We Three Kings Of Orient Are................. Part Two.

I went outside to put the empty tins of cat

 food in the recycle bin, I saw Luke sitting outside his home on the step with his cigarette and a drink. Whoever sees each other first, we always say, “Hello,” To each other, I said, “Hello Luke,” He replied, “Hello, did you know that your tyre at the front is flat?” I said, “No, I didn’t know, I used it late last night and it was fine then, to my knowledge,” I went into the quiet street to have a look, and I was horrified! It was completely flat. I said to Luke, “Thank you for pointing it out to me,” He said, “No problem.”

My neighbour on the left side of me came over to me and looked at my tyre, it looked like he was selling his little car, and he said, “I have a pump I will pump it up for you, I will need your car keys, as I will need to plug it into your cigarette lighter,” I said, “OK, I will go and get it.” I gave my neighbour my car keys, but before I could go back inside, he said, “Where is your cigarette lighter, I can’t see it?” I slid open the soft, click, cover to reveal the lighter, and as I came back onto the path, his young Daughter said to her Dad excitedly, “Is this our new car?” I replied to her, “No, it is mine.” I could see a man I didn’t know and a log book on the low wall outside his home, so I assume he was selling his car. I went back inside.

A short time later there was a knock at the door, I went to the door, it was my other neighbour from my right side, he said, “Come and look at your tyre,” I followed him to the quiet street and my first neighbour was there, who said to me, “I have pumped up your tyre, but there is a nail in it!” I saw it, and couldn’t believe it, he went on, “It will go down again, you need to take it to a garage.” I said, “I will take it to my garage tomorrow,” Then my neighbour from the right, said to me, “I will take you now to a Pakistani garage we know, they can patch it up for you, for £10.” I thought for a moment, for it was Sunday, I didn’t know garages were open today, but hey strike while the iron is hot, tomorrow the tyre might be too flat for me to even drive it to my garage, so I said to my neighbour, holding up my two fingers to him, with the back of my hand facing me, “Give me two minutes to get dressed and I will be with you,” He said, “OK.”

I got £20 from my purse, I knew he had said, £10 would be enough, but you never know and I quickly got changed and in less than two minutes I was back outside. There was my neighbour from the right, he said to me, “You follow me in your car,” I said, “Don’t go too fast, or you will lose me,” He said, “I won’t.” Before I left, I thanked my lovely neighbour who had taken the time to pump up my tyre and in so doing that, found the fault.

I kept up, I didn’t know where I was going, but after about ten minutes we arrived I knew exactly where we were. He stopped his car I was behind him he pointed to the entrance of the garage and as I drove in, saw an engineer, who was beckoning me to follow him as he walked backwards into the small yard. I was impressed, clearly, they knew I was coming.

I stayed in the car, as they talked, I assume he was talking about prices and deals, then after a short time, my neighbour looked at me and moved his hand for me, to come out of my car. I got out of the car, and my neighbour said with his lovely smile, “He can’t  fix your tyre, but he can do for you a second hand one for £20 or a new tyre for £45,” The Engineer said, “I didn’t say I could do it for £20 but FROM £20 this car will be done for £25,” I said to the owner, “I only have £20 with me,” He said, “That’s fine, I will put on a second hand tyre for £20,” I said, “Thank you SO much.” As he was walking away, my lovely neighbour said to him, “This is my neighbour, please find a GOOD tyre for her,” He looked back at him and said, “I will,” And my kind neighbour added, “Please don’t let her wait, can you do it now?” He replied politely, “I will do it now.”

When he was gone, my neighbour said to me, “Are you ok getting back by yourself?” I said, “Yes, I know where I am,” Then he added, “Don’t give him any more than £20 OK,” I said,  “I won’t, that is all I have,” With that he said with a smile, “Goodbye,” I said, “Thank you, goodbye.”

It was strange standing in a Pakistani garage, a man came up to me and invited me with a smile to, “Sit on one of the chairs,” So I did. I saw Customers of all races and sexes come in and were made welcomed.

A young man came over to me after I’d been there a short time and he said, “Have you got the key for your tyre?” I replied with a smile, “I know nothing about cars, I didn’t know tyres had keys.” I opened my boot and opened a section I didn’t know was there! Suddenly there were tools of every description, he looked and said, “It’s not here, let me look by your cigarette lighter,” He went there and came and showed me what looked like a bolt. I said, “I didn’t know that was there, or what it was for, I could have thrown it away, thinking it was rubbish,” He said, “It’s a good job you didn’t.”

I played Words With Friends on my mobile and then a short time later he said, “All done,” I stood up and said holding my money in hand, out towards him, “£20,” He said, “Yes, thank you.”

Within ten minutes I was back home, everything had been done within the hour, of me coming out to put empty cat food tins into my recycle bin.

I have thanked both my next-door neighbours, who give us wonderful food, and when I see Luke, I will thank him too, for it was all thanks to him in the first place.