Then one day, the man of the house came out and started her up. Rumblety-bump started shaking and making a terrible noise, but she ran. The man took her a couple of places, and then, late at night, he took her to another house. “Where am I?” Rumblety-bump wondered. The next day a lady came out and drove her to work. How thrilling it was to drive along with other cars! to be on the road again!
As Rumblety-bump raced along, she realized she was very thirsty. It had been a long time since she had had a good drink. But it was so exciting to be out on the road, that Rumblety-bump ignored the thirsty feeling and did her best to keep running. One day, however, she started out on a long trip, all the way to Charlotte. For about an hour she kept going and going. Poor Rumblety-bump! She got thirstier and thirstier and hotter and hotter. Finally, she could not run any further. She was just too hot.
The ladies who were riding in her realized that Rumblety-bump was too hot, so the one who was driving stopped in a parking lot to see what she could do about it. She bent down to pull the lever to open the hood, but the lever popped right out and fell out of its place. Well, the lady did try to put the lever back again, but then she went into a store and left Rumblety-bump in the parking lot, still thirsty. Would she ever get a drink?
After a little while, the passenger lady and a man came out of the store. He looked like an important man, a worker from the store. The lady had given him a key, so he opened the driver’s side door and reached for the lever to open the hood. Pop! The hood came open! Hurray! The man looked around carefully inside. After what seemed like a long time, he opened that cap to the little plastic container where he could pour in the water. Rumblety-bump was so excited. She would finally get her drink. But, alas! The man went back into the store and left the cap open. While he was gone, the two ladies looked into the container to see if they could see any water. They saw a little bit, but they decided it must have just gotten stuck in that spot.
In a few minutes the man came back. He was carrying a gallon of water! He opened the bottle, and poured in a half gallon. Rumblety-bump gulped and gulped. How wonderful that water tasted! The man told the lady who had been driving to start the car. She did, and he poured in the other half gallon. Now Rumblety-bump was happy! Her thirst went away, and she did not feel nearly so hot. She could fly along the road with ease. And fly she did, to all the stores and then all the way home. Yipeeee! How free she felt, zipping along with the other cars! And how contented she was that she could do her job well.