motherly smooch, and bragged, "And my dear Howard was your Gallant Knight in a Straw Hat who made it all possible.