Trouble, with a capital "T," and that rhymes with "C," and that stands for "Cars."

Yesenia had to go into work on Saturday morning to wrap up - since she handles government contracting, and September is their budget year end, August and September get crazy. So, she had a few more stacks of paperwork to get done. She was out our front door by 8:45, and I fell back to sleep.

The phone rang, not ten minutes later. I suspected it was Yesenia, but those early morning phone calls are the hardest to drag yourself out of bed for. I hovered at the edge of consciousness, listening to hear the caller on the answering machine. No message. I drifted off again.

Ring. Ring. Again. Answering machine picked up, no message.

Again, thirty seconds later. Ring. Ring. All right. I hoist out of bed. It is Yesenia, and her car (now at the Starbucks where she stopped on her way to work) won't start. Ah. Now what? Her co-worker, also in that day, picked her up and checked the car - some weird thing with the ignition, likely electrical. That equals money!

Today, my engine light went on. No noticeable change in performance, but it's the kind of thing you've just got to check out. Most likely, it's my car telling me I'm 10,000 miles overdue for my timing belt change. And that equals serious money.

Dear God. This is going to be something like $2,000 in repairs. I can feel it.

I, for one, can't wait for the oil reserves to dry up. Screw the internal combustion engine. And the car it rode in on.

D.