I can’t bring myself to trust my gas gauge.  I know it’s silly, but I just don’t think the gas gauge looks like a very trustworthy instrument.  I don’t usually try to fool with the gauge.  I’d rather put gas in the car before I need to than take a chance of running out.  But, I’m not driving a lot of miles these days, and I must admit I forget to look at the gas gauge.

So, then the little red light comes on telling me I’m running low on gas.  What does that mean?  How low is low, anyway?  I saw something on TV once where a reporter was testing the gas gauge on his car. 

His owner’s manual said he could drive something like 30 miles after the light came on.  He even had one of those gauges that tells you how many miles you’ve got before you come to an abrupt halt.  According to his test, he drove something like three times as far as he was supposed to be able to go.

Even that didn’t convince me, though.  So, I’m always torn.  If the light comes on and you’re late for an appointment, what do you do?  Do you stop for gas and end up being later?   Or, do you assume that the car company was trying to be nice and turns on that little light way before it’s necessary?  It’s a puzzle.  I usually go with the conservative alternative.  I don’t know why - I’ve never had a bad experience running out of fuel.

In fact, the only time I ever ran out of gas was the time I was in a car with what I found out later was a defective gas gauge.  And, that wasn’t really a bad experience. 

As it happened, the car engine sputtered to a stop at the top of a pretty good incline I needed to go down.  And, there was a gas station at the bottom of the downgrade.  So, I put the car into neutral and prayed that I’d have enough momentum to make it to the station.

Actually, I had momentum to spare.  I made the turn into the station without even needing to screech the tires, I pulled around the busy gas pumps and came to a stop in front of a pump on the far side of the station.

As I got out of the car, I felt like people were staring.  Looking around, I discovered that indeed they were.  What hadn’t occurred to me was that what they saw was a car, evidently operating without an engine, pulling into the station and rolling up to a pump.

I thought about trying to explain, but gave it up as way too complicated.