"Him" here refers to a place - a SHOP - actually, a CAR REPAIR SHOP. Where has this shop been all through my car's life and its many near-death experiences? It was the same feeling I had when I finally found the perfect dentist for my root canals or pedicurista for my in-growns, and swore undying loyalty on the spot.
I thought my 18 year old car had sputtered its last breath last Friday when it suddenly died in my arms without warning. The classic 'TUMIRIK' situation - the nightmare of any female driver, the quick plunge into that dark world with the foreign sounding language -- where scary words like ignition coils, cylinder heads, clutch cables and oil seals abound. After I did some mental exercise and reviewed my options, I thought it best to take a leap of faith and entrust my dying car to a man named "Joemer". It so happened that for many months now, Joemer, one of the trainors in my gym, had actively been promoting his car repair shop to me, but for some reason it was the classic case of I-can't-break-up-with- my-boyfriend-of-15-years- syndrome -- I just couldn't, simply couldn't say goodbye to "Oasis" - my talyer for more than a decade.. Oh so many memories - this band of merry little men was there during the many instances my car would break down at odd hours... timing belt that snapped at midnight along Ortigas (good thing I had the presence of mind to glide it towards the Lasalle gate), battery that conked out amidst torrential rains outside Santuario de San Antonio, engine that died for no reason at all right after the Shaw Blvd underpass (timing belt again. TWICE in a span of three years, why kaya), simple flat tire inside Valle Verde 6 at 10pm (Ryan came to me, reeking pa of pabango! sweet guy. He had obviously splashed himself with it when my frantic call came in. By the way, he's a stock clerk, not a mechanic. Those Oasis guys got tired of sending me real mechanics at some point I think.). The list goes on. Melchor, Jerson, Ding, Jason... All of them had had their hand at my car and I honestly believe they were sick and tired of it. No, of ME. In fact whenever they saw my car coming back for yet another complaint (on a monthly basis, without fail) -- pumapalya, nag-ooverheat, parang may "sound", and so on, from afar I could already see the smirk on their faces as they shoved one another to be the one this time. Yes, indeed it was time for me to make a clean break from this relationship gone sour....
Enter Joemer's team.. a new band of no-nonsense men who swooped down on my car like a SWAT team. The whole process took close to a week, as they undid all the bad stuff the merry men had been inflicting on my car for years! What I really appreciated was the way Joemer himself would take pains to avoid the usual car gobbledy gook jargon and resort to simple baby-talk (or woman talk?) analogies like... "just imagine a garden hose riddled with holes so the water can't pass thru smoothly"(telling me why my high tension wires weren't conducting electricty properly).. OR .. "it's like a one year old trying to blow out all the candles on his cake" (some nut in the past had replaced my original auxiliary fan with a much much smaller fan, the type used for aircons, that's why my car kept over heating because nga, the fan was too small, like a one year old kid). He very patiently showed me each and every part that had to be replaced and calmly explained why. For example - and this is just one among many - he pointed out all the cracks and frayed edges of the poor quality timing belt which the merry men had just installed last year (it would have snapped a THIRD time this year!).
My car is now back with me, and has never run better. I still have to pinch myself to make sure it isn't a dream; I love the way the engine just purrs and runs as smooth as a new car! Problems of pumapalya, nag-ooverheat, ayaw-mag-start, humahatak -- all these are a thing of the past. It is unbelievable how this old jalopy has come back to life, all thanks to that SWAT team by the corner of EDSA and Connecticut street. A million, gazillion thanks to my new hero "Joemer"! Let me type out his full name here so in case somebody googles him , it leads to this entry: Joemer de Leon. That's him, folks, look for him at the Petron Service Station on Connecticut corner EDSA if your dying fit-for-the-ICU car needs a new lease on life.
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