a friend of mine from
back in the day, Brandon Mullins, had a
car, a true early 80s
POS car (perhaps a 1982
toyota corolla? my
memory is a bit
fuzzy). it got him around, but just barely. it had a top speed of about 50
mph and just enough power to
pull a greased string out of a cat's ass if you were going downhill. a lovely two-tone
color scheme of
grey and
rust nicely offset the plumes of smoke it would occasionally
belch into the air.
one of the most interesting features of this car was it's random starting mechanism. sometimes it would start. sometimes not. there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to why it would or wouldn't start. Brandon finally figured out what would make it start: the jesus stick
a seemingly innocent piece of purple plastic about 2' in length, it contained enough of the divine to cause miracles under the hood. originally part of a locker divider, it found it's way into the back floorboard of his car near the end of one school year. it's divine intervention was first put to use sometime during that summer when Brandon, disgusted at his piece of shit car that wouldn't start, took this stick and violently poked about in the engine compartment. Lo and behold! the vehicle started!
being the son of a preacher, Brandon quickly realised the stick was divine intervention, meant for him alone. since then, he kept the jesus stick in the back floorboard of his car (among empty beverage containers, trash, shoes and other random refuse), ready to be retrieved at a moment's notice. as far as i know, it never failed to rout the demons responsible for his car not starting.