136
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136
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On each side of the road were soldiers, nervously fingering their rifles. The policeman slid out of the car when he let go of the car door, and motioned us to drive up a little further, where we were stopped by three young soldiers with rifles. They seemed good natured and smiled at us once in a while, but this did not help much, we wanted to get our of there. They motioned us to stay where we were.
After an hour or more, one of the young men came over to the car and said, in good English, "The party is over you may go now." With smiles and waving their hands, we made our way back to the village. As we approached the bus with broken windows, and dented sides, we saw a little old man cleaning up the glass and debris. Not another person was in sight. We could not read the papers or understand the radio, so we never knew what happened in that little village.
It was a great relief to be on the road again, but our troubles were not over. By 3:30 that afternoon we were able to leave the old road and get back on the highway. The heavy rains, however, had damaged the good roads as well and we were driving in water up to the axle. A sudden jolt and a noise that sounded like a gun brought us to a sudden stop. The car seemed to be sitting down in the street. I got out to take a look and could see that the right rear wheel was dragging on the fender, we had broken a torsion bar, we could still move if we went very slowly.
We were getting close to Homs, so we decided to continue I the best we could and hope to get help. We found a garage, the owner spoke some English, and with what Arabic I knew we were able to communicate. The mechanic looked at the J problem, and agreed with me as to what the trouble was. A new part was required.
The mechanic took out his watch and let me know that he might still get a call to Aleppo in time for them to send a new part to him by morning. He took the torsion bar out, got the serial number and put in a telephone call. They had the part, and it would be in on the truck the next morning.
The following morning, while Verna and the girls did some sightseeing around Homs, I went to the garage and waited. By eight o'clock the truck arrived, and sure enough the part was there. By 10:00 o'clock the mechanic crawled out from under the car, and with a greasy grin, held up his hand with the universal sign, thumb touching two fingers, and said in English. "It be O. K.", and it was. I have talked with other V.W. mechanics and all have said that it was an unusual break.
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Metzger Memories
