Hello

Solomon's Strength

Solomon looked at her box braids flowing behind her. She looked gorgeous.

Solomon heard Amber mutter something. He hoped she wasn't talking badly about him even though he deserved every curse word under the sun.

Of all the things that could happen, his car lost power and by the time he stopped on the side of the road. He turned to see her staring glossy-eyed at a meter along the panel. 

Amber opened her mouth and looked at him. Solomon averted his eyes and waved her off. “Just a slight problem. Let me...” Solomon started the car. It roared to life. Amber closed her mouth and stared at the steering wheel.

Their eyes connected, hers rife with concern, Solomon assured her with a smile. “Used cars, got to love them.”

She said nothing with that flat line on her lips. 

The car died, again. Amber looked back at the steering wheel. Solomon grabbed the key and tried to turn it over. The car's engine sputtered with a heavy cymbal echo and died. Solomon's heart skipped a beat. He turned the key and held it there to hear the car sputtering for a good four seconds and dying, again.

Solomon froze. An intense heavy gloom dropped on his shoulders with sweat sliding down his face trying to run away from Solomon.

“Solomon?”

Solomon clutched his jaw and leaned back. “Don't worry I will get it started.” His eyes touched her disgusted face now. This was not good. He tried it several times and still it did not start.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, why now, why did this have to happen now!?

“God almighty...” Amber's voice said mostly to herself. 

Solomon said to her, “Don't worry I will get it started.” Amber gave him a dead stare and a frown that made him feel like he was likely to get fired from her employment. 

He exited the car leaving her to mumble her discontent. The road traffic was not heavy and being on the curb was not much of a problem.

He noted a sandy bank in the distance with a rocky embankment on the west side of it. The trees grew into tall hands over the street drenching it within a shadow.

Solomon got the front hood up. Looking down almost scorched off his eyebrows as the hot exhaust fumed out in a big plume. 

Solomon drifted back and coughed. His heart sank further. He tried to look into the mass of wires, metal compartments, parts and battery included. It all looked so confusing. Solomon cursed under his breath. 

An uncomfortable fact knocked around in his mind. 

He knew little about automobiles. If it was the battery maybe he could fix that, but the battery looked fine and he predicted the problem was worse.

The riveting drums of Rihanna's Talk That Talk featuring Jay-Z woke his senses.

She found something to keep her occupied, but if he didn't do something soon, there wouldn't be any talking to relieve her worries.

Solomon groaned. What was he going to do now? He had to call for help, but should he? He could not see Amber from here, but he was sure she was waiting patiently and angrily in the front seat.

He had to do something and something fast. Solomon called Chester, voicemail, Demario, no answer.

He heard the door opening. Amber exited the car and looked around. Solomon tried to avoid her eyes, but he was not sure what to do at this point.

He looked at the car's engine and tried to think of something. Maybe he should try to start it again. Solomon jumped into the front seat and tried to start it.