A Tale of the Trolls That Almost Won

This was the day I was determined not to feed the trolls.
It started innocently - I packed the dogs into the car and drove them 'cross town to the vets and still got to work 5 minutes early. Pleased with myself, it was then I realized that I had forgotten my keys. I swallowed the curse words that immediately leapt to mind and calmly drove back home again. Without warning, lights or even a sound, the car died at the first stoplight and at each subsequent intersection, forcing me to wait for each green light, restart it, slam it into drive and accelerate at full speed. Each stall stopped my heart as I wondered Suppose it doesn't restart, but it did and I retrieved my keys and then headed to the service station. It was by then nearly 8:30, a time when any self respecting mechanic would be on duty, but wasn't. I counted to ten and headed for the next nearest station, praying for green lights and not getting them. They had mechanics but couldn't even look at it til early afternoon. Refusing to panic, I accepted their offer of a drive to work, called the doctor to let him know what was happening, looked on the bright side ( the dogs were safely at the vet and I hadn't needed a tow ) and got to work 15 minutes later.
By late afternoon when I hadn't heard from the mechanic, I was beginning to stress about picking up the dogs and getting to my night job on time but I reminded myself this was to be a troll-free day and that it would all work out.
I pushed the anxiety back, took two aspirin and waited. Half an hour later, my car and student driver arrived and we nearly made it back to the station before it stalled again. It was getting harder.
I cooled my heels at the service station only to discover that the car couldn't be fixed this day, that there was not a rental car to be had in the entire city, that there was no way to pick up the dogs or even get home much less to work in the morning. The mechanic must have seen something of this in my face - or possibly the trolls peering gleefully over my shoulder - because he led me to a bright, metallic blue pick up truck and handed me a set of car keys. Go, he said with an encouraging smile, Get the dogs and go home. And I did just that.

It's easier to beat back trolls when you have a little help and a friend with a pick up truck.