WHY does this always happen?

Why does the car break down after it is paid for? Wednesday morning I went to pick up Dancer from basketball practice, about a half mile from home, I hear this flapping sound. Oh oh I think, that is not a good sound. But....then it stops. I am a firm believer that if your car is making a sound and it stops making that sound then it is all better. If it doesn't stop making the sound I try turning up the radio to see if that will over power the sound, where again, if I can't hear it, it isn't broken. We get to the mailbox and Dancer attempts to roll down her window to get the mail and nothing happens. Dang, now I have to walk out to the mailbox. Get the car in the garage and we can tell it is not feeling well, it's radio doesn't even work. Alternator says the Dad when he hears the symptoms. Dang again, that sounds expensive. In her defense, the old girl does have a 129,000 miles on her but, she is paid for, so we love her. It is a holiday, therefore, we can't get it fixed until today. The shop in our town takes the day after new years off we found out this morning after calling them over and over while trying to convince ourselves that they just aren't answering the phone. Finally, we realize that we will need to have it towed (isn't that such a sad word, it sounds so helpless) to the next town over to get repairs done. At least they could quickly fix it, we need it tomorrow to go to a basketball game out of town. On the way home from picking it up the battery light came on, the lights kept getting dimmer and dimmer and dimmer. Dang. I start praying. Good news is the battery light went off just as I was about home and the headlights popped up to their healthy brightness. Thank you God, nothing is to small for You. Crossing our fingers that it works tomorrow or Dad will have to take Dancer while Spark and I stay home. Our other vehicle that runs is a truck that only seats three. Dang.