Gremlin - Gremlinis mechanicus

"There was nothing wrong... But now there's a gremlin in here."

"Well what now?" Roy yelled for what felt like the tenth time today.
He checked and doublechecked and triple checked the car yesterday. He and Frank both. They looked over the engine, the tires, and every space they cleared out to fill with the booze. Nothing was wrong, and in fact, the car was the fastest they'd built and running more smooth than any of the other machines prior. And yet, here he was, car overheating for the second time this morning. And prior to both overheating episodes, the starter wouldn't turn, then the door wouldn't close, then the tire blew. Roy already missed the meet.
He was convinced Annie would fire him. This was his first run, and he was determined to show that he was not only the most reliable runner she's got, but the fastest. Every other outfit had their fastest runners, but no one else had Roy. This was his time to make a name for himself, and maybe even gain enough trust to race one of these cars in one of those weekend back country stock car tracks. Running with an outfit was something, but running the fastest stock car was a whole other ride. He even had some names ready to go: Rippin' Roy, Racin' Roy, Run Around Roy, Rocket Roy, and his favorite, Reckless Roy. Had a nice danger quality to it, that one.
Roy looked at the steam rising from the front of the car and yelled several choice profanities before banging the steering wheel with both hands and then departing the vehicle to check. She hired him for one reason. One reason, and he's blowing it. "I can boost the speed of anything, ANYTHING that moves, and for some reason, you just won't listen," Roy yelled at the machine. What was happening? His talent was always there for him, what was the deal?
Roy had lifted the hood when another car rolled up behind. It was Hattie and Jim. They walked up to the front mess. Hattie whistled at the steam and said, "Well, I guess we know why you didn't make the meet."
"How'd you find out so fast?" Roy asked.
"Sebastian gave us a ring. We thought we'd drive the route to see if we could find you," Jim said. "What's going on?"
Roy told them the story. "And I'm now about ready to give up. I can't go back to Annie like this."
"Oh Annie'll be alright. She's set up a new meeting time. Told them you got some heat and led the cops out to the beach," Jim said.
"Hey, I know what this is, guys," Hattie said. "You got some tools?" Roy didn't on account of dumping everything to make the car as light and fast as possible, but Jim did and got the box for Hattie.
"Hattie, Frank and I checked and rechecked this car. Ain't nothing wrong with it," Roy said, now sitting on the side of the road, head in hands.
"There was nothing wrong with it, you mean," Hattie said. "But I'm willing to bet there's a gremlin in here."
"A What?" Jim and Roy said at the same time.
Hattie picked up a couple of tools from the tool box and got to work under the hood. "A gremlin. How have you two not heard of 'em? They were a big deal over in England during the War. Wreaked all sorts of havoc on the airplanes. Mechanics found these little creatures breaking this and that all over the place inside engines, bulk heads, props. No one's ever seen them before." Hattie, finally getting to use her skills for something meaningful, suddenly felt very proud of herself.
"Creatures? What are you talking about? What did you call it?" Jim asked. Both Jim and Roy were now standing behind Hattie, looking into the engine block.
"A gremlin. Not sure where the word comes from, I bet Morgan would know. These... creatures. I don't know what they look like, being they were in England and all. But they're supposed to look like small cats, or something, but without any fur. They were discovered during the war when all sorts of malfunctions were happening in airplanes. The mechanics couldn't figure it out. Just like you said, they double checked everything, but things still broke the next day. Planes wouldn't start, or take off, or move their propellers, leak fuel, all sorts of things. So," Hattie continued as she yanked some pieces of car out from under the hood, "the mechanics took apart a couple of the planes. Completely dismantled them into their smallest parts. And what did they find hiding in grooves and tubes," she said as she held up something small, cat-looking but without fur, and smiling mischievously, "but tiny creatures inside the machines, destroying small parts of the planes, so they wouldn't work."
Jim and Roy both gasped. "What in the hell?" Roy whispered.
"This, friends," she said, turning to show them the small creature, "is a gremlin. Kinda cute, isn't it?"
Roy and Jim both backed up a few feet. "How did you know about this, Hattie?" Roy asked.
"I read the gossip columns in the paranormal papers," she said, "Apparently, you should, too."
"Do they bite?" Jim asked.
"I don't think so," Hattie said. "I think they just like to take things apart. I'm thinking some other crew got their hands on one of these and let it loose in our garage. Couldn't have been cheap to do, I'll tell you that. Far as I read, these were only in England. The Juicy Suzy column says some witches in east Europe somewhere thought these up."
"Does it talk?" Jim asked.
"Do you talk?" Hattie asked the gremlin. It shook its head side to side. "Well what does that mean? Do you understand English?" It nodded. "Well that's a relief. Okay, can you tell us who put you up to this? Who told you to tear apart this car?" A shake of the head. "What if I got you some food and water, and a place to sleep? Would you tell us then?" A vigorous nod. "Could you fix what you did?" No response. "Could you fix this, if I gave you more food?" Vigorous nod.
"Well cheers to being motivated by food," Roy said. "Hattie, I owe ya one. Now let's get this gremlin some food, shall we? Maybe we can turn it to work for us."