The Great Gasoline

Today started off pretty normally; going to class, getting work, doing work, getting restless, distracting people. It was a pretty rough and boring morning, so I was relieved when 4th period rolled around so that I could enjoy 50 minutes of school-less bliss. I turned my car on to go home and saw that I had about 1 tick of gas left in my tank, maybe a little more. I probably should have gone to get gas at that point to avoid this whole situation, but it was my free period, and all I was thinking about was getting home, eating, and watching cheesy movies on Disney Channel. Today featured one of my favorites: Halloweentown High, the 3rd movie of the Halloweentown trilogy which is what I had been hoping for since yesterday when Halloweentown 2: Kalabar's Revenge, the 2nd movie in the series of 3, played. Well, tempted as I was by what turned out to be the highlight of my day, I decided against going to get gas which would have probably wasted half of my free period, and besides, I had more than a tick left which was equivalent to around 20 miles. And the closest gas station was right up the road about a mile away. So instead of getting gas as any sensible person with one tick of gas left in their tank would do, I promised myself that I would get gas after school when I had all the time in the world. If I went after school, the only time I would be cutting into would be my homework time which was perfectly okay with me.

So I continued on with my day, enjoyed a nice long free period, got covered in pollen, and made a quick run to Orange Leaf with Lydia to get ice cream. I explained to her my gasoline situation, and she assured me that as long as the gas light hadn't turned on, I was fine. And the gas light hadn't turned on, so I returned to school comforted.

After what felt like forever, the last bell rang, and school was finally over. I turned on my car and again looked at my gas meter which still showed 1 tick of gas. Well, I still had about 20 miles left to drive, so I decided that instead of driving to the closer BP which was not even a mile from school, I could make it to the Exxon which was just a little farther away. What led me to this decision was for one, I wouldn't have a bunch of high school students staring at me while I pumped gas and two, because I needed to go to Harris Teeter to buy chapstick (though I suppose I really should use its proper name and call it lip balm because I wasn't going to Harris Teeter to buy chapstick since I'm allergic to the brand Chapstick. I was actually going to buy Burt's Bees lip balm) and the Exxon was really close to Harris Teeter. Clever me, killing two birds with one stone. After I got some gas, I could make the short trip to Harris Teeter to take care of my grocery needs.

Well, I arrived at the Exxon with a smile. Good thing I didn't run out of gas. That would have been a pain. And there were plenty of open gas pumps for me to choose from. If you've ever been to the Exxon at Chapel Hill North, you know that there are 2 rows of 3 stations with gas pumps on either side. I decided to use the one facing the curb (and also facing the ABC store). And since there were two cars ahead of me already getting gas, I parked at the 3rd gas pump. I got out of my car and went about my business acting like I knew what I was doing because if there's one thing that's embarrassing, it's going to the gas station and struggling to pump gas into your car. Who doesn't know how to pump gas? A few seconds later, some sort of landscaping truck came up behind my car. Clearly, it needed to get gas, but the lane between my car and the curb was too narrow for it to pass my car and reach the now-available gas pumps in front of me. So the driver parked the front of his monstrous truck right behind my car. I contemplated moving my car forward to allow him to get to a gas pump because having the grill of a truck parked behind you as you get gas is sort of intimidating, but I decided that it would only take me at most 5 minutes to get gas, so he could wait. With a few difficulties (1. forgetting to open the gas door 2. being unable to open the gas cap for a couple minutes), I was ready to pay for my gas. Now, keep in mind, I hadn't actually pumped any gas into my car because of the whole pay before you pump deal at gas stations. (And ignore the fact that paying for gas is actually the first thing the machine tells you to do.) I was ready with my debit card in hand to begin the fueling process. The screen told me to insert and remove my card, so I did. The word "Authorizing" appeared on the screen, and I waited a couple moments for the machine to read my card. To my horror, instead of proceeding to the "Enter pin" screen that always follows payment with a debit card, the words "DEBIT not ready" appeared. What the heck did that mean? I had no idea. I canceled the transaction and tried again, figuring that it had to be some sort of glitch. Once again, the words "DEBIT not ready" came on the screen. I looked around at anyone who could be watching my struggles (and most likely laughing), and remembered the huge truck parked behind me. Well, this was too embarrassing, so I decided to move my car and pretend that I was being nice by letting him get to a pump. I drove up to the first pump in the line and tried my debit card again. "DEBIT not ready." This was something I'd never encountered at a gas station before, so I scanned the whole machine in search of some sort of clarification. Then, I came upon a sign that read, "Only credit cards accepted at pump, pre-fuel cash payments accepted inside." Well this was just great; I didn't have a credit card, and I had a total of maybe $10 in my wallet. And you might be thinking that I could've just gone inside and paid $10 to get a couple gallons of gas, just so I wouldn't run out of gas, and believe me, I considered that, but in the end, my laziness won over. I would pass by the BP on my way home anyway, so I could just get gas there with much less hassle. And by the time I finished shopping at Harris Teeter and drove to that gas station, there wouldn't be so many students around to watch me pump gas. So it was settled.

I made my quick Harris Teeter run then set out for the BP. I checked my gas meter which was at half a tick mark at this point. While driving, my gas light came on which made my heart race. I didn't know what that meant or how many more miles I could drive. Lydia had said I was fine as long as my gas light wasn't on, and here it was glaring brightly in my face. A few moments later, however, the light went off. This confused me. Did I have sufficient gas or not? Then, the light came back on. I fretted the entire way to BP as this cycle of the light coming on and going off continued. But my worries left me when I pulled into the gas station and saw open pumps and thought, finally, I'm going to get some gas. However, I was completely shocked to find a yellow "Out of Service" bag on the gas nozzle. Well, no worries, I could just drive around to the other side. I scanned the other side and saw more yellow bags covering the nozzles. Great. These were the two closest gas stations on this side of town, and I couldn't get gas at either of them.

Panicked, I decided that I could either go home and try getting gas again tomorrow, or I could drive across town to get gas. I checked my gas meter and saw that there was less than half a tick now. I couldn't go to the Exxon tomorrow because I didn't have a credit card, and the BP might not be in service tomorrow. So I just decided to get gas now. The closest gas station I could think of was one by Staples. I was hysterically worried that I would run out of gas before I could reach another gas station. It seemed like I got stopped at every traffic light, and it appeared that all of the cars driving ahead of me were driving slowly on purpose. I started thinking about a time when I was riding with a friend and her mom, and we ran out of gas. My friend had to walk home to get a gallon of gas they had stored in their garage. I didn't have gas stored at my house. And even if I did, I wasn't about to walk miles home to get gas. Then I thought about a story my brother told me about his friend who had had barely any gas in his car. He had said that his friend stopped using the brake so that he wouldn't have to accelerate as much. I decided to try that, but I hit too many red lights for it to do any good. Then I thought about the end of his story, when he told me that his friend eventually ran out of gas. I didn't even remember what it was like to run out of gas. Did the car just turn off and you were on your own, or did the car give a couple warning beeps then stop working? When I was younger, my sister and I always thought cars drove slower when they were running out of gas. Of course, I'm older and more mature, and I know that this is not the way it works. But still, I wasn't sure what was going to happen. I got so worried that I even began scouting out good places to break down (i.e. in an outside lane, on the shoulder, aka NOT on the road) as well as some pretty bad places to break down (i.e. at a traffic light, in the middle of 15-501, in a sketchy part of town, etc.). As I was waiting to turn left into the Exxon I had found, I even thought that as much as it would suck and as ironic as it would be to run out of gas right by a gas station, this spot would be an alright place to break down.

Well, luckily I made it safely to the Exxon. I was content that I didn't have to deal with a break down though I did have to pay an outrageous $2.84 per gallon. The BP by the school was at least 5 cents cheaper than this gas station, so I only filled my gas tank up halfway.

Maybe some other day I'll find out what it's like to run out of gas. But not today.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed the story, and hope your day has been superb. And advice for the future: when you're running low on gas, save yourself the worry, and fill up your tank at the nearest gas station.