Chapter 6 — The owner of the car shop behind the school gate

Khoa refused Vy's personal help by returning the mini pump she left on the shop table.

“I don't accept your things,” he said.

“It's the club pump.”

“You buy with your money.”

“I bought it because the old pump had a leak.”

“So it's your money.”

Vy looked at the black pump. She bought it on the way home from school, there was no logo, the price was not too high. In her mind, it was just a necessary item. But Khoa sees it as a shortcut.

“What if I transfer money to the fund?”

“There is no fund account.”

“Create an account.”

“Who manages?”

Vy opened her mouth and then closed it. Khoa didn't want her to answer in the easiest way.

Mrs. Man was repairing a children's car. When she heard that, she immediately said: "Ask her if she wants the pump to be recorded in the club's assets. If you want, give it to Ms. Van for approval. Don't bring it back to the shop to argue."

Khoa looked at his mother. “I know.”

“I knew but still stood blocking the door.”

Vy tried not to laugh. Khoa turned to her.

“You heard.”

“Listen clearly.”

“Then send it to Miss Van.”

Vy didn't pick up the pump right away. “What if Ms. Van refuses?”

“Then give it back.”

“Can you speak more softly?”

“I'm speaking lightly.”

In the afternoon, Ms. Van called the group for a meeting. Vy presented the pump, invoice and reason for purchase. She did not write "sponsored by An Vy"; She writes down the item's name, funding source, proponent and pending status.

Huy asked if approved, who is the owner? Ms. Van replied that the property belongs to the school and the club can only be used and must be inventoried. Quynh Chi suggested taking photos of the original condition, and Khoa suggested marking the asset number on the pump body.

Vy looked at the new pump placed next to the old pump. It's the same pump, but one has a clear history, the other could be considered a separate gift.

“Duyet,” Ms. Van said. “But all future payments must go through the same process.”

Khoa holds the pump and turns the valve to test. "Thank."

Vy looked at him. “Thank you who?”

“Thank you for doing the paperwork.”

“I thought you would thank the pump.”

“The pump cannot read.”

The next day, the group set up a small supplies fund from voluntary contributions. Do not accept cash through students; Supporters transfer to the school account or donate items with receipt. Bao was disappointed because he couldn't hold the money box, but Quynh Chi assigned him the job of pasting the spare parts code.

“Parts codes do not have commissions,” Bao lamented.

“You have the right to know where it goes,” Huy replied.

“Can that right be eaten?”

Khoa gave him a cookie. “Let's eat for now.”

Bao immediately accepted the job.

The new fund has a problem: people want to contribute but don't know what the club needs. Vy suggested making a priority list. Khoa doesn't want to list items that are too expensive. Ms. Van said to include the cost of repairing the roof, but it must be separated from the car repair materials. Huy built the table in three levels: immediate use, need to check, can be postponed.

One parent donated five new inner tubes. The department checked the dimensions and discovered that two cars were not suitable for student cars. The parent said just accept it, who knows if you can use it later. The faculty explained that storing the wrong type would take up space and could cause the person on duty to take the wrong one. The parent was not offended; he exchanged two for suitable models.

Vy finds that such exchanges are not noisy but require courage. Saying “inappropriate” to a gift is harder than saying “thank you.”

The second opening was twice as crowded. Some people come to fix it, some people come to study. Khoa divided the group into three tables: chain, brake and tire. Vy instructed how to read the instrument panel, but a 10th grader asked her differently between wrenches thirteen and fourteen.

“Size,” Vy replied.

"I know. But how do you look?"

Vy held two of them and held them close together. She doesn't talk about jargon, just lets you try on the nut. The fit is correct. She could do it herself, then turned to show others.

Khoa saw. “You are teaching better than the first day.”

“I progress quickly.”

“You speak as advertised.”

“The club needs media.”

“Quynh Chi will handle it.”

“You won't let me take the credit?”

“I'm giving you the job.”

At the end of the shift, a friend dropped a tray of snails. Screws rolled across the floor. Vy immediately intended to kneel down to pick them all up, but Khoa told her to temporarily close the area, take the magnets and sort them by size. Bao held a sign and told everyone to get out of the way. Huy recorded the incident.

Ten minutes later, only one snail was missing. No one knows where it rolled. The Faculty does not allow the use of other cubs. He marked the car unfinished, saying the borrower could come back tomorrow.

Vy asked why not buy a new one.

"You can buy it, but you have to know where the missing item is. Otherwise, next time we still won't know if the tray has enough."

“You can really turn a snail into a lesson.”

“You can turn a car into a showroom.”

Vy laughed before she could get angry. Khoa also laughed, very quickly, then bent down to look at the background.

In the evening, Vy sent the report to her father. She only sent what the club had done, not the post or drawings. Father replied that he had read it and wanted her home for the weekend.

Vy knew the conversation wouldn't be easy. But this time she did not intend to go with the mindset of asking permission. She wanted to ask her father whether the sketch had been approved or not, and if not, who had the right to speak for the garage users.

Before going to sleep, Khoa texted: "The pump has been recorded as an asset. Don't buy more."

Vy: “I'm just planning to buy a toolbox.”

Khoa: “No.”

Vy: “You answered too fast.”

Khoa: “I saw you looking at the box in the store.”

Vy put down the phone. Someone recognized her not because of the car her father sold, but because she often wanted to buy everything before knowing what she really needed.

Friday afternoon, Vy brought the old pump home to clean. The maid asked if I needed to buy a new one. Vy said no, then removed the pump head herself, dropping the spring onto the carpet. She had to kneel down and search for nearly half an hour. When she found it, she realized she was doing exactly what Khoa had warned her about: removing it before reading the instructions.

She took photos of each part and wrote the order on paper. When reinstalling the pump head, she still attached it upside down. Vy was so upset that she wanted to throw it away, but her father came through the door and asked what she was fixing. “A pump.” “Call someone to fix it.” “You have to know why it broke.” Dad didn't laugh. He sat down, took out his glasses and read the instructions. It took father and son ten minutes to discover that the rubber piece had to face the smooth side inward.

“I don't always have the answers,” he said.

Vy replied: "But dad often hires someone else to answer for him."

He laughed. Those words didn't make dinner any easier, but they made her feel less embarrassed about being clumsy.

The next day, Khoa let the group try to buy tools in three levels: need immediately, can borrow, only buy when they have data. Vy's mini pump is classified in the second group. She smiled and signed to confirm. Huy asked if the group would receive a large kit sponsorship. Khoa says yes, if ownership and warranty are clearly stated.

Quynh Chi created a reception form. Vy read the part "the person handing over commits to set up The device does not contain personal data," laughed. Huy explained that some electric pumps have applications to save usage history. Khoa said they do not need the device to know who has pumped the pump how many times.

The testing session lasted until dark. One friend broke the rope lock, another dropped the hexagon into the floor slot, and Huy wrote down the wrong number of patches. No one was scolded. They put up a “today's problems” box, wrote down each mistake, and then discussed how to prevent a repeat.

Vy suggested that at the end of each week, choose a mistake to teach new members. Khoa says it's a way to turn shame into experience. He chose to install Vy's pump head upside down. She was about to object, but then stopped, because that story was easier to remember than a long rule.

Before leaving, Khoa asked Vy if she wanted to try riding Mrs. Man's bike. She shook her head for fear of scratching it. Mrs. Man from behind said that the old car is not afraid of scratches, just afraid of being forgotten. Vy pedaled around, the brakes made a little noise but she was still able to stop. She understands that an item that is used properly can still wear out. The goal of care is not to keep it intact, but to let it continue to serve the person in need.

The car passed through the school gate with an uneven sound. Vy must learn to pedal slowly on steep sections, not standing on the pedals like when riding a new bike. Khoa ran next to her, only reminding her when she was about to brake suddenly. Mrs. Man stood in the shop watching, saying it had been a long time since someone was willing to test the car instead of just dusting it.

Vy asked what if she scratched her today. She said she would fix it, record it, and then use it again. The answer reminded Vy of glossy blueprints: an overprotected object would never tell whether it was actually usable or not. She returned the car, recorded the test kilometers on the board, without rounding.

Khoa told her to write down the weather. Vy added a line, even though she didn't understand why. By evening, she realized the tire was softer because of the cold, and that small detail could help diagnose faster next time.

She sent notes to the group. Huy marked it to include seasonal instructions, and Khoa said he would check the temperature next time before drawing conclusions.