Homer's Odyssey Chapter 2: Tom Visits and Homer Gets Tempermental

When Tom visited, we had a great time out on the Rock Islands, swimming at PPR, hiking to the waterfall, and rubbing elbows with the President (aka, seeing him nearby at a restaurant). But that doesn't mean he was pampered the whole time--he was driving Homer after all.

One day, I went to work and planned to give Tom the car over my lunch hour so he could explore Koror a little if he wanted. About 20 minutes after I got into work, the marshals called to let me know that one of my back tires was completely flat. Oy! So I took my errand time and headed to a nearby gas station to fill it up, hoping that the tire would make it through the day. I let Tom know that he should keep an eye on it, but that he'd be able to drive around town without too much trouble. So I was relieved when at the end of the day Tom picked me up and the tire was in tact! But then I saw the expression on poor Tom's face. He informed me that the folks at PPR had to fill up Homer's completely flat tire. Way to take care of your little bro Island Girl!

Hearing this, I thought OK, it's almost 5 and all the auto repair shops will be closing...and I told Tom we'd go out for dinner. And obviously we didn't want to spend the night walking back to my apartment. What to do?? Then I remembered a small shop on the route back to my apartment with the sign reading "Fix Tire Available Here."

We pulled up, and the shop lived up to the hype...after 20 minutes and $4 (woohoo!), the tire was fixed. So Tom and I hopped back into Homer, happy to head to dinner. But apparently Homer wasn't in the mood for sashimi because he wouldn't start. Arrgh! And because the sign described the entirety of that shop's services, they didn't have jumper cables or a booster to get Homer up and running. And of course the auto shop next door closed 5 minutes before we realized Homer had died, and no mechanics I knew were answering their phones. To add insult to Homer's injury, Tom was nursing a sunburn that only a Wisconsin boy on the equator could manage, and the flies were starting to bite.

I looked around helplessly at the men at the repair shop, and one of them, who'd just stopped by to pick up a few tires for himself--and didn't actually work there--grabbed a set of jumper cables from his nearby car. I figured we were saved once he volunteered to help out, but when he tried to start the car, Homer wasn't budging. He took a look at my battery and announced it was "too small for the car." Hmmm...not a question I thought of asking when I bought Homer...lesson learned I guess!

So now what? Well, isn't it obvious? Our good Samaritan promptly walked over to his car, took the battery out, walked it back to Homer, took out Homer's battery, put his battery in Homer, my battery in his (smaller) car, and successfully jumped Homer.

Whaaa?? Now, I've mentioned that I have little to no car expertise, but this isn't a run of the mill tactic in car starting, right? I mean he was basically juggling batteries back and forth between the cars. I was half expecting an explosion...but I really wanted to get Homer up and running so I just kept my distance and crossed my fingers.

Given that we were able to juice up Homer's mini-battery, our friend switched the batteries back, but Homer was just being stubborn and still refused to start. And that's when Tom and I learned just how fantastic folks in Palau are. This man offered to switch the batteries back, follow us to my apartment, and then switch them back so that Tom and I could get home together and I could have a mechanic come to my apartment the next morning instead of the side of the road.

I'm going to guess that it wasn't part of his evening's plans, but he insisted and we gratefully accepted. So we performed the battery switch-a-roo once again, Tom and I ended up enjoying a large amount of poke sashimi, and I tallied yet another time I've been helped out by complete strangers. I guess I have Homer to thank for making me appreciate Palau in a way I wouldn't have otherwise!