The Official Writing Challenge
BACK TO
CHALLENGE
MAIN
INSTRUCTIONS
how it works
submission rules
guidelines for
choosing a level
ENTRIES
submit your entry
read current entries
read past entries
challenge winners
Our Daily Devotional HERE
Place it on your site or
receive it daily by email.


TRUST JESUS TODAY

  • Share
  • how it works
  • Submit
Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: IT'S CHILD'S PLAY (06/06/19)
It's not that my husband isn't bright or unmotivated. He earned a master's degree in biology and chemistry from a well-known university and taught high school chemistry and physics all of his adult life. He served on the Executive Board at church for years but best of all, Gabe was a godly mentor to our children and a faithful, loving husband to me.

But one incident involving him has always left me scratching my head in wonder. In retrospect, the answer seems so obvious that even a child would have known what to do.

It happened one lovely summer night when everyone left their bedroom windows open to enjoy the cool breezes wafting through their homes. Gabe was in deep REM sleep, snoring like the proverbial wounded warthog, when I looked over at the clock: 3:10 a.m.

Suddenly and without prelude, an ear-splitting, earth-shaking, 200-decibel blast of a car horn caused me to bolt upright.

"Gabe!" I shouted, pulling on his arm, to wake him. "Our car horn is waking up the entire neighborhood. Get up quick. Hurry!"

Gabe stirred slightly, listened, then turned over to resume his snoring. "Relax. It's not our car horn. Go to sleep."

Leaping out of bed, I ran to the kitchen and opened the door to our attached double garage. Both Gabe's car and mine were in their usual places but the sound was ear-splitting.

I ran back and dragged Gabe out of bed, screaming, "It's our car, Gabe. Get up. Our neighbors will kill us."

He was only convinced after he entered the garage where he quickly slammed his clenched fists over his ears.

I flipped on the garage light to facilitate his search for his toolbox, then opened the side door slightly to see neighbors' interior lights being turned on here and there. I knew most of them had jobs to report to in a few hours and were feeling robbed of necessary sleep.

Gabe quickly draped himself over the motor of his Mercury, yanking out one thing after another in a desperate attempt to stop the piercing sound.

He pulled out hoses, loosened nuts and bolts and flung small parts onto the garage floor until a pile the size of a teepee began to develop.

I stared in disbelief but since I didn't know a carburetor from a camshaft or a drive shaft from a dip stick, I decided not to question him.

It soon became clear that as a car mechanic, Gabe could make money as a skilled seamstress. I remembered the day before our wedding years earlier when his car overheated on a busy street in Manhattan. He quickly removed the radiator cap, releasing boiling hot steam onto his unprotected face. Only Aloe Vera and several coats of face powder applied to his burned skin saved our wedding day.

Once again, I opened the door to the outside only slightly to hear a neighbor shout, "Turn off that stupid car horn" so I quickly closed the door. Porch lights were being turned on and off everywhere, indicating neighbors' irritation over their sleep interruption.

Gabe was sweating buckets so I mopped his face with a small kitchen towel. He couldn't discover anything that controlled the merciless car horn which was sure to cause us both severe, premature hearing loss.

I ran into the kitchen for a glass of iced tea which Gabe gulped down in two or three swallows.

Bigger and bigger the pile of parts grew until I wondered at what point he'd yank the entire engine out single-handedly.

Glancing up at the garage wall clock, I noticed that 35 minutes had gone by. I thought of phoning my brother for advice but since he always referred to Gabe as, "He who can, does; he who cannot, will teach,” I promptly nixed that idea.

Moving around trying to dodge the various engine parts that Gabe was flinging in every direction, I crouched behind one of the cars and prayed to receive the "Gift Of Mechanical Aptitude." Our neighbors knew that we were Christians and I felt certain every last one of them wished that we and our wretched car were at a church somewhere on the remote Isle of Crete.

Suddenly, our side door to the garage opened and in walked our neighbor. Unceremoniously lifting the hood to my Buick, he promptly disconnected its battery.

"Gabe," he laughed, slamming down the hood, "You've been working on the wrong car."
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Right Now - CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
This article has been read 990 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Dianne Janak
06/13/19
This was funny... I felt the embarrassment and stress of waking up neighbors!! This sounds like one of our family stories we tell at holiday dinners!! Loved how you kept me reading!
Bonnie Bowden 
06/13/19
The title drew me in and I wasn't disappointed. I felt for Gabe and his lack of mechanical skills as the neighbors looked on to see if he could put an end to his woes.
Barbara Culler 
06/13/19
Bravo! Loved the twist at the end. I would not have known what to do. Disconnect the battery is the answer? I learned something new.Your writings never disappoint!
Jennifer Warren 
06/14/19
I love this story! I think we can all relate to trying to solve something that seems so simple or at another time (maybe fully awake LOL) we would have no trouble with. Your descriptions are vivid and make this easy to visualize.

Keep writing! Well done!
David Butler
06/14/19
The title intrigued me too. Very clever.
I was expecting a different ending though. Something like a book leaning against the horn button inside. This one's better.
Engaging and frank. Well done.
Shann Hall-LochmannVanBennekom 
06/14/19
Okay, this is hysterical. I wondered if maybe that was the problem, but thought no way. I literally snorted at the ending. Great descriptions!
Verna Cole Mitchell 
06/15/19
I absolutely love this! First place for me--if I were a judge? ; ) You hit the topic on the head and nailed it in with your description of a not-so-light moment!
Loni Bowden-Horn 
06/18/19
This piece was hysterical. It was a favorite this week. It is often difficult to write a comical piece. I suspected your husband had the wrong vehicle but the writing was spot o .

The title was clever. Hope this does well with the judges.
Bonnie Bowden 
06/18/19
I was confused on one line: It soon became clear that as a car mechanic, Gabe could make money as a skilled seamstress (I could see makeup artist).

I still hope you win 1st place this week!
Rachel Rudd
06/18/19
Fantastic story! You had me laughing out loud, and I didn't see it coming that he was working on the wrong car. I actually loved the line, "It soon became clear that as a car mechanic, Gabe could make money as a skilled seamstress." So funny!
Bonnie Bowden 
06/20/19
Congratulations on your 3rd place finish this week, Mariane!
Shann Hall-LochmannVanBennekom 
06/20/19
Congratulations. Happy Dance!
Rachel Rudd
06/20/19
Congratulations on your EC! You deserved it!
Linda Lawrence 
06/21/19
Oh this made me laugh. I'm still chuckling. That could have been my husband and me.
Ellen Carr 
06/29/19
Congratulations on your 3rd place Mariane. I really enjoyed your story and its humour. Well written and deserving of its EC! We had a similar experience of our car horn going off in the middle of the night a while ago. Mechanics replacing a recalled airbag had left something touching something ... My husband and a neighbour managed to stop the noise, thankfully.