Andrea Donovan Pt. 02

...There were several other magazine ads within Andrea's portfolio with her posing for women's clothing. In some she was dressed in bright colors and looked like a big-city girl out on the town for a day of shopping and leisure. One photo, which was my absolute favorite, depicted a full body shot of Andrea openly laughing with her hair wildly flailing in the wind as she leaned vicariously to her right and holding firmly onto a "No Parking" sign. The floral shopping bag held in her opposite hand was also flying vicariously into the gale along with miscellaneous bits of sidewalk debris cast up all about her. She had confided in me that the large electric fan, which was out of camera view and used to tease her hair, had malfunctioned that day and instead of teasing her hair, had made the photo shoot appear as if Andrea were standing within a horrific wind storm. It had been a much needed humorous moment for the entire crew and she had told me that she genuinely had been laughing within this photograph. The advertisers had loved this unintended photo and chosen to use it, above all others.

Another magazine page showed a side profile of Andrea's face with eyes closed and head tilted back, as if in sensual ecstasy. The photo appeared to be taken at dusk, casting a warm and sensual glow on Andrea's portrait. Directly in front and below of her profile, were two bottles of moderately expensive perfume inset into the photo with the phrase "Ambiance begins with a woman's chemistry" ...I stared at the photo for several seconds before closing the manila folder. I then tucked the folder back into the nightstand drawer and turned out the light. Tomorrow would be a better day for all of us I knew. I closed my eyes again as the melody that I'd been singing earlier filtered back to me now.

...And this house just ain't no home, ...Anytime she goes away...

I slept.

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ECHOS

..."Hello, and welcome to this portion of the series 'Aircraft Maintenance', I'm Sergeant Rick Sheffield and today we're going to be conducting ignition timing on the Pratt & Whitney R2800 C A 3 radial. ...The first step is to find compression on number one cylinder..."

I began watching the YouTube video that my sister Asia had sent me that afternoon. I had only twice, as an infant, met the man in this vintage U.S. Armed Forces footage. The training film had been produced in the nineteen sixties and I'd had no recollection of the man's voice until this very minute. He was a powerfully built man with a seeming easy disposition about him. His voice gave the impression of coming from the Mid-West somewhere and he had the demeanor of a career Military man. He also had the air of a professional yet easy going gentleman, the kind of man that everyone would want to work for.

...The kind of man that anyone would be proud to call a friend.

"Rotate the prop in normal rotation and place your thumb over the sparkplug box of number one cylinder" Rick instructed the camera as he placed his thumb over the sparkplug box and looked onward at the huge radial engine before him now.

My God, he really does look just like my little brother Ricky, I thought, dumbfounded.

Another pair of hands now entered the screen from outside the video frame and began assisting Rick in rotating the engine with the long steel bar attached to the propeller hub. Rick and his faceless assistant now began barring the engine over slowly until there was the distinct sound of air escaping through the number one sparkplug box.

"There it is, ...now install the Timeright housing into the number one cylinder..." Rick continued.

It suddenly made perfect sense to me why Rick Sheffield had become a hotrod enthusiast -- he'd cut his teeth on these ultra high performance aircraft engines. I knew that when the Pratt & Whitney R2800 had first been introduced during World War Two that it had been rated at two thousand horsepower. Additional horsepower was also possible with Emergency Reserve Power for pilots flying the P-47 Thunderbolt against the Luftwaffe. Emergency Reserve Power was usually rated at around twenty four hundred horsepower and accomplished by injecting a water/alcohol mixture into the engine. The Pratt & Whitney R2800, or Double Wasp, as it was known had been primarily used in cargo aircraft since the war and some were still being currently used in Alaska within the four engine DC-6 and C-54 transport planes.

"We'll be using the 24B card and the letter AR ...install your Timeright with the card straight up and down with the cylinder..." Rick continued.

...Watching the man in front of me now, I took a deep breath and tried to fathom it all. Just until two and a half years ago I had believed, my entire life, that another man other than Rick had been my father. Yet upon discovering a letter which had been addressed to my mother, signed simply with "Rick" and dated nineteen sixty seven, I had come to the stark realization that my mother had been involved with this man, Rick Sheffield, the biological father of my little brother and me. Rick had also been the father of a girl, by another woman. The child was five years older than me and named Asia, whom I had also not known of and had only met once last year.

"Now, let's zero -- out the card by moving the - " Rick began saying.

Slightly overwhelmed for the moment, I suddenly moused the cursor over and clicked on "Asia Rodriguez" at the lower left portion of the screen and then clicked on "videos." Asia had listed dozens of videos of her grandchildren and various other things including visits to floral gardens and parks. As I scrolled through her homemade YouTube videos I suddenly stopped at one entitle "Dad Racing 1966" and appearing to be just over seven minutes in length. I clicked on the video and a black and white movie quickly began playing. The movie was silent and showed several hotrods from the nineteen sixties era all congregated somewhere within a crowd of a hundred or so people milling about, looking as if it were race day for a bunch of local guys somewhere. The movie was complete with vertical wear lines running through the footage and several jerks and stops where the camera had been switched on and off. The movie then began showing pairs of vintage cars, side by side, as they quickly left the starting point of a long drag strip, tires smoking and their engines roaring loudly yet completely silent as I watched the film. One of the cars, I now noticed, was Rick's forty one Plymouth coupe that Mom had posed in front of, this photo was now currently on the opening page of my phone.

The footage abruptly jumped to a dog whose tail was wagging as a girl fed him part of what looked like a hamburger, while standing in front of a hotdog stand. The girl suddenly looked into the camera, silently laughing as she said something to the cameraman. There was then a quick blip of footage showing the ground as the camera had obviously been accidently triggered by someone walking while carrying the camera. The next clip in the film showed three guys working on an antiquated Hemi inside an engine well. The engine with its cylinder heads removed and now showing the Hemi's domed pistons -- of course this fabulous piece of equipment had been relatively modern and state of the art at the time of this filming, it suddenly dawned on me. The movie then skipped again to a large group of people standing around by the hotrods during early evening while having a few beers. Everyone seemed to be laughing and joking with each other, the dog also present and tail wagging. One of the girls in the movie suddenly stepped forward and began waving to the camera with both hands in an overly animated enthusiasm as she began yammering into the camera lens, as if saying "Look at me, I'm a movie star now, everyone!"

Even with the relatively poor quality of the black and white silent footage the girl was stunning and mesmerizing with her presence and demeanor. Her wild hair hung around her shoulders in a lazy fan and her eyes were alive with life and vitality. Her movements were feminine, graceful and filled with a flowing ceaseless energy. Watching the silent movie, one could almost hear the sound of her childlike laughter associated with the girl's youthful mirth as she continued clowning for the camera now. The movie also conveyed that she had been strong yet always so gentle, cherishing life and showing kindness to all living things. ...Her clothes were of the nineteen sixties era, complete with a large floral scarf tied around her neck, which I knew to be blue in color; I could almost smell her perfume.

The girl in the silent movie continued onward talkatively and preening into the camera as if she were explaining all about herself and how she would prefer her name to appear in the marquee lights above every movie theatre, once she soon became a star. Someone then handed her a beer bottle and she defiantly took a large swig of it while looking into the camera lens. ...I began to shake slightly now as I continued watching the young girl hamming it up for the camera. ...The girl was my beloved mother. A large man now silently stepped into the frame and with one arm, effortlessly picked her up and swung her in a circle before leaning down and smacking her boldly on the lips with a kiss that said "I love you, you belong to me!" The girl responded by reaching up and pulling his head closer, her feet still a foot in the air. The two then broke apart as each simultaneously looked proudly into the camera with Rick nonchalantly saying something to the effect of "Better than booze, that's for damn sure." The movie abruptly ended and I was left shaken but in a good way. I sat silently with my eyes closed for several minutes as the antiquated movie of the girl and young man now replayed itself within my mind, over and over again.

Regaining my composure somewhat, I saved the video link onto Andrea's desktop and stood up from her computer desk. I took a long hard pull from my water jug and breathed deeply for a minute. I then found the video with my phone and sent it to Ricky, Andrea and Duffy. I now knew what I would be discussing during my next counseling session with Duffy. ...As always, my refuge lay in the recumbent bicycle and I was soon approaching the first turn of my ride with the silent movie replaying itself again in my mind. Also present was the sound of my father's own voice which sounded remarkably similar to my little brother Ricky. The free wheel hub on the bicycle slipping a little less today it seemed and I suddenly became more and more grateful that Asia had sent me her YouTube link. The movie of Mom and Rick together had been an unexpected jolt to me but it also seemed to bring me an inner peace now. Almost as if Mom were letting me know that she was young again and in love with the man who had never ceased to walk through her dreams. Mom's position, as the number one woman in my life had now been turned over to Andrea -- the torch had been passed. Mom had done her job, she was across the river now and it was time for her to be a young woman in love again.

I ignored the little Texaco station now, averting my eyes each time I rode by it. I also made my mind up that I would not be present when it was torn down which it undoubtedly would be. I was saddened by this and also extremely disappointed in myself. I had a renowned real-estate agent for a wife and had never even inquired about the little station, maybe something could have been worked out for its purchase but I hadn't even tried. I'd simply been too afraid of spending capital which most likely would be needed for use toward the ranch, our new home. I struggled with this dilemma for several minutes now as I rode the bicycle but finally the endorphins of my workout began to overshadow my negative thinking and I believed that I had finally come to accept the fact that the little Texaco station would soon be gone and replaced with modern condos.

...I was drenched in sweat when I returned home and peeled out of my soaking wet shirt, throwing it into the washing machine and then putting on another, dirty shirt. I soon began removing the rear wheel of the recumbent bicycle. Once I had the rear wheel removed I used a tool which I had recently purchased and removed the rear stack of sprockets, or Cassette, from the wheel itself and carried them into the house. Checking my phone, I saw that I had received a text from Andrea which read "Tried to call. Know you're on your bike now You OK? That was probably pretty heavy for you -- Duffy and I watched it twice. Vic's doing a lot better today Bob Gail Connie OK. Looking at more AQH with Duffy my arm is better see you soon Love you XoXo!" the text read. I sent her a text with an animation of cowboy removing his hat and saying Howdy!

I now spread newspaper onto the dining room table and disassembled the free wheel hub. Using a small magnetized screwdriver I removed all of the small ball bearings and placed them in two different empty cat food cans, one for each side of the free wheel hub. I quickly discovered that one of the tiny springs for the pawls had broken and was causing the free wheel hub to only function with one pawl actually working; this had been the reason for the free wheel hub's occasional slippage. Doing this work was a filthy job and the newspaper was soon covered with minute flecks of dirt and grime yet I was careful not to dirty up Andrea's table now. ...Reverting to my junk pile inside the garage now, I disassembled a spare wheel and removed the cassette and free wheel hub from that wheel. The sprockets on this cassette were badly worn so I couldn't just trade cassettes, I had to combine both units and hopefully have enough good parts to complete one functioning unit -- I mainly needed another pawl spring. I sat down at the table again and began disassembling this second free wheel hub now.

"Wolfie NO! You can't come in sweetheart. C'mon scoot! Outside baby!" I heard Andrea say firmly from within the garage.

A minute later she walked into the living room and we kissed.

"Love you, doing better today? Wolfie and I missed you. Have you talked to Connie or Gail? Did you and Duffy find a new friend?" I asked all at once, a new friend being a horse.

"I talked to Vic this afternoon, he's in good spirits and Duffy's good. All of us are a lot better today too. ...Honey -- I forgot something, I'll be right back babe." Andrea said quickly as she left again.

"K Honey" I replied, a little confused at her sudden departure.

I got a jug of water as I heard the B.M.W. leave again. I turned toward the table and back to my project again when it occurred to me that Andrea probably hadn't forgotten anything. The table was a mess and she probably had needed to simply leave for a few minutes and just go cool off and think, after seeing my mess on her dining room table. "The home, is for them, what the car is for you and me, Tim" Ricky had said once, of women. I suddenly realized that without being aware of it, I had in a small way, violated Andrea's Gingerbread house. I quickly got to work reassembling the bicycle and within half an hour had the rear wheel reinstalled on the machine with a now functioning free wheel hub. I carefully cleaned up the newspaper and dirt from the dining room table and then threw the mess away inside the plastic garbage barrel within the garage with a sigh of relief that I had gotten everything cleaned up before Andrea's return. I'd do better next time and work on showing more respect for Andrea's Gingerbread house. A Gingerbread house was, after all, her dream since childhood, it was our dream now.

...I still needed to pick up my tools from the day before so I now proceeded into the yard and walked over to my makeshift workbench where I had begun creating the overhead Gingerbread arch for the driveway. I picked up the torch and then noticed the letter "I" then a drawing of a heart followed by the letter "U" all in a girl's handwriting. I stood and stared at Andrea's handiwork in soapstone for a moment and then walked over and opened the valves to the tanks. Donning my green goggles, I lit the torch and adjusted the flame. I then began to slowly and meticulously cut out the letters and heart carefully, I wanted this term of endearment to be an eternal part of the archway. I finished in time to see the little green Beamer pull into the driveway again. It was time for me to pick up my tools and spend some quality time with my wife now.

_____________(5)____________

More to come