Windshield Wiper Saga It wasn't such a difficult task to start with, but I have one of those minds that can tie simple things into knots. Take the windshield wipers, for instance.

I was driving in the rain when the piece that holds the spring in place wore out and the spring fell out. The wiper continued to slosh the rainwater around, but it wouldn't press tightly against the windshield, so it didn't make it much easier to see.

All I had to do was go to the junkyard, or the dealer, and get a new one. Just one nut would need to be removed and replaced. But no, I just leave the broken wiper there. After all, it's just on the passenger side. I leave it there for months, carefully guarding the broken spring as if I might weld it back in place in an emergency. Now, off and on, I'm compulsive about things, such as clean windshields: those seem important to me. So, hastily squeegeeing the windshield, I reach over and ... a two-dollar cleaning tool breaks the good wiper, on the driver's side. And the forecast for today is ... snow!

I drive it to work anyway and get this great plan to fix it over lunch break: I'll take a replacement wiper from a friend's junk vehicle. I think, we should experiment with the more broken wiper, but no, that would be too smart. So the friend gets some vise grips and removes the nut. Oops, the nut comes off with part of the bolt attached—that's bad. Then the friend notices that this wiper arm was fine, and only the rubber part needed replacing. But that was before the bolt was broken; now the whole assembly link, which connects the wipers to the wiper motor, has to be replaced.

No problem, except that the wrong dealer parts come in, I finally go to the junkyard after all and get the right ones, and then a mechanically smart person helps me install them. And they're fine—hooray.

I learned a lot about how windshield wipers work, but my own mind—that requires further study. Here is a question from the text aids: What's the problem with the windshield wipers?
A.
The writer keeps breaking them instead of fixing them.
B.
The writer gets bad parts at the junkyard.
C.
A lot of bad weather makes fixing the wipers difficult.