My Dad Isn’t A Crazy Old Man [Yet]

Posted on December 23, 2007 by hijabman

The family was hanging out in my parents’ kitchen, when my brother-in-law, Angrez, described some car trouble he had been having:

“Baba, the boot of our car is stuck!”
“Wha?” My father replied, not understanding Angrez’s British terminology.
“Sorry, Baba, The Trunk. The Trunk.” Angrez giggled.

What followed was a family procession through the garage door and onto the driveway. We weren’t expecting much, as American-raised kids doubtful of our parents’ wisdom.

My father had stopped in the garage to grab a can of WD-40— all before he even looked at the trunk.

“Umm, Dad, yeah, it unlatches. It just won’t open all the way so i don’t think that’ll…,” my sister’s words drifted away as my father took the car keys away from Angrez (who up until then, had been jiggling the key around, trying to pop the trunk open).

Without a word, my father held up the key, and sprayed it with WD-40. We all watched him with mixed expressions. He inserted the key into the slot, jiggled it, and…

click

pop

The trunk opened smoothly, without a hitch.

For a moment we all stared at each other in disbelief. My father smiled a big, pearly white smile, knowing that he had just deflated our youthful egos.

“Wow, Baba does jadu (magic)!” my sister cried out. We all laughed, and my father did his happy dance, howling:

“All you need in life is WD-40!”