The ramp up to the holidays had been unusually cold. Serious frigid single digit cold. Winds howled nightly and forced temperatures into the negative. And this wasn’t even in Celsius either, not that Troy worried about which metrics was used.

Having access to a garage and remote starting meant that the Civic was always cozy for any ride he had to take. Troy only wished he had made greater progress towards connecting with Sally. It would have made for some lovely conversations on rides in and out of their little college town.

Leaving his daydreaming alone, Troy focused on the task at hand. He was helping his friend revive an old conversion van. It would be auctioned off to raise funds to help children fighting cancer.

Laying on a cold concrete floor, while wrenching, would not be too high a price to pay to get the van some top bids. His buddy was not so well versed with tools and had ‘inherited’ the van from a distant relative. He didn’t want the van and Troy thought an auction would be a great idea.

Just needed to find another way to block the wind though. It found every opening in his winter gear and made nightly progress difficult.

Once the work on the power-train was done, they’d be able to get the van over to a shop to do the body work. These were days when Troy wished he had his garage with him at school. But, living close to campus meant giving up a bit of his usual creature comforts… when working at client’s houses.

The dorms were not an option, as nice as they were. Troy liked having his own place that he could enjoy in peace and quiet any time he wanted. Plus, his current rental place was much closer to his home… and garage.

The wind sent another harsh chill, snapping Troy’s attention back to his work.

Capricious Starts

Sally wanted the semester to end soon. This intense cold spell was not working for her. Longing for days on the beach, Sally bundled up and rushed around campus to minimize exposure. Anyone having car troubles around town would be in a world of serious hurt.

Her trusted wheels had not had another stuck moment since she had won the drag races with the Mustang dude. Troy had managed to keep away from her car and life was good.

Missing Troy was a problem Sally pushed to the farthest back burner her mind owned. The man had a way of smiling, which made her chuckled randomly to herself. Calling him a man, now, instead of a boy, was a subtle change in her defenses.

The cold had solidified the ground nicely. Parking in her favorite spot was easy again. One of her friends had joined her with her sedan. They had no competition for parking, as everyone swore they would get stuck.

One particular weekend, Sally got a text from her study partner, Jen.

My grandpa’s car needs to be moved to storage before it snows… I need a little help

Sally couldn’t image what kind of help was needed to move a car, but if Jen needed help, why not.

Checking her phone, Sally sighed. It was intensely cold this particular afternoon. Classes were already done. The bone-chilling breath-snatching negative five degrees just hurts everywhere.

Thankfully, Sally mused, her dad had installed an app operated remote starter kit. She gladly set the temperature of the car to high and full blast before wrapping herself up in a few layers.

If Jen’s grandpa’s car was having issues, there was the real chance that a boost would be needed to jump start the car. Sally was not going to stand in this bitter cold to freeze.

Hopefully, Jen had her jumper cables ready and was equally bundled.

The drive was pleasant, as the car was warm and toasty. The GPS led her to a very hilly part of town where a lot of retirees lived. Sally noted how the houses all had unique garage entrance.

Some were steep uphill climbs, others were fancy U-shaped turnarounds, and some were dives into basement garages.

Arriving to the given address, Sally was surprised to see Jen shivering and waving her over. As Sally pulled up, Jen jumped in and barely muttered through chattering teeth the update.

“I… can’t… start… her” Jen said through violent shaking.

Puzzled, Sally refrained from asking about a remote starter or the health of the battery.

Once warmed, Jen elaborated.

“The battery is good, but the car is very old. It just won’t start” lamented Jen.

“Where is it?” Sally wondered.

“Oh… it’s in the driveway there” Jen pointed to what appeared to be a beautiful driveway-less house.

“Ummm… I just see a house, Jen” Sally tried not to sound too alarmed at the lack of car and driveway in sight from her vantage point of view.

“Oh… ha!” snorted Jen, “it’s one of those dive into the ground types”.

Sitting up fully, Sally’s view improved and she saw the top of the trunk of a car. It looked massively wide.

Stepping out, Sally saw what was going on. The incline must have been close to 45 degrees, might as well have been 90 for all she could tell. The massive antique Impala took up most of the space.

Assuming they could get the car started, the steepness of the driveway would make it near impossible to back out of, sally thought.

Jen, standing real close to Sally for warmth, handed the keys over and blurted “here, you try”.

The first crank was productive. The battery eagerly turned the starter over and the motor sang a lifeless tune.

Gas was not coming up into the engine.

Sally pumped the pedal lightly and cranked up again.

The motor spun without life.

A few more enthusiastic pumps, Sally muttered a curse under her breath as she cranked up the motor again.

This time, it sputtered a little and sounded like it would take before free spinning lifelessly.