Apr. 17

4/17/2026 Correspondence 211

 It was a strange day. 

Have you ever stolen 14 dollars' worth of gas? I can officially say I have. Not on purpose, of course. But of course I would say that.

 You see, what happened was, I was on my way home from USC to go back home and do some birthday celebrations. I needed gas, desperately, so I went to a gas station (where else would I go). I did have some cash on me, a 50 to be exact, and I walked to the register and said, "Give me 25 on pump 1." They said "Sure," and punched their computer, took my 50, and made it into 5 5s. When I walked back to my car, opened my tank, grabbed the nozzle, hit the button, and shoved it in my car... nothing happened. So I waited a bit and tried again. And then again. And then again. And then again. 

At a loss for what to do, I walk back inside speepishly (you know how I am) and say, "Excuse me, pump 1 never started." They said, "Sure," and punched some more buttons on the computers, "try again now." 

So I did, I walked back out there, put the nozzle back, grabbed the nozzle again, hit the button, shoved it in my car, and squeezed the handle. This time it worked like a charm. I sat back and let it go. Not much I can do to help a gas pump. And so I waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, waiting to hear that distinctive click of the pump when it hits either its limit or its price cap. 

I heard no such noise.  

When I looked up, I was already at 30 bucks. Then kept watching as it climbed. I do feel a bit of guilt. Maybe I should have stopped it. I honestly believed it was going to stop at any second, and they just threw in a few bucks extra for my troubles. But it didn't. It just kept going until it finally did click, at 39.42. It was the kinda of click it makes when your car is full. 

I replaced the nozzle and looked at the numbers. 

I stood there for a long time, just thinking. 

And then I got in my car and drove home. 

Goodnight, 

calvin Landreth