The Tire Pressure Light is On

The engine turns. The car cranks up. The dash lights turn on and flash a time or two and then go blank. Except the tire pressure light. You stare at the orange light with the obnoxious exclamation point inside that strange curvy figure. The light wasn't on yesterday. You know because you check every single time you start the car. The temperature has dropped almost thirty degrees since your last drive. Maybe that explains the light's summoning. But you're cutting it close. You'll be late for work if you air up your tires now. You don't have time to fix this problem.

The tires need to warm up. That'll fix the problem. A few miles on the tires will make the light go away.

You put the gear shift in D and you're off. You creep through the neighborhood and approach a stop sign and you come to a complete stop. You look both ways. No one around. You look at the dashboard lights. The tire pressure light is still on. Of course it is. The tires haven't warmed up yet. You keep driving and turn onto the main road.

The road is bumpy. The car rides low, so you can't help feeling every rumble, every texture vibrating on the back of your legs and your ass so near the ground. You turn the radio off even though your favorite song is playing. You can't afford to sing along today. You need to be tapped in, undistracted, fully aware. The tire pressure light is on. Now’s not the time for fun and games.

You approach the highway. You're cautious. No point in being reckless. You settle on a speed that feels right—about 10 miles under the limit—during the morning rush. No tailgating today. No unnecessary risks. The tire pressure light is on.

You look at the dash again. The tire pressure light is still on. Why didn't you air up the tires?

Stupid.

Onward.

Your grip on the steering wheel tightens. The wheel vibrates with every change in the road. It's because the tire pressure is low, you whisper. Because the tire pressure light is on.

Another car—a sportier model—closes in on you and rides your rear end. You hear a light thud. Did you hit something? Did your tire pop? You swear you can feel the car pulling to the right and to the left and to the front and to the back, all at the same time.

The driver behind you flashes his headlights.

I'm in the slow lane for a reason, you yell into the rearview.

The sporty car swerves into the left lane and passes you—the driver is gesturing for you to roll down your window.

You ignore him. You approach your exit, so you take it and continue toward the office. You find comfort as you pass through a school zone.

You get to work and pull into a parking spot.

You sigh.

Relief.

In the breakroom, in the line for the coffee pot, your co-workers share the horror stories of their morning commutes.

Sharon says she was sitting still on the highway for nearly 30 minutes. Bill complains about taking the toll road. Deborah, who always shares too much, says the roads are bumpier due to recent construction, which triggered her irritable bowel syndrome when she still had a mile and a half left to go.

You tell them your commute was fine. They stare at you but say nothing. You take your coffee and head to your desk and start your day.

You spend the first hour and a half of the workday browsing the internet and researching how long you can drive with low tire pressure. Though the specifics vary, every site tells you the same thing: Not nearly as long as you’d like.

Of course they have to make it sound bad. They just want to sell tires. You decide to forget about the low tire pressure and get on with your day.

At lunch, you and some co-workers stand in the lobby of the office and decide who's driving.

Nathan's car is running on E. Phyllis has a couple of car seats in the back and she doesn't want to bother with taking them out. They look to you, waiting for your excuse.

The tire pressure light is on. You mumble this, wanting to move on. The three of you settle on walking somewhere close for lunch. As you walk, Nathan tells you about his cousin's friend from church. Her car flipped when her tire blew out because the tire pressure was low.

The light had been on for only a couple of days, Nathan says. Her car flipped when she was going over an overpass. It flipped over the railing and crashed onto the street below. The roof of her car caved in. Her family didn't recognize her after the accident.

Is that true?

Nathan accuses you of calling his cousin a liar. She goes to church twice on Sundays.

Phyllis says the restaurant has amazing chicken fried steak as you approach. Nathan grumbles that it was dry the last time he tried it.

When you return from lunch, you try to verify Nathan's story. You stalk him on social media in an attempt to identify his cousin. You can't find Nathan's saintly relative. Your trail runs cold. You can never trust anything Nathan says.

Before you know it, it's quitting time. You decide that now—at this very time on this very day—might be a good time to stay late and catch up on some loose ends you've been neglecting. You hear a ding on your computer. A new email from IT. Emergency maintenance will be performed in a few minutes. The internet and the internal network will be down until tomorrow morning.

This is why you can never get ahead. You shut down your computer.

Sitting in your car, you stare at the tire pressure light. You had hoped it would go away now that the temperature had risen throughout the day. But there it is. You curse.

You consider driving to a gas station with one of those air fill-up hoses, but all the gas stations will be busy at evening rush hour, and you don't have any change, so you'll have to go through the trouble of going to an ATM and breaking a twenty-dollar bill. You simply do not have time for this.

Shortly after you've departed, you hit a bump. The car feels off. The low tire pressure is affecting the ride.

You hit traffic. Relief. Everyone in the left lane is negotiating their way into the right lanes. Accident up ahead. Flames. You creep past the scene. There's a car—the same model as yours—flipped over. Burning. You try to get a good look at the car's tires. Are they melted? Are they the same tires as yours? Were they properly inflated? You can't make sense of the scene. The driver behind you honks and you refocus on the road ahead of you.

As you continue home, the image—the burning car, the smoke, the chaos of it all—replays on an infinite loop in your head.

When you get home, you grab a drink. The day has been especially stressful. After a few sips, you realize you should fill up your tires. But you're tired. The sun is already setting. And the cold is especially bitter now. You simply don't have time for this.

It can wait. You'll take care of it tomorrow.