Much Ado About A Mini Van

Photo by Samuel Zeller on Unsplash

Before The Beginning of Madness Hive account@tristancarax, Hive account@wakeupkitty and I were having a drink at the Hive account@freewritehouse. It was Tuesday and extremely busy at Jerry’s because of the sidewalk chillings between 5-7 PM. Hive account@tristancarax was sharing his mind-blowing theory about the shape of the earth, when all of a sudden he looks across and there is a mini van waiting. The window is being winded down and Hive account@iamjadeline is waving at him.

We all turned around and looked at a branded mini van. “Hive account@d00k13, your promo van is here!” I shouted.

"It ain’t mine, but it sure looks pretty” Hive account@d00k13 responded, feeling the vibe and breaking out some lines:

"The subs would be bumpin’,
Louder than clubs when they thumpin’!"

"Take it to the movies
Take it to the lumberyard
Or take it to the max"
Hive account@aejackson couldn’t resist to join in.

Hive account@improv continued the freestyle
"Mini Van for a Mini Fam.
A family of mini coopers inside a mini van.
Mini mini mini mini
Van van van van"

"both I and duckduckgo think this is one word – minivan” a voice from behind said. It was Hive account@fitinfun “It always surprises me when people break it into two words"
"What’s wrong?” I asked her “Don’t you like minivans?"
"As long as none of them hits me while I walk on the side of the road, it’s all good.” She responded with a smile.

Meanwhile everyone at Jerry’s had surrounded themselves around the minivan, mainly out of curiosity.
"I once owned a succession of mini-vans.” Hive account@owasco said “A whole fleet at one point"
"Do you miss the minivan life?” Hive account@ntowl asked.
“No. I’m happy to be rid of it,” Hive account@owasco said. "At a certain point, they become really hard to maintain.”
"Bad things can happen in older vans, especially ones with some tint" Hive account@kimberlylane confirmed.

Hive account@iamjadeline had stepped out of the van, so did the driver. It was Hive account@botefarm with a very sad face.

"What happened, can you share with me?” Hive account@wakeupkitty asked.
“It’s broken and I don’t know how to fix it”
“Don’t you have a brother who is a mechanic?"
"There's no time to check it out, is what he said” Hive account@botefarm silently responded.
"Is it yours?" Hive account@mrnightmare89 wondered. “No, it’s not” Hive account@botefarm responded. “I got adopted by a great group of people this week, they lended me this van.” He continued “When I got it, it didn’t feel right. I thought to myself: I have so many worries before I ride on it.”
Hive account@botefarm got even sadder “Now I tried it, and it is broken. Will you help me?"
Hive account@tristancarax decided to take a look “open up the hood, let me see what I can do. What is the issue?”
“The engine broke down this morning"
After 5 minutes of searching Hive account@balticbadger joined Hive account@tristancarax. "Any chance you can fix it?” Someone in the crowd asked. “We’ll see, I think I can” Hive account@balticbadger responded candidly. He thought he could and was generally confident in his own abilities.

It started getting even more crowded around the minivan. 10 minutes later, there was no sign of improvement. “Let me have a look” Hive account@mr-neil said as he pushed through the crowd of people towards the van.

“Why are you here?” Hive account@botefarm, seemingly getting more agree that so many people were getting way too close to the van. And now a guest of the Bed & Breakfast was also getting involved.
“My profession. My beautiful seaside resort home doesn't provide much opportunity.”
Hive account@mr-neil joked. It was not received well. “Easy peeps” I said trying to calm everyone down "Hive account@mr-neil is actually familiar with these kind of vans.”
He took a look at the engine, walk around, lit the engine and sputtered. “Not what you think it is.”

"What do you think?” Hive account@deemarshall asked from the crowd.
"Walk... I’ll go for a long walk, That’s what I think I’m going to do"Hive account@juliamulcahy responded as she could clearly feel the tension building.

“Don’t make me come up there.” It was Hive account@wonderwop yelling from the basement. He and Hive account@glenalbrethsen were helping Hive account@felt.buzz with the heating of the Hive account@freewritehouse in the basement.

"You better" Hive account@kaerpediem responded “There are a lot of know it alls up here, we need real help.” This made the situation even more heated. People kept moving forward and intervering, until all hell broke loose.

“Hive account@wonderwop we need you!” Hive account@kaerpediem yelled towards the basement. "I'll be right there” he said, not losing his composure. Hive account@wonderwop came out of the basement with jeans that were a size too small, and his triple-chin glimmered with sweat, visible even from this distance. He looked like a character straight out of a Hive account@kaelci movie.

"I wondered when one of you might show up," Hive account@wakeupkitty said. "We can’t fix two things at once" Hive account@glenalbrethsen responded who climb out behind Hive account@wonderwop and also looked like he just beat up an angry villain in a superhero movie. “Thanks for the help" Hive account@felt.buzz said, as he joined in as well "I couldn't do this without you.”

As Hive account@wonderwop and Hive account@glenalbrethsen looked at the van, slowly the crowd backed down. “It is the power transmission belt” Hive account@glenalbrethsen said as he looked towards Hive account@botefarm “you need a new one”.

Hmm.. a transmission belt. I checked eBay to see the going price. "No silly" Hive account@wonderwop laughed while looking over my screen. "You don’t buy these things on eBay."

Hive account@botefarm was delighted that the problem had been identified. "I don't want to appear ungrateful” he said “can I order these guys some SBI?”

The storm had somewhat calmed down and the weather had slowly changed as well as everyone headed inside. Someone turned to me and said “It’s good to have the Hive account@freewritehouse for these kind of small conveniences isn't?"

Why just a “small convenience”? Hive account@dranuvar asked. We could feel the tension building back up again.