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Scotty released the catch and lifted the bonnet on his customer’s Buick. The owner was a war widow with three adolescent children and very distraught because the steering had suddenly turned quite stiff.
‘I can barely turn the wheel at all,’ she told him.
He nodded. ‘Leave her with me. I’ll see what I can do. You got a few jobs you can do in the mean time?’
The woman nodded, handed over the keys and left, relief etched across her face.
Scotty bent to peer around the engine and couldn’t see anything wrong with the vent plugs but the battery showed signs of corrosion. He rubbed a little petroleum jelly around the terminals and wiped his cheek against his sleeve. Nothing else seemed to be out of place. He squatted and checked the tyre pressure. ‘There’s your problem, lady,’ he muttere
