Andrea Donovan Pt. 06

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BRAKES & SHOCKS

The kid named Nathan, loaded another bit into the chuck of the Magnadrill and started all over again. ...He's got determination; I'll give him that much I thought, with a resigned sigh. The drill's high pitched whine seemed to coincide perfectly with Nathan's grim expression and focused concentration now. I looked at the time again and realized that he'd already been here for an hour and twenty eight minutes.

Vic, his right arm in a sling, continued to remain silent and emotionless as he sat behind the old Army surplus desk, forever fixated with his lap-top. Presently, I was seated at the front of that same metal desk in an old fold-up chair, facing Nathan as he drill, drill, drilled...

Andrea still hadn't budged since the last time I had glanced up at her, ten minutes ago. She was still leaning against the old Coke machine with a bored expression on her face and watching Nathan. Andrea and Brenda had planned to go look for curtains today but now Andrea was waiting on Mary Hollingsworth to come and sign some legal documents concerning the sale of the Texaco. Mary had called earlier and explained that she'd been delayed but was enroute to the Texaco now. I wasn't even sure where Brenda was, at the moment. ...So far, it had been a day of hurry-up and wait for all of us it seemed.

Nathan continued drilling...

May as well let the kid to do his job, I thought, as I got up and went outside again. I walked in front of the white van with "EXPRESS LOCKSMITHS" on its side and went around to the rear of the station as I began my fourth lap around the little Texaco within the last quarter hour -- I just simply needed to be in motion and away from the obnoxious noise of the drill. ...There was probably nothing inside that damn safe but unless we opened it, we'd never know for sure. I should have just ridden my bicycle this afternoon -- and I would have, except curiosity of the safe's interior had finally gotten to all of us and we'd simply needed to know what's inside. Andrea had first called the guy, Nathan, to come open the safe almost four hours ago but he'd had a full docket for today and had told Andrea that he'd get here as soon as he could. Hurry-up and wait...

I continued walking and just breathed deeply.

...Vic reminded me so much of myself when Susan had left me. The guy was inconsolable and just kind of moped around with his arm in a white sling -- insult to injury now. Vic was far better off without Angela, we all knew, and I strongly suspected that he did as well -- yeah, but tell your heart that. ...The fact that Vic had been shot, in the line of duty, bothered him less than his broken heart and failed marriage, I was certain. "You just have to keep walking, through a broken heart, son, and it hurts for everyone that goes through it" Mom had said, after Susan had left me. Damn, how I had cried over that woman, night after night and seeming endless days. Now Vic was walking that same lonely desolate pathway that neither fame nor gold could cure, you just had to trudge through it and swallow your tears as you went, one painful step at a time, it was the same for everyone.

I had now completed the loop around the little Texaco station. As I kept on walking, past the white van and open front doorway again; I could still hear sounds of Nathan's drill echoing off the interior walls as he ceaselessly continuing drilling the safe with his youthful determination.

"C'mon kid, open the damn safe" I mumbled tiredly to myself as I began my second lap around the building.

...As far as Vic went, he really didn't talk much and I suspected much of this was because, none of the rest of us were cops, and wouldn't understand. Andrea had informed me that Vic was a quiet guy to begin with. I suspected that Vic was lonely, not only from the disintegration of his marriage but also from his loss of face within the Police Force, due to his soon to be ex-wife's recent and on-going antics in accumulating DUI's and other charges. There were no secrets within a Police Force -- cops lived within a fishbowl and because of Angela's behavior, Vic had thus become cannon fodder for seemingly every coffee room joke within the entire prescient. Presently, Vic seemed to have some rapport with Brenda and Andrea and I had observed the two of them in meaningful conversation a few times over the last few days. Having worked in E.R., Brenda was someone that could just seemingly tune-in to another person's wavelength at will, it was natural for her. Even as rough around the edges as she was, Brenda was a "healer" at heart.

...Apparently after shooting Vic and the other officer, the suspect had then turned the gun on himself a few minutes later. There had been no winners that day, only losers on both sides of the law. The other officer was now recuperating at his home and surrounded by friends and family. Andrea had told me that he'd make a full recovery.

Supposedly the government needed a specialized HAZMAT team to clean up the meth lab where the incident had taken place. The estimated clean-up costs for the drug house was a million dollars of taxpayers' money. The dope lab would probably make the little dilapidated Texaco seem like a five star hotel, I was sure. My God, there's got to be a way to help people avoid being enslaved by hard drugs and living like that... I had seen photos of such places, after drug busts, and couldn't believe the squalor some people were willing to live in just to get another hit. This was something that I hoped none of us would ever have to understand firsthand and I suspected that Angela was bordering on it.

"All addictions are a manifestation of self-hate" My mother had once explained to me...

I kept walking and gazed off toward the distant mountains as I tried to shift my thoughts to a more positive level. I now thought of the little recumbent bicycle standing all alone in the garage at home, just waiting for me to come and clear my head with a long ride. I guess the recumbent bicycle was my own escape from reality.

As I walked now I also thought about the guy who had come to look at the floor hoists inside the Texaco, earlier today. He'd been the second "tire-kicker" to come and look at the floor hoists within the last few days and he had proven to be an absolute and total waste of time, complete with the notorious line of "I dunno dude, I gotta see if the ol' lady will let me have them." His name had been Ronald but he had pronounced it as "Wahnode."

"What a loser" I grumbled aloud, thinking of him and shaking my head.

Since early morning now, Andrea and I had been waiting around the little Texaco for other people to show up. This included Mary Hollingsworth, Ronald or "Wahnode" and the locksmith guy - Nathan. Andrea and I had now essentially wasted the entire day waiting around the little antiquated gas station. Things didn't always go according to plan and sometimes a person just had to be patient with other people, I knew. Vic really didn't give a shit about anything right now and we had put Ricky on the plane, headed back to Seattle yesterday morning. I really wasn't sure where Brenda was, at the moment, but I knew that she sure as hell wasn't missing out on anything around here for the moment. She had remained behind, here in Arizona City, and was probably at the new house which she and Ricky had just purchased, I assumed. Brenda's little Camry was gone from the driveway, that much I did know.

Andrea silently fell into step beside me now.

"He's almost done" she said, of Nathan.

"Hurry-up and wait" I sighed.

"He'll open it" Andrea assured me.

How's Vic doing?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Not worth a shit" Andrea replied bluntly.

My phone rang and I answered it as we continued walking.

"Hello" I answered.

"Hello, my name is Indio; do you still have the floor hoists available?" A man with a rich Mexican accent asked.

"Yes, we do" I responded.

"May I come and see them?" he asked.

"We're here right now and you're welcome to come look at them. Bring your wife or son, if you like, but please don't bring anyone else with you" I replied with hard won knowledge from years of selling on-line to strangers.

Usually, when selling small stuff, I'd meet with a guy at a neutral location to make the sale -- a McDonald's parking lot or something but obviously I couldn't do that with the floor hoists so I always insisted that the tire-kicker only brought his wife or son with him when he came to look, that way there'd only be two people to keep an eye on as we made the transaction. Usually a guy that brings his wife or son isn't going to wig-out on you ...usually. I always felt better with Ricky at my back during an on-line sale.

"May I bring my brother in-law and no one else?" Indio asked.

"Sure, that's fine" I said.

I gave the man the address for the Texaco and we each said good-bye.

"He'll be here in ten minutes" I said to Andrea.

"Someone wants to look at the car-lifter things?" Andrea asked.

"Yes" I answered.

"Mary's on her way now too, maybe we can get everything done within the hour and still get a bike ride in this afternoon" Andrea said hopefully.

"I could sure use one, Andrea" I sighed.

"Me too, Honey" Andrea said as she put her arm around me.

We neared the front doorway now and realized that there was no longer any of Nathan's drilling sounds coming from within the Texaco so Andrea and I steered ourselves toward the door and went in. Nathan was winding up the electric cord for the Magnadrill and packing his tools.

"We can open the safe now" he said.

Andrea and I proceeded to where Vic was already standing. Nathan turned his head and intentionally avoided looking inside the safe himself, as he yanked open the door -- his turning of the head a sign of professional ethics and respect of privacy, I presumed.

"Two hundred and ninety dollars, total" Nathan said, handing me an invoice.

"Thank you for fitting us into your schedule, Nathan. I know it's been a busy day for you" I said handing him cash.

"That's what we're here for" he replied, handing me my change and receipt.

Nathan then grabbed his tool bag and proceeded out the doorway and toward the white van. He soon left.

The safe was not empty; it held an old manila envelope containing what looked like birth certificates and several old driver's licenses and outdated credit cards. I believed that I had an understanding of where these driver's licenses and credit cards had originated from. - In the old days, gas station attendants would have to manually place a patron's credit card onto a small hand-held machine complete with its own small press roller. The card was placed, face up, on the machine's deck and then a four page carbon copy receipt was place over the card. The roller was then hand rolled over the embossed name and numbers on the credit card to simultaneously create several small paper copies of the gasoline transaction. There was also a groove at the machine's top where the attendant could place the customer's driver's license and write down the driver's license number by hand. As with most gas stations, people often in a hurry, would inevitably drive off while forgetting either their driver's license or credit card. Apparently Juan and Mindy Lane had faithfully kept these driver's licenses and credit cards locked within their safe for whenever their patrons returned looking for the cards and licenses. Nowadays the gas pumps themselves, were connected to the internet and able to complete the transaction of gasoline by electronic automation. This process also reduced much of the theft of gasoline.

There were dozens of credit cards and drivers licenses within the manila envelope from over the years, I noticed. There was one guy that looked like Buddy Holly, complete with black horn glasses and a very solemn expression within his driver's license photo. Several of the other driver's licenses depicted hippies, the men with long hair and beards and the girls dressed in tassels and peace signs. There were also some middle aged people mixed in among the bunch, and one driver's license portrayed the photo of an extremely attractive girl around forty years of age. I spread all of these long expired credit cards and driver's licenses on the metal desk and studied them for a minute or so.

The safe had contained one other item which I had already decided to keep even though its condition was marginal; it was a newspaper spattered with coffee stains and a completed crossword puzzle done in blue ball point pen ink. The paper had been printed by a long defunct Phoenix newspaper publisher and dated January fourth nineteen fifty three. The paper's headline read in large black letters, HANK WILLIAMS LAID TO REST.

"Mary's here" Andrea said, walking out the doorway as a silver car pulled up outside.

"Hi Mary!" I said with a smile, a few minutes later, as Andrea and Mary walked through the open doorway together.

Mary was a slender and extremely attractive blonde, close to my own age. She dressed well and walked with a brisk authority that conveyed an air of confidence within herself. I had only met her briefly one other time, a few days ago, with Andrea. On that occasion Mary and I had each said a quick "Hello" to each other while Andrea and I had a quick conversation with her concerning the property lines of the little Texaco. This short meeting had occurred beneath the Texaco's overhead pavilion which stood above the antiquated gas pumps. We had offered to buy her lunch that day but Mary had declined our invitation and soon left.

Walking into the Foyer now, Mary snubbed me completely, saying nothing in return to my greeting as she walked briskly past me and promptly sat down in the fold-up chair which I had just vacated, her perfume now evident within the Texaco's foyer. ...Wow, I guess Mary isn't the person I thought her to be. I didn't like being snubbed any more than anyone else but decided to just keep quiet and let things be. Andrea Millhouse loved me and she was better looking than Mary was anyway...

Vic, standing off to the side, said nothing as he quietly observed all of us.

"Tim, I forgot my briefcase, in the Beamer, would you get it please?" Andrea suddenly asked me.

"Sure Honey" I replied.

I went out to Andrea's BMW only to discover that the car was locked. Walking back into the station to retrieve Andrea's keys now, I found Vic and Andrea leaning over Mary as she sat in the fold up-chair. Mary's head was in her hands and she was crying profusely and shaking violently.

"...Are you or someone you love in any danger? ...Do you need medical treatment or an ambulance now? ...Are you on any drugs or medication? ...Can you tell me who the President is? ...What day is it today, Mary?" Vic asked calmly.

With each question Mary would remain quiet and vehemently shake her head "NO" -- her head still in her hands.

Andrea now placed her hand on Mary's back and leaned down toward her. "Mary, this is my nephew Vic, he's a police officer. What's wrong, honey?" Andrea asked gently.

"Mary, is there someone we can call for you, now?" Vic asked.

Without a word, Mary stood up and took Andrea into her arms and continued to shake violently as her tears continued to flow. Andrea held Mary close and rubbed her back as she spoke gently to her.

"Mary, please tell us what's wrong, we want to help you" Andrea said.

Suddenly a very large man entered the doorway followed by a smaller man with long black hair.

"Gentlemen, I assume you're here about the floor hoists, we have an emergency right now and I must ask you to come back at another time, please" I said before either of them could say anything.

"Mary?" the larger man now spoke, looking at the two ladies.

"Indio!!!" Mary wailed as she broke from Andrea and flew into the arms of the larger man.

The man named Indio pulled Mary close to him as he looked toward the ceiling and shook his head in complete disgust. Obviously Indio was aware of something which the rest of us were not.

"It's going to be alright Amiga." Indio said soothingly to Mary.

Andrea went up to Mary and began rubbing her back again as Indio continued to hold the sobbing girl.

"Billy, call Rosita and get her over here now, please" Indio said to the smaller man.

The smaller man nodded and stepped outside to make the call.

"Mary, let us sit down so that you can rest some" Indio said, gently.

"I DON'T WANT TO SIT DOWN!!!" Mary yelled as she pulled away from Indio and then put her head in her hands again and continued to sob.

Mary was still shaking uncontrollably and appeared as if she were close to having a nervous breakdown. Hell, maybe she already was having a nervous breakdown, I didn't know. ...Damn, I wish Brenda was here right now, I thought.

"Is Mary on any medication that you know of?" Vic asked Indio.

"I'M NOT ON ANY DRUGS, YOU FUCKING IMBECILE!!!" Mary now screamed at Vic.

Mary now turned back to Indio and continued sobbing.

"The lady does not use drugs, officer. My wife is on her way here now and the ladies are good friends." Indio replied to Vic.

Obviously Indio was a very perceptive man, Vic was not in Uniform, yet Indio had instinctively known that Vic was a cop. Andrea stepped closer now and began rubbing Mary's back again while speaking quietly to the distraught lady. ...A few minutes later Andrea and Mary were seated together outside on the Texaco's old bench seat which was positioned outside in front of the Texaco's large plate glass windows. Andrea had her arm around Mary and continued speaking softly to her as the rest of us, men, stood around looking at each other and wondering what to do.

"The lady is having marital issues" Indio said quietly to the rest of us.

A bit of an understatement, I thought grimly.

Fifteen minutes later a small white car zoomed into the yard and screeched to a halt, throwing gravel as it did so. The driver's door flew open and a very petite and attractive Latina jumped out and walked briskly over to Andrea and Mary. A minute later the ladies were all standing within a three-way hug. Mary's tears began in earnest now. Natural instinct seemed to tell, all four of us men, to just stand back and let the ladies sort things out for a few minutes. We stood quietly within the station while we remained standing and looked outward through the large windows and open doorway toward the three ladies standing outside the building.

...Andrea now walked back into the main foyer of the Texaco to retrieve Mary's purse.

"She'll be alright" Andrea said as she walked out the doorway again.

Watching from the Texaco's front foyer, all of us saw Andrea hand the purse through the open passenger's window of Rosita's little white car now. Andrea then walked around to Mary's car and got behind the wheel of the small silver Ford and shut the driver's door. After buckling her seatbelt and starting the engine, she followed the other car with Rosita and Mary through the front gate. A minute later the ladies were gone.

"I hope Mary's alright" I said quietly.

"She will" Indio replied, staring out the doorway after the ladies.

"Would you still like to look at some floor hoists today, gentlemen?" I asked doubtfully.

"For a minute, yes, by the way, this is Billy" Indio replied.

All four of us shook hands and introduced ourselves now.

Vic then silently sat down behind the old metal desk and began surfing on his laptop again as Indio, Billy and I walked toward the Texaco's main bays.

"I must insist that these be removed by someone that is licensed, bonded and insured which will obviously cost money. If that doesn't work for you and you don't want them now, that's OK. My brother and I can rent a back-hoe and remove them ourselves with some help" I said firmly.