No Brakes

 I had gone to see my Mother at Martha Franks in Laurens one Sunday afternoon.  I tried to get up there every week to 10 days.  As I got in my car to head home, I noticed that I didn't have much brake pressure.  I continued on down the road and found all of the pressure had gone.  I had no brakes.
 Normally, I would drive home on the "old road", because I hate interstates.  And besides, I like the scenery.  But on this day, I realized that I needed to go on the interstate, because all of the town in between Laurens and Columbia had stop lights.  I could get into an accident.  So, off I went on I-26 with no brakes.
 The good news was that I could take a steady speed.  The bad news was that I didn't have enough gas to get home.  I decided to drive as if it was snowing.  I slowed into turns like I would with ice on the road.  It was the summertime when this happened.  Some drivers honked their horns at me, but I just yelled back that I didn't have any brakes.  I started looking for a gas station off of the interstate and found one at the Newberry exit.  I slowed to a crawl on the ramp and eased into the gas station.  I opened the door and dragged my foot for it to stop.  I felt like Fred Flintstone. Someone told me later that if I had shifted into neutral that the car would have been easier to stop.   I filled up and eased out and onto the interstate again.
 As I got closer to Columbia, I knew I had to get to a repair shop that was open on Sundays.  I decided on Pep Boys on Decker near Columbia Mall.  That meant that I had to get on I-20 before getting to Columbia.  The exit is a long curving one, so I slowed to another crawl to take the curve.  More cars honked at me, but I had no brakes.  Some drivers saluted me with one finger.  I waved back.  I was fortunate that this was a Sunday afternoon, and traffic was light.
 I got up to the Two Notch exit and slowed to the traffic light at the end of the ramp.  No cars were coming, so I turned right onto Two Notch.  I got up to the Decker Road turn that I had to take to the left.  The light was green, so I proceeded on to Pep Boys.  In order to get into their parking lot, I had to go down a hill.  I was just creeping along and got to a parking space.  I went in and told them what had happened that afternoon.  They were amazed I was still alive.  I had learned how to drive in ice and snow, when I lived in Fort Worth, so those memories helped me get back home.  They fixed the leak in the break line, and all was well.  It was a scary day, and I had to go to the bathroom big time, when I got home.