Son of a bitch was vapor-locked at both ends

 Son-of-a-bitch was vapor-locked at both ends

     It was a fairly common problem in  the old leaded gas automobiles of our youth when the dreaded vapor lock would bring a muscle car to a halt. Vapor lock occurs when fuel in a gasoline-powered engine turns to vapor before reaching the carburetor or fuel injectors. This can cause the engine to stall or run roughly. In the 1960's most cars were carbureted, but it's not the carburetor that causes vapor lock, it's the arrangement of an engine-mounted mechanical fuel pump that uses siphon vacuum to draw fuel through a thin, long tube from the tank in the rear. In the older model Detroit steel autos this was a problem along with other forgotten bugaboos like flooding the engine and needing a choke. It was a common warning from driving teachers to kids learning to drive when they were starting the old rust-buckets of "you're going to flood it!" Anyway, this is not really about cars but about the fountain of earthy dialogue that flowed from Thomas Aloyisius Sheehy, aka Uncle Al who was regaling his brother about an old neighborhood kid who had passed away. Greg, Jack and I were hanging on his every word as he detailed a visit to the old pal dying in a hospital. The poor guy had some kind of fatal ailment where his organs were shutting down and the digestive system was just not working The man was suffering from serious constipation and an inability to eat any solid food. Worst of all he could not belch and he could not fart to release the pressure of increasing gas. Al, in his salt of the earth understanding of the suffering and down to earth articulation of the condition just told John "poor Son-of-a-bitch was vapor-locked at both ends!" In one phrase Al made it clear just what brought about the patient's demise.