The Jamal Family Curse

I think my family has a curse when it comes to automobiles. I've written previously about some of the ill stuff that's happened with me. I had a transmission go out and in the following month after I plopped down $1800 to fix it, had the engine go out. I've also had various tire blowouts in the last year that have left me stranded on the side of highway. Well, its not just me. My brother and sister also have car issues that have plagued us as well.

Most recently, my sister was in a car accident that ripped the entire front of her car off. Luckily, no one was hurt but the car was put out of commission. She decided at that time that she would just take Marta instead of getting a new car. Well that leads us to yesterday. I told you that my mom and nephew/brother were coming up for a visit. Well, my mother has recently had surgery on her neck and foot, so instead of her making the 4 hour drive, my sister rented a car and drove down to Savannah to get her. We've all made the trek to Savannah many times, so its no big deal. I had her older kids with me, and she took the baby with her. About 3 o'clock when I finally woke up, I expected them to be close to being here. My niece told me that my sister was having car trouble and would call me to update me.

I called my sister to find out what the deal was, and learned that Jamal family curse had struck again. While driving her rental car, it was an '07 I think, all of a sudden the speedometer went to zero. A few moments later, the gas gauge went to E, even though she had just filled up the rental car. Fortunately, she was able to make it to the nearest exit, before the car completely shut off. But my sister and her 19 month old son, were stranded with a broken down rental car.

My sister called the rental car company and they came and towed the car to the nearest office, but they didn't have any cars available to replace the broken down jalopy. Well, correction, they did have a cargo van with 2 seats, and another car that had the check engine light on. So my sister had to wait a few hours until they finally had a car returned. She stayed overnight in Savannah and is supposed to come back this morning. I took advantage of her absence to bond with/spoil my nephew and niece. My nephew played Playstation all day, while my niece stayed on my computer forever. If my sister was here, they probably would have had to read a book or something, but Uncle is all about slacking off. I didn't feel like cooking, so we went out to eat at the Olive Garden, where they ordered grown folks food (have you ever heard of an 11 year old ordering minestrone soup?) and helped me flirt with the waitress. And yes, this time, I actually did get the number.

By this time, my sister should be on the way back to Atlanta with my moms and Nate. They already lost a day because of the car trouble, but hopefully there will be no more incidents of the Jamal family curse. It doesn't seem to matter if the car is old, new, borrowed or blue, if something can go wrong with a whip, my family will somehow be involved.