My poor parents!

This is the email my mother sent me today. I swear, they have the *strangest* things happen to them.

We have had quite an eventful AM. When Dad went out to his car this morning around 5:30, he saw something round and shiny on the driveway near the back of the Cutlass. He thought it was a frisbee. Instead, it was the hubcap off of the right rear tire - that had been stolen!! The car was up on a jack, and the lugnuts and hubcap were strewn on the driveway. He came back inside and woke me up. I sent him on to work, got dressed and called the police. When she arrived, she said it was very unusual for just one tire to be gone! Evidently, something/someone scared off the thief(s). We made a police report, but she didn't offer much that could be done. I called AAA to come put the little donut tire on (I wasn't about to try to figure it out in 30 degrees and that's what we pay AAA to do!) An 1 hour 45 minutes later when he finally arrived, he said, "Is that your jack the car is on?" I said, "It is now!!" It is a new jack too! I got the car over to Duckworth's to have another tire put on it (you know we just put 4 new tires on that car two weeks ago, right?). I'm thinking, OK, probably another $100, we can do that. The guy came back inside after looking in the trunk (I couldn't figure out what he was looking for) and said, very gently, "Um, Ma'am, you have to have a wheel for me to put the tire on. We don't have wheels." I'm sure the guys at Duckworth think I'm as dumb as a post!

So, off to Vaden Chevrolet/Oldsmobile I go on my little donut tire. At Vaden, the guy in the parts department took the VIN number, looks in the computer and says, "Oooo, those are aluminum." I asked, "Is that good or bad?" He said, "They're good wheels, but they're bad on the pocketbook." At this point, I'm struggling inside to keep it together, so I asked him, "Am I going to need a Kleenex?" Without looking up or cracking a smile he said, "You might." The wheels, as it turns out, only fit 1997, 1998 and 1999 Oldsmobile Cutlasses. Someone was after that specific wheel, not the tire. So with a $150 DISCOUNT, he ordered a wheel for $430 which should be delivered tomorrow. Then I'll take to to Duckworth and get the tire. I guess we will be buying some of those locking lugnuts to see if we can hang onto our tires, excuse me, our wheels. I can't help but wonder if they will come back for the other three tonight. I may dump everything out of the garage into the yard so we can put at least two vehicles in the garage!