Charged With Attempted Murder

I'm currently on house arrest due to the charge of "attempted murder".  The victim?  My mini-van.  Hence the house arrest.  Can't really go anywhere without any mode of transportation.

It was a typical Wednesday afternoon.  Nothing spectacular happening.  My brother offered to by lunch, so I figured the least I could do is drive.  The gas light was on though and I had been for awhile.  I wasn't sure if I could even make it to the gas station to fill up.  I had just cleaned out the garage though and knew that I put a gas can on the top shelf that was completely full.  That should have been plenty to get me to the gas station.....

So I poured it in the tank, we all piled into the van (my brother, all three kids and myself) and started our short journey to Sonic and then the gas station.  Less than 1/4 mile from the house though, the van sputtered, hesitated and died.  I had enough momentum to roll into a side street, then I pushed it up to the next residential block to part.  Out of gas.  Don't know how since I just put 2 gallons in it from the gas can, but alas, it wouldn't start.  So my brother started his short trek back to the house to get his car and some gas cans.

When he returned, he had a worried look on his face.  He said, "That gas can you used?  There was a slightly green puddle around it from where it dripped and the liquid smelled sweet...... like anti-freeze."  WHAT?!?  I immediately grabbed my cell phone and dialed my husband.  "Did you put anti-freeze in one of the gas cans in the garage?"  He calmly and casually said, "yes".  To which I replied, "YOU DON'T EVER PUT ANYTHING IN A GAS CAN OTHER THAN GAS!!!".  My reply was quite loud and aggressive in case you didn't catch on to that.  He hollered back at me and I told him that I had mistakenly poured the entire thing into my gas tank.

My brother had brought back two gas cans, so the theory was that we were gonna pour more gas in to dilute the anti-freeze down, start the van up, and all would be right with the world.  Everything was not right with the world.  Not only would it not start, but now everything electrical quit working.  A guy offered to jump my battery, but I explained my predicament and decided that that probably wasn't a good idea.  He agreed and drove away. 

My brother took the kids in his car and went home while I stayed with the van until my husband could get there.  Billy showed up as quick as he could and fiddled around under the hood.  Still no go.  So we called our roadside assistance for a tow.  While waiting, two more good samaritans offered their help and I had to tell them the predicament.  Then the two truck driver got there and I had to tell him what I'd done.  Then we got to the mechanic and I had to tell him what I'd done.  Nothing like having to repeatedly tell strangers all about your stupid mistake.  *sigh*

As of date, the van is still sitting at the mechanic.  Waiting on a fuel pump.  The theory is that anti-freeze is denser than gasoline, it'll sink to the bottom of the gas tanks, they'll drain it all out, flush the lines, replace the fuel pump and everything will be fine.  Hopefully the power issue is just simply a safety feature on the car and once they hit "reset" on the computer, she'll come back to life.  Only time will tell though.

So in the meantime, I sit here, anxious and embarrassed.  Charged with attempted murder of our lovely family mini-van.  The sentence?  House arrest and fines (ie: a steep mechanic bill that can only go up from here).