Thrifty Zoe

Some people will do anything to save a penny on gas.

Fuel is expensive these days; anyone who is even a little bit aware of current events can tell you that. Old folks tell stories of the days when a five dollar bill could fill your gas tank and buy you dinner, and even I can remember the days of 98 cents per gallon.

I'm sure that even back then, people shopped around for the best gas prices; why pay more than you have to for the same product? Nowadays, however, it's a necessity. Fueling our cars has become so expensive that companies like Shell and Citgo offer us credit cards to use to buy our gas. We shop for the lowest gas prices as a survival tactic now; what good is a full tank if you can't afford to go anywhere?

I'll admit, I got caught up in it for awhile. The first time gas prices went over $3 per gallon, I never stopped anywhere but the one place that had it for $2.99. Sometimes, I went out of my way to get there. Somehow, I felt the ten cents I saved was worth the dollar's worth I spent driving to the place.

Lately, though, I don't pay much attention to gas prices. Sure, I'll stop at the least expensive places in my area; that just makes good sense, but I don't drive out of my way to get there, and if the price goes down two cents per gallon a day after I fill up, I don't let it bother me. Sometimes you get a good price, sometimes you don't.

My car, however, apparently disagrees with this practice.

Zoe Zoom-Zoom, my 2002 Mazda Protege (yes, I named her, and she loves it), is a fantastic little automobile who has been with me since May 2003, about 75,000 miles ago. She's never let me down, but today, she made it known that she wants me to spend as little on gas as I can.

I was down to about a quarter tank, so I stopped at the gas station on the way to work. It was priced at $2.29 per gallon, which is about the lowest one can find in my regularly traveled area these days. I pulled the lever that opens the gas door, and it didn't pop open. Sometimes it sticks a little, but it's usually open enough to get my fingers in to open it completely. Not today.

I pulled the lever again, and...nothing. It was stuck, completely closed, and no amount of lever-pulling or prying could get the thing open. I stood there for 10 minutes, wind whipping my hair all around, alternately prying and pulling, all to no avail.

Defeated, I got back into my car and headed to work with plans to call the service department at the dealership where I bought Zoe, hoping they'd have some words of wisdom, or at least an open time slot when I could bring her in, hopefully soon, since a quarter tank doesn't last all that long.

When I got to the work parking lot, I tried again. This time, after a couple of pulls and no prying at all, the door opened completely. Even though I was already 15 minutes late, I made a quick trip to the gas station across the street, and I ended up paying a penny less per gallon than I would have at the first place.

Could it be that Zoe didn't want the gas at the first place? Did she purposely hold the gas door shut, knowing I would try to open it again when I got to work and end up getting a better price? Is it possible that, while I don't care much about the price of gas, Zoe does? It's as plausible an explanation as any, I think.

I don't know if I consider the annoying events of the morning worth the few nickels I saved. But Zoe seems happy with herself for helping me save money, so I guess in the future I should go out of my way to buy the cheapest gas to appease her.