Miracle Man

"Robbie, where are you?" I asked quietly. I didn't want to give the busy bodies anything else to talk about.

"This ain't Robbie," said a man's voice. "I found this phone on a bench last night, so it's mine." I quickly hung up. Robbie was so pissed at me that he'd probably just thrown the phone away in the middle of our last conversation. I realized now after talking to Rhonda that Robbie had been right. I needed to call him and beg his forgiveness before this went too far and messed everything up.

I knew that unless he was so sick that he couldn't function, Robbie would be at work. His boss never minded me calling, as long as the calls were short. So I called the garage and asked for Robbie.

I recognized his boss's voice instantly. "Heather, Robbie isn't here," he said. "I'm worried about him too. He's my best worker."

"I did something pretty bad and Robbie is angry at me," I said. "If he does call or come in could you please ask him to call me?" He said that he would and he hung up. My entire face was getting red as my blood pressure went up. I was afraid then and I was far more afraid than I'd ever been my whole life.

Just as I was trying to figure out what I should do next, Jimmy opened the door to his office and called me in. I noticed the women glaring at me. I heard one of them mumbling that it was kind of early in the day for "Dick-tation."

As soon as the door closed Jimmy started talking. "So how was your little hubby when he got home?" he asked. "Did you guys have a talk? It doesn't look like he beat your ass too bad. So he must be thinking about one of my offers."

I noticed then that Jimmy had a light coating of makeup on his face and it was much heavier around his right eye.

"So maybe later on, after this fucking tour, you and I can finish what we started yesterday," he said. "I should get to continue test driving the product until we settle on a price," he laughed.

"Robbie didn't come home last night," I said quietly.

"That's rough," said Jimmy. "He's probably still pissed and stewing about it. He'll come home when he calms down. See you later and remember to lock the fucking door, this time."

* * * * * *

Robbie

I woke up thinking that I'd slept for several hours. My body was stiffer than I ever remember it being. I quickly felt my back pockets and was relieved to discover that my wallet was still there. I pulled it out and all of my money was intact.

I was lying on the sofa in someone's living room. My shoes were on the floor next to the sofa. I tried putting one foot at a time down on the floor and my stomach groaned so loudly I could hear it.

"Damn, if you'd slept another day, I was going to call a doctor," said a voice behind me. I looked up and saw an older woman standing in the doorway. She had long curly blond hair and incredibly blue eyes. The smile on her face spoke of genuine concern. My stomach growled again.

"Okay, I heard that, we'll put off everything else until I get some food into you," she smiled. She came over and grabbed my hand before I'd even gotten my shoes on.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Robert Morrison, ma'am," I said.

"Well Robert Morrison ma'am," she smiled. "We're both in for a treat. I get to watch someone who'll enjoy my cooking. And you're so hungry you won't care how terrible it tastes."

"I'm sure it'll be great ma'am," I said. "I appreciate it."

"Oh my God," she said. "You're such a polite young man. I almost hate to do this to you."

As she turned towards the refrigerator and pulled out several plastic containers I noticed that for a woman who was probably close to sixty, she had a great ass. I'd already noticed the rather sizable protuberances on her chest. Though they now rested at nearly waist level, I was sure that they were impressive when she was younger.

"Almost hate to do what Betty?" asked another female voice. This one was kind of scratchy and came from a woman who was even older. By a conservative estimate I figured 80 at the very least.

"This is Robert Morrison, Mom, "said Betty. "I'm making him something to eat."

"Should I get out the stomach pump or the Pepto Bismal," asked the old lady who was surprisingly spry. I just smiled.

"He's never going to marry Katie if you kill him on their first date," said the old lady.

"He's not one of Katie's," said Betty. "He's one of Dan's."

"Oh," said the old lady. She wandered back out of the room as if she'd suddenly lost interest.

As soon as the plate came out of the microwave I dug in. The first thing I went after was something chewy. I thought it was some kind of meat, but the consistency of it was more like bubblegum. It did taste kind of meaty but that might've been because it was covered in gravy.

As I ate, Betty just sat next to me and stared with a smile on her face.

"You don't have to eat all of it," she said. "You've already gone way beyond the call of duty."

"It's...filling," I managed to get out.

"Do you know what it is?" she asked proudly.

"And I thought I had a rotten day," said a man's voice that was strangely familiar. A tall, lanky man whose hair and short beard were all so gray they were white walked into the kitchen. He immediately hugged Betty like he hadn't seen her in months. They started kissing right in front of me. I wasn't used to seeing that from older people.

"Betty, you've tortured the boy by making him eat it and now you want to give him a test on it?" he asked. "At least let him get back on his feet."

I stood up and shook his hand. "I'm sorry to be such a bother sir," I said. "I've had a couple of hours sleep and some food. So I'll be on my way. I don't have much money but I'd be glad to give you whatever you think is fair."

He looked at his wife. "You didn't tell him yet?" he asked.

"It hadn't come up yet in the conversation," she said. "Robert Morrison, we were beginning to worry about you because you slept for almost two days straight."

I was shocked but I could believe it. "My husband told me about meeting you on the road," she said. "From what I've heard it sounds like you were in a hurry to get away from something."

"It's not anything illegal," I told her. "It was just time for a change in my life. Circumstances beyond my control made living where I was impossible."

"He always talks that way, Dan?" she said.

"I'm no stranger to troubles myself," said Dan. "If you need someone to talk to while you're here, just let me know."

"But I..." I began.

"Robert Morrison, you're getting away from something, right," he asked. I nodded.

"Well if all you're doing is going away from something, how will you know when you get to where you're going?" he asked.

"I have no idea sir," I said.

"So maybe you're already here," he offered. "There's always something to do around a farm this big. Why not stay for a while until you get your head on straight? We'll talk about the particulars when we get a chance. You can sleep in the bunkhouse, but I have to warn you in advance about it. We usually have college kids, around your age maybe a bit younger staying there. The place is a mess."

I just smiled. "I'll show you where it is once I've had something to eat myself," he said. He got some bread out and started making himself a sandwich.

"I'm sorry did I just eat your dinner or something?" I asked. He just looked at me and laughed.

"We have a cook who also helps out with the house work," he said. "Today is her day off. Usually on Rosa's days off, we have fast food or just scrounge. Nobody eats Betty's cooking. I love her but she can burn water."

"Ha ha," said Betty. "I keep trying though."

"Yup," he said. "And sooner or later you're going to kill somebody." They both laughed and started talking about other things.

"You said something about your day being bad honey," she asked.

"Yeah," he said. "Remember, one of the trucks broke down last week? Well today that old diesel tractor died too. It seems to be the motor too but neither me, nor the other two guys can figure out what the hell is wrong with it."

Later on, Dan took me over to what he called the bunkhouse. I was expecting a barn or something like that with a few beds in it like in those old western movies. It was actually a well appointed small house. The problem was that all of the rooms looked like rats had nested in them. I told Dan it was fine and thanked him again for letting me stay. "You really are polite," he said.

The first few hours that I was there I spent picking out a room and cleaning it. There were four bedrooms and two of them were already occupied. I picked the smaller of the two remaining rooms and started to clean it up. First, I gathered and bagged all of the trash I found. Then I arranged everything else on either the shelves that lined one wall or the closet. After that I swept the entire room and opened the windows to let some fresh air in. I repositioned the slats under the mattress to make the bed functional again and shook out the mattress itself. All I need was clean sheets which I'd assumed would be in the linen closet.

I'd apparently gotten the wrong idea though. All I found in the linen closet were more dirty sheets. I did get lucky though. I found a pair of jeans that would fit me and a couple of sweat shirts from some colleges I'd neither been to nor heard of.

Just like that I'd doubled my wardrobe.

I wandered around until I fell asleep again.

The next morning Betty knocked on the wall in the front room to let us know that breakfast was ready.

I started getting my shoes on just in time to hear a voice say, "Morning Betty, about that breakfast, did you cook it?"

"No smart ass," she laughed. "Rosa's back. Have you boys met Robert yet?"

She walked into the other empty room and then noticing that I wasn't in there stepped into the room I was in. She looked around and then pulled out a cell phone and called Dan.

"Dan, get over here quick," she said. She just smiled at me. "Hey, Joe, Greg, come in here."

Dan showed up a few minutes later and she brought him into the room. Joe and Greg were just getting dressed and they came into the room too. Dan looked around the room and whistled. He took his hat off and looked at the other two men. "Did either of you guys realize that there was a room under all of that shit?" he asked. They all laughed.

"I guess I know where I'm sleeping tonight," said Joe.

"Hell no," said Greg. "I think Robert should sleep in the other rooms with us and we should save this one for when we have dates."

"Good idea," said Joe.

"When would either of you two losers have a date," asked a woman I'd never seen before. She was about my age or a little younger, I thought. She had Betty's curly blonde hair and the same eyes but she seemed not to have Betty's cheerful attitude or disposition. She took one look at me, stuck her nose up in the air and walked out of the house.

"Uhm, that was my daughter Katie," said Dan laughing. "It takes her a little time to warm up to new people. But once you get to know her, it gets worse."

We all went back over to the main house where Rosa, who was not what I expected, had breakfast on the table. I guess I was expecting a chunky, older, Hispanic woman. Rosa was a tall, slim, middle aged, black woman. She had several pots going on the stove and was constantly walking over to the table to drop off things.

"Rosa cooks several meals for us all at the same time," said Dan. "She does that so we don't starve when she goes home. Don't let Betty warm up your food for you either. She can over microwave it until it's either hard as a rock or dry as a bone."

"Dan, Honey, I'm sitting at the table with you," said Betty. "I can hear every word you're saying."

Everyone at the table except for Katie laughed. She just rolled her eyes like she wanted to be somewhere else. I did notice that she kept staring at me when she thought I wasn't looking though.

After breakfast, Dan started telling the other two guys what he wanted them to do. I raised my hand and he looked at me strangely.

"Robert, if you have something to say just say it," he said with a smile. "We're pretty informal."

"Well, sir, I was just wondering if you have anything I could do?" I asked.

"I'll have Katie take you around and show you the layout of the farm and then we'll figure out where we could use you," he said. "But truthfully, if I lose much more equipment, I'm going to be in trouble. I may have to get another truck as it is."

"Great," said Katie. Her voice was dripping sarcasm so thickly, that I wished he'd asked someone else.

After everyone left, with the men going out to the fields and the women heading off to do laundry or more cooking, I was left with Katie.

"Well, let's go," she snapped. "I don't want to waste my whole day with you."

"I'm really sorry," I said. "It wasn't my idea. If it's that much of a problem maybe I could just walk around and figure things out by myself. I'll just ask questions later."

"That's a great idea," she said. "That way you can still get used to things and I don't have to waste my time on one of daddy's useless drifters. Those other two freeloaders are bad enough. At least they're going to be here for the entire summer, but I don't have time to waste on transients."

"Katie, you're twenty years old and you keep surprising me," said Betty sharply. "I'll take Robert around. You can spend the day helping out with the laundry."

"Sorry," I told Betty. "I didn't mean to cause any problems. Maybe I should move on."

"Robert, you're welcome here for as long as you want to be," said Betty. As we drove around the property with her showing and telling me things about the farm, she told me about her history. The woman she called mom actually wasn't her mother. She was her mother in law. She was Dan's mother but she loved Betty like her own daughter. The farm had been in Betty's family for longer than anyone could remember. Betty was sixty two years old. Dan was sixty six. In 1970, just after his stint in the war in Vietnam ended, Betty's dad had spied Dan walking down the road near their south field. Dan had obviously not had a good time. He was upset and fuming, but Betty's dad knew that more than anything else Dan had been hurt and hurt badly by someone. He invited Dan to stay for a while on the farm. Dan didn't know anything about farming but over the years he'd become good at it.

Those were the end of the free love days and eventually Dan and Betty had gotten together. Betty hadn't been as pure as the driven snow in those days. She'd sowed her wild oats but when Dan came along the two of them just knew that they were more than right for each other. It was like love at first sight and they hadn't lost sight of each since. They still carried on like teenagers to this day. Hearing that kind of made me smile and Betty noticed it.

The last things she showed me on the tour were the buildings around the farm like the barns and sheds. When we got to the one that the broken down truck and the tractor were in I smiled.

"Betty, do you think that Dan would mind if I looked at his truck?" I asked.

"Well it doesn't run," she smiled. "What could you do to make it worse? He was going through the papers last night looking to see if we could get a better deal on a new truck or a used one. He was also looking into having this one hauled away. The problem is that we live so far out of town that most of the guys that would want it for parts would want us to pay them to haul it to their places. So you go ahead. There are some tools in the shed."

When I looked at the truck, I almost immediately found the problems and there were several. The truck needed a new fuel pump and a new alternator. The spark plug wires were also bad. This was something I could do to pay them back for their generosity. I got on the phone and found the fuel pump at a "You pull it," junk yard in town. They also had the alternator. They could let me have the alternator for only fifty bucks if I took it off of a truck in the yard. The fuel pump was even cheaper. A new set of spark plug wires I got from an O'reilly's auto parts on the way home. Katie had volunteered to drive me into town to pick up the parts. I worked through lunch and Betty brought me a plate of food out to the barn.

"I didn't cook it," she said smiling.

Just before dinner, I took Dan out to the barn. Joe and Greg came along as well. Just before my big demo happened Betty wandered in too.

I handed the keys to Dan and he smiled at me. "Do you want to do something with this pile of garbage?" he asked. "I'd sell it as a boat anchor if I could."

"Start it," I smiled. He looked at me strangely.

"Robert, this thing is done," he said. "It's only good for scrap."

He turned the key and the truck roared to life. Everyone in the barn started yelling and patting me on the back.

"How did you fix it?" asked Dan.

"I'm a mechanic," I smiled.

"How much did the parts cost me?" he asked. "Where'd you get them from?"

"Under a hundred dollars," I said. "I had a couple of hundred dollars on me. I figured it was the least I could do to repay you, sir."

"That fucking bitch," screamed Betty. "Dan, I've had it up to here with your daughter."

"What are you talking about Betty?" asked Dan.

"Katie volunteered to take Robert into town to get the parts. I thought she wanted to make up for acting so stupidly this morning. I gave her three hundred dollars in case they needed to pay for any parts. Robert used his own money, which he shouldn't have done. But I guess he didn't know. Your daughter brought me back seventeen dollars in change. I figured if he could get that truck running for less than three hundred dollars we'd have saved a mint on buying another one. And if he couldn't we were only out three hundred more."

Betty had fire in her eyes. Dan just shook his head. "She's got to find her own way, honey," he said sadly.

"Yeah Dan, but her way shouldn't include stealing from her own parents. And it's like she's stealing from poor Robert too. He just used half of all the money he has to try to help us. She has it coming."

I figured that might be a good time to change the subject. "I noticed a couple of other cars and trucks that I might be able to fix depending on what they need," I said.

Dan looked at me then very seriously. "Robert, have you ever worked on a tractor?"

"Well, I haven't yet," I said. "But we could go on the internet and download the service manuals. From then on it's just a matter of ordering any parts that are necessary. I'd be willing to give it a try."

Dan's eyes got bigger. "Robert, after dinner I'll give you the money you spent on parts for the truck back. You've already saved me a lot of money, buddy. If you can fix that tractor, I'd be the happiest man in the county. The rest of those old hulks don't matter. Two of those cars I bought at an auction and thought I'd fix them up and get them running but that's easier said than done. If you want, you can have one of them. I'll even give you some money for parts. You've already saved me from having to buy another truck. If you get that tractor working...do you even know how much a tractor costs these days?" He patted me on the shoulder and walked away smiling and mumbling about picking me up on the road being his lucky day.

Joe and Greg were smiling too. "Why are you guys so happy?" I asked.

"That truck you fixed means the two of us don't have to walk with a wheelbarrow to get our work done. The truck will hold at least five times as much as the wheelbarrow and we won't have to push. We'll be able to get more work done tomorrow with a lot less strain. I see a date in my future tomorrow night," said Greg. "I may even bring her home and use your room." He patted me on the shoulder too.

Things around the dinner table were interesting that night. Joe and Greg were happy about having the truck back and Dan was over the moon at the prospect of getting the tractor fixed as well. There was a slight bit of tension in the air though and it all came to a head as Katie, who'd been gone all afternoon flounced in just in time for dinner wearing a new outfit. The smile on her face was the kind you'd expect on a cat who'd just tricked a canary into sitting in his mouth.