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turn with two bottles of beer.
I was determined not to let on that I knew exactly who I
was talking to – I was so afraid of being cast a stalker – but
the scene was already getting weird for me, standing by my
broken car having a beer with Steve Jobs’s wife. So, it got
weirder.
“You know, we have a friend who knows all about these
Sunbeams. We should call him.”
I begged her not to, that I’d call AAA and be on my way.
She left her beer and went back in the house for a minute,
only to return saying, “They’re on their way out, but said they
would drop by to take a look.”
By this point, I am fully resigned to whatever story is going
to play out. It was starting to dawn on me that these were
not just Silicon Valley elite – they were real people, just helping
a poor guy out. It was just unexpected, given what you
might think about people like this: it would have been so easy
for them to just ignore me. or call the police.
Within about fifteen minutes, a very long, very black car I
won’t identify pulled up and – Felini could not have directed
this – a handsome gentleman in (I think) a tuxedo, and a
beautifully formally dressed wife emerged, to examine my car.
This was Laurene’s friend, the Sunbeam mechanic.
I protested, all was ignored. The tuxedoed man (who to
this day I have no idea who he was – I’ll call him James Bond)
took off his jacket, opened the hood of my car, and commenced
to fishing around inside, while we all visited amicably.
So Steve comes out.
At which point – being an admirer of Jobs for many years
– I guess I knew was inevitable, and I both dreaded and anticipated
it. He ambled over. I think he had a beer too. And
asked what was going on. He was joined by one of the kids.
The Jobs made small talk and joked with their friends
– dressed to the nines, repairing my car – while I politely
thanked them over and over and tried not to throw up at the
insanity of the scene. And then of course, it got even weirder,
or funnier, depending on whether you were me or not.
James Bond told someone to try to crank the car. I was
talking with Laurene, so Jobs actually sits down in the Alpine
and tries to crank it – with his kid sitting behind him. To no
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