The next morning, after a good night's rest at a local hotel and a healthy breakfast, Jenna fueled up her car and set off again for Michigan. By now they were well over halfway there, and really only had two more major legs of the journey to go. So with a pocket full of money, which was more than enough to get them there with money to spare, Jenna felt confident that the rest of the journey would now be easy. But she was sadly mistaken. Just a few miles outside of Iowa City, the unthinkable happened.
As they were driving down the highway the car begin making a very strange and unusual sound, and it wasn't a good sound at that. Then came the next troubling development. The backend began fishtailing wildly back and forth. Suddenly a bang and a thud filled her ears as the left rear wheel assembly came apart like a bomb, sending debris all over the road.
"Oh God, no! NOOOOOO!" she cried as she tried to keep control of the car as it disintegrated under her.
It soon careened towards the median as her children began screaming at the top of their lungs. Jenna did her best to maintain some semblance of control, but it would do her little good. A moment later the car shuttered violently as it impacted a guard rail along the edge of the media, causing it to leapt into the air before coming down hard, and to an abrupt, almost immediate halt. When everything came to a stop Jenna sat in her seat shocked, and yet amazed that she was unhurt.
The only sound now was the still gentle growl of the engine. She put the car in park, turned off the engine, and then climbed out. She briefly inspected herself, and finding nothing wrong, she opened the back door and got her two children out. She wasted no time checking them for injuries, and was pleased to find nothing visible.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
The two children nodded, but said nothing, clearly terrified from the experience. A moment later a policeman came bounding over the fence and up to her, clearly anxious to see to her well being. But then something odd happened. He shooed her away as though she were merely an annoying bystander.
"Excuse me, ma'am, but you'll have to step back! I need to get to the passengers in this car," he barked.
"Um, we are the passengers. That's our car," she said.
The officer looked at them for a moment like she were nuts and then again shooed them to the side as he made his way over to the driver's side front and rear doors which he found, much to his surprise, open and the occupants gone. He then looked at Jenna and her two kids, and then the car, then Jenna, and finally the car again. He scratched his head in utter amazement. By all rights, given the look of the vehicle, they should've had at least cuts and bruises. Yet there they stood next to him without so much as a scratch on them.
"Are you alright, ma'am?" he asked.
"We're fine," replied Jenna.
Just then the echo of sirens could be heard in the distance.
"Alright, stay right there, ma'am. I want the ambulance to check you out before we do anything else."
Jenna nodded. About a minute later a fire truck, an ambulance, and two more patrol cars pulled up to the accident also expecting to find the worst. They even shooed Jenna and her kids away just like the officer had, thinking they were just curious bystanders as well. Yet they were shocked when the officer told them she was the driver.
"But...but, how!? Nobody should have walked away from that in one piece!" protested one of the firemen.
"Divine intervention. It's the only explanation," said another.
"Wow, talk about guardian angels," said the first fireman.
Jenna considered that the understatement of the day. After being checked out by the ambulance people she was then set aside while the police and firemen worked to clear the road. Eventually a tow truck came by and picked up the remnants of her car and hauled it into town, with them riding in the passenger seat all the way in. But as they made the short trip to town, Jenna looked back at the car and sighed. It'd brought them so far, and now it was nothing but a wreck.
"What now, Lord? That was our only way to reach Michigan," she thought.
But she heard no answer. She knew this had to be for a reason. She just couldn't figure out what that was just yet. Eventually the tow truck pulled into the parking lot of a local garage and let them out as the driver talked with one of the mechanics. Eventually he got back into his truck, expertly dropped the mangled vehicle into one of the empty parking spots, and then handed Jenna the towing bill. She quietly paid it and then turned her attention to the mechanic who was now inspecting the wreck that'd once been her car. Given his expression, the news didn't look to be good.
"Can it be fixed?" she asked apprehensively.
"Well, I hate to say it, but no. It's bad enough that you pretty much dropped the entire rear end on the ground. But to make matters worse you also snapped the frame, probably when you made that spectacular nose dive into the median the tow driver told me about."
A look of dejected sadness grew across Jenna's face.
"So it's a total loss?"
"Pretty much," said the mechanic.
She looked even more disappointed and sad. He felt bad for the woman, realizing she probably had little if any money, and now had no car besides. He looked at the crinkled hood and shook his head. But just then something caught his eye. He carefully shooed the woman aside and gently pried it open. What he saw made his eyes grow three times larger.
"Hey, Gerd? Get out here!" he shouted.
An older gentleman came trotting out to the car.
"Yeah, what's....whoa," he said upon seeing what the other mechanic was looking at. "Is that..." he began, still in utter shock.
"I think it is, which means we're looking at the sleeper of the century."
"Sleeper?" asked Jenna curiously.
"Yeah, in automotive terms a 'sleeper' is a car that looks normal on the outside, but has some serious muscle under the hood. What makes yours a sleeper is this engine. It's a 1973 Oldsmobile model W-43 455ci Experimental, which is one of the most sought after, and rarest muscle car engines out there. So basically you had a solid gold monster lurking under your hood and you didn't even know it."
Jenna looked at him in confusion. This sounded like something her late husband always liked talking about.
"Okaaaaaay, but what does that do for me?"
"Lady, you're sitting on a gold mine. In fact, tell ya what. I'll make you a deal. $500 and I'll take the car off your hands no questions asked."
Jenna blinked, unsure of what to do. Cars were her husband's thing. But she didn't understand any of this. However, this brief flash of confusion made it appear to the two mechanics as though she were holding out for more money. Seeing this, and fearing she might bolt and take the engine with her, as well as a potential windfall profit, Gerd, the older mechanic, grabbed his boss by the arm and took him to the side.
"One second, ma'am," he said apologetically.
Jenna then watched as the two men seemed to argue over something. Most likely her car. She almost wondered if the one wasn't trying to convince the other to scrap the whole idea and just send her packing. A minute later the two men turned back to her.
"Tell you what. My employee and I have been discussing this, and we realize you drive a hard bargain, so we're willing to give you a thousand," said the younger man.
"Davis," hissed Gerd.
But Jenna didn't appear willing to budge. But it wasn't because she was holding out for the best price. She honestly had no idea what was going on. And as a result, the two men mistook her confusion for someone who was pushing a hard bargain.
"$1500?" asked Gerd.
"Two grand," retorted Davis.
"Three grand."
"Alright, five grand, and not a dime more," snapped Davis.
Jenna stared at the two men in confusion, but then paused to think about this. If they were serious and really wanted to give her that much money, she could certainly use it. In fact, it'd be far more than she needed, and would easily get them a nice car and plenty of g
as for the remainder of the trip. Or at the very least bus tickets to wherever they needed to go. She was hoping for a car, but she'd settle for anything by now.
"Okay, I can do that," she said hesitantly. "But what do I do about a car? I obviously can't drive this one anymore."
The two men looked at each other briefly before retreating and discussing this for several moments. Finally they returned and nodded.
"I believe we've come up with a solution for you. A buddy of mine down at the local dealership owes me a favor. Why don't I talk to him about getting you a good deal on a used car and we'll work out the specifics from there. That way you'll have a new car and we'll get the engine. Sound like a deal?"
Jenna nodded.
"I'll take it."