A Little Drive - Chapter 2

I wrote this back in around 1985. It is sort of painful reading some of it now as I think my writing was a little stilted; but, it is what it is and I will post as much of it as I still have. If you haven't read chapter 1 you can click the link here.

Chapter 1: The Bum

Chapter 2: Stuart

When Charles got home he poured himself a drink of some cheap whiskey that he had and lit a cigarette. Settling himself into his only nice chair to watch in his "furnished" apartment, he tried to relax.

"Damnit" he thought, "I had the feeling I wouldn't finish in time. I should have left him on the bench and finished before I called the cops. Hell, he wouldn't notice the difference and I wouldn't have had to rush so much".

The television was spouting forth some nonsense about non money and no payments until after you died. One of the people that Charles had worked with had bought a car from the guy on t.v. and with only three payments left, it had been repossessed. After the commercial an old tv show called, "Route 66" came on and Charles watched as the show's two heroes drove around the United States doing as they wished and then moving on if they got bored. "That sure looks more interesting than sweeping for the rest of my life, or ending up like that bum", he thought to himself.

When he woke up the television was still on only now the person on the screen was talking about deodorants and showing pictures of beautiful women in bikinis. Charles took a shower, got dressed, ate some Fruit Loops and headed out to see if there was anything happening. He began to feel invigorated as he stepped out into the early evening cool. He drover over to his older brother Stuart's house.

When he arrived at his brother's house, he was greeted by his sister in law, Dee Dee, who escorted him into the kitchen for a cup of coffee. She always gave him something to eat when he came by and was always very warm to him. They each talked about their days and waited for Stuart to get home from the factory that he worked at.

Stuart and Charles had been born three years apart to Jake and Lena Leed, two people of little note to the world; but, of great importance to themselves. The Leeds had been your average working class family and never aspired to anything more and the boys did not expect to do any better themselves, this was not looked down upon by them.

When Stuart got home he kissed his wife, looked in on in their baby and asked Charles when he was going to take a job at the factory and get serious about his future. "You can't go on being a street sweeper forever Chuck", he said. "If you're ever going to get serious with a girl you'll have to have normal hours".

Charles smiled and said, "Look Stu, I want to tell you about something. I've decided to quit my job and take off to see the world, I'm going to drive across the country while I still can".

Stuart's response was instantaneous, "And where do you intend to get the money to do this? I sure as hell hope you don't think I'm going to lend you any. I don't have it and if I did, I wouldn't lend it to you to just flake out on."

In a calming voice filled with rationality, Charles said, "Look, I have $2,500 in the bank and the $1,600 that mom left me. I don't think I can just stay here much longer, The only place I've ever seen in my life is Sacramento and I'm 22. I want to see more".

Stuart responded by saying, "Well, the only place I have ever been is Sacramento too and I'm 25. I like Sacramento and don't feel the need to spend all of my money going anywhere else."

A little angered Charles said, "Well I do and I'm leaving next Friday right after I get paid."

"What about your car, will it even make it?", Stuart asked. Charles said, "I was hoping that you might help me get it ready for the trip this weekend. I thought that we might go over to the "Pick a Part" junkyard and get some stuff for it. I want to get some shocks, a pair of rocker arms, a radiator and I thought we could rebuild the carburetor and tune it up on Sunday.

Stuart looked less than enthused; but, said, "I'll help you just so you don't end up broken down somewhere is the desert; but, I still think it is a dumb idea. Are you working tonight"?

Charles smiled and said, "Nope, I'm quitting tonight."

The next day was Friday so Charles went to collect the first of the two checks still owed him. The owner of the company was a man named Phil, who always held back the checks for a week. Charles thought the reason Phil held the checks back was so that it would be harder for the drivers to leave on the spur of the moment. Charles had to go to Phil's home to get his check as Phil worked out of his house and just rented a spot at a garage to keep his trucks parked.

"Hi Charlie," said Phil, "Come in for your check, huh. Listen, I was hoping I might take you out for a drink before you go, how bout it?"

"Sure Phil", said Charles, "But it will have to be later because I have some things to do before I leave."

"Fine", said Phil, "I'' tell ya what, I'll see if I can rush your last check through and if I can, then we can go out on Thursday and I'll give you your check at the same time."

After a word or two more Charles left. Driving away Charles was a little surprised that Phil had not tried to talk him out of quitting; but, perhaps that would happen on Thursday. With the sun still up Charles felt slightly out of place. After a year of sleeping while everyone else was at work, he had almost forgotten wht it was like to go out while there was light around that was not fluorescent. Pondering this fact he thought he had better start getting up early right away before he left so that he would not feel tired driving during the day, which he would have to do if he was going to see anything while on his trip.

With nothing else to do Charles decided to go to a movie so he went down to one of the older theaters to watch a double feature. When the movie ended he had some dinner at one of the better Burger Kings in the area and went home. Trying to sleep before the sun came up was practically useless so he had a few drinks and watched television until he was able to crash.

The next day he and Stuart went to the junkyard to get the parts he wanted. The junkyard they chose was one of the largest in the area and took over a few acres in one of the less populated areas of town. As he walked through the auto forest, Charles wondered how they had been able to stack the cars on top of one another without having them fall over even when they stood them four or five on top of themselves. Inside the yard there were six or seven other weekend mechanics on a scavenger hunt looking for the right part, from the right car and later when they installed it they would be praying that it worked because even if it did not, they would still be stuck with it because the junkyard had a policy of no returns and no guarantees. A friend of Charles had once bought a set of heads at the yard and when he got them home and installed them he was less than thrilled to discover they had hairline cracks in them which rendered them useless; but, fortunately he was able to save up enough money to get a seconds set from the yard and those ended up working.

"Stu", called Charles, "Do you remember when dad took us here for the first time? I remember how dad would let us split a beer after we finished helping him and he would always tell us to not tell mom. I sure miss mom and dad..."

Stuart said, "I remember and I remember how they would argue all the time and he would say that she had forced him to marry her by getting pregnant with you."

"I know", said Charles; "But, it wasn't always like that. Sometimes he was real nice to her, like that Christmas that he bought her a washing machine so that she didn't have to walk to the laundry all the time. Hell, even used like it was, it still must have cost a hundred and fifty bucks or so."

"Yeah well, I think he just did that because he felt bad about screwing the waitress." Said Stuart. "Hell, even Aunt Flo said that to his face."

"Well, I still think that he was pretty nice sometimes." said Charles with only a little less conviction. "Hey Stu, what do you want to do when you finish your trip? I mean what are you hoping for out of life, what do you want to be. I don't think you've ever told me that."

Irritated a little, Stuart said, "I never told you because it was stupid".

"I wanted to be a cobbler," he said. "You know fixing shoes. I don't know I guess I just like the idea of working with my and hands and at my own pace. One time when mom sent me down to have our shoes resoled I asked the cobbler where he had learned to work with shoes and he told me, "Back in Italy". I wanted to ask him if maybe he would teach me; but, it took a month to get up the courage and by the time I did, the store was closed. Hey, there is a Cavalier over there, lets see if it has the rocker arms."

The next four hours were spent picking the bones of the old car for the parts they needed. When they got back to Stuart's house that night, Dee Dee had the dinner all ready and a couple of cold beers by the door. She asked Charles if he wanted to spend the night, an offer he cheerfully accepted. When dinner was finished they played some cards and listened to the radio and later Charles went to sleep on the couch.