Road to Pajule Pt.2

About 20 minutes out of Jinja is Mabira Forest. The thick vegetation, which comes right up to the roadway, makes it a haven for armed robbers. Not to make it sound too dangerous but you do not want to have car trouble there. Naturally, just as we enter the forest the car starts making a new noise.

Being a hardheaded driver (read that male driver) who conquers the road and never turns back I said a silent prayer and kept going. Speed seemed to lessen the noise so we went faster. Much better! I could almost imagine the noise being gone 15 min. later as we flew out of the forest. But as we slowed for the town of Lugazi the noise was definitely there! I asked God to soften my head enough to stop and He did.

You should know that the day before I had used my new tire plug repair kit to fix a slow leak. Having never used a tire plugger before I managed to get it plugged and hoped it held. Bev was doubtful of my new abilities and begged me to go to the tire shop. (Tire shop in Jinja is three old men with a bottle of rubber cement, an old inner tube, two pry bars and a bicycle pump.) I refused. Being old myself with old tools but a new tire plugger and an electric pump I figured I was almost 59% better qualified than the tire shop.

As I silently prayed Paul walked alongside listening for the noise. After listening to the first three wheels he said it was definitely the fourth. The very one I worked on! Images of Achan being found guilty by Joshua as tribe by tribe then clan by clan and family by family came forward flashed through my head. Rats! My wife was right! Thankfully Bev is not the kind to say I told you so! But upon closer inspection the tire wasn’t flat it was simply that the village idiot (me) hadn’t tightened the lug nuts properly. So Paul cinched them down and off we went.

Having been found as a qualified tire plugger was good but the reproach of not being strong enough to cinch the nuts put me in a somber mood. But that was ok. Bev even sent an SMS saying well done.

I thought it said well done. Since it was still dark and the message was long and I didn’t have my glasses I asked Paul to read it and he mumbled something about Bev said “Well done!”

Shortly after that I received another message but being under the same conditions as before I chose to read it later when we would get fuel.

When I finally read it, it said “Oops that message was supposed to go to Kelli!” At first I didn’t understand, then I remembered the first message I couldn’t read that Paul had said it said “Well done!” What it actually said was, “Don’t tell Jesse I said ’I told you so!’ but I begged him to have a real tire guy fix that tire!”

Rodney Dangerfield said it best. “I get no respect.”