NEDERLAND — The other morning, when I returned home from my morning walk, I noticed that the passenger's side rear tire on my daughter's car was low on air, so, I got our portable air compressor that plugs into the cigarette lighter socket and filled the tire.

Later, when my daughter woke up and, before I left for work, I told her that she needed to take her car into the tire store because she had a rear tire that was leaking air.  She complained that she did not have time because she had a class and then she had to go to work.  I told her that I left the compressor in her car, so, she would be able to inflate the tire if she wasn't able to take it in.

I went off to my job and, an hour later, I texted her because I had forgotten to tell her which rear tire was leaking.  I erroneously texted her that it was the driver's side rear tire that had a leak. She texted me back that she was on her way to the tire shop to get the tire checked out.

I assumed that the problem with the flat tire was resolved until I got a call from my daughter when she got off work at 6 p.m.  She said that now the rear tire on the passenger's side was flat and a nice man was helping her to inflate it. I told her that she had gotten the wrong tire repaired. She insisted that my text said the driver's side rear tire.  I checked my cellphone and she was right.  Shame on me! I had made a mistake, my first one in years! She said that the tire shop told her that there was a nail in the driver's side rear tire.  Evidently, both of her rear tires were leaking and I had only noticed one.

The man helping her said that it looked like the valve stem was cut.  She was perturbed because she would have to take her car in again the next morning and she thought that she would be unable to go out with her friends at night. She blamed her misfortune on my erroneous text.

When I got home from work I was surprised when I found that my daughter was gone because her car was in the driveway.  My wife said that she called a friend to pick her up, so, her social life was not deterred by her tire woes.

The next morning, I got up early, pumped up the flat tire and took her car into the tire shop.  I was careful to tell them to fix the passenger's side rear tire and that I thought the valve stem was cut. They replaced the valve stem and I was on my way back home in 10 minutes.  As it turned out, Amy had two tires leaking that needed to be fixed and my erroneous text enabled her to get both of them repaired. Next time I have a flat tire I am going to make sure they check all of the tires for leaks and be careful when I am texting.

Joel Pinnt

Nederland