G has long held a preference for the truck. I think its cause she gets to ride up front, and up high. Every day when we go out she asks to take the truck.

Last week, the truck had a pile bearing in the transmission that was getting close to failing. So I did not drive it, except to take it in to the shop. I told G “the truck is broken. the truck has an owie.” She seemed to accept this, then busied herself playing with a ratchet and trying to undo the hitch rack on the Acura like she had been watching me do. G naturally tried to unbolt the bolt I just bolted down. This was mostly harmless, and resulted in t.Human only getting herself a little dirty as she crawled behind the bike trays and under the rear bumper. Not much could go wrong, as that bolt is pretty tight, has a cotter pin and a lock, and the ratchet i keep in my portable bike tool kit is kind of a piece of shit. But she enjoyed the ratchety ratchety noise and the solid feel of the tool in her hand. Who wouldn’t? Ratchets are almost impossible not to play with.

So today, $1024 and one new clutch later, Genevieve asked me if the truck was all better and if we could take it. I’m still surprised when she remembers obscure details like this. Then she proceeded to ratchet on the hitch rack for awhile longer. I told her she had fixed it, she said “all fixed” and then said “you’re welcome” when I thanked her for her help. She even put her tools away, umm, sorta — meaning the ratchet got handed to me and she knocked the tool bag around on the floor a little with her foot.

if only real mechanics were this affordable.