It wasn't until the driver's side rear wheel was off the ground and the passenger's side front wheel was spinning in a ditch that I conceded the rental car was stuck. Getting out of the car I assess my situation as being pretty fucked up. The car refused to go forward or backwards so I laugh at the sight of the rear wheel two feet in the air and a front tire that is spinning in a grass filled ditch near the French boarder.
The front bumper was scraping the ground so it would be impossible to pull the car out the same way it got into the ditch. With the ass of the rental car in the air, I spotted a tow hook but that would require towing the car through and out of the ditch. Then I worried about scrapping the oil pan on earth and rocks if I did find rope and a tow.
Then a car stopped. Inside was a twenty-something man and women and I convinced them to sit inside the car's backseat. Their weight brought the rear tire to the ground but the Chevrolet Spark's only drive wheel was spinning in a grass ditch. The couple said they lived close and would return with some rope. They left and another couple stopped and asked if they could help. I asked the women if she had any "ropa" I could use. She looked at me like I was some kind of pervert before the couple took off. It was then that I remembered 'ropa' means clothes and not rope.
A guy stopped and in broken English told me I was fucked and that I should call the rental car agency and ask for a tow. I considered this before remembering I was lost before I was stuck, which makes it pretty tough to give precise directions to your current location. Then he said he'd help but he was worried about damaging the car and I thought I'd hold him financially responsible. He said I could use his cellphone but I told him I could drive my way out of the problem.
A man in a diesel pickup drove up and said he had "una cuerda," or rope. He had 25-feet of cuerda so I tied one end to the rental car's tow hook and the other end to his pickup. He drives off to take up slack when the first couple to arrive returns to the scene. The guy had an idea. He stands on the wheel in the air and his weight brings the rear tire to the ground. The only problem was the wheel would rotate so I apply the emergency brake to lock the wheel in place. He steps back on the rear wheel and the man in the pick up begins to slowly drive off. The tires slide and pop out of the ditch like a champagne cork. Once the rope is slacken I begin to roll up the rope and thank all of the parties that helped remove the rental car from the ditch.
I make sure the oil pan wasn't punctured and get inside the car and drive. I was still lost but I figured if I could find my way out of a ditch I could find my destination.
In the morning I woke up staring at Africa from my balcony, maybe 50 kilometers away from me and now I am staring at France. Africa was golden and honey colored. France is earthly and brown.
I drove all day long to get here. Along the southern Spanish border alongside millions of sunflowers watching me speed and following a dream I was trying to live. Their yellow faces stretching from horizon to horizon watching me meandering through life. All gas, no brakes. Im looking for something, for someone but I don’t know what it is or where she lives.
Im just trying to smell new smells new places with people whose names I’ll never remember. I am alone in a crowd but I’m never bored. I eat fish in France, wishing I was here with someone I loved. I promise myself I’ll come back to these French beaches to share bread and fish with someone whose name I’ll never forget.
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