Chapter 19

It was a nice summer’s day that wasn’t too hot or too cool. Sherry and Alex were waiting outside the rented garage for the kids to arrive. Sally and her boyfriend, Ted, were the first to arrive. Sally’s mother, Leanne, parked her car and led the two teenagers over to where Sherry and Alex were waiting. Both kids were wearing coveralls, and were carrying mystery packages that their mothers had prepared for them.

Leanne said, “You kids be good.”

Turning to her mother, Sally asked, “We will be. When will you be here to pick us up?”

Leanne said, “In two weeks.”

“What? Two weeks?” Sally asked wide-eyed.

This was the first that she had heard of them being there for two weeks. Ted looked even more startled by that news than Sally.

Sherry said, “You don’t expect to work regular hours, do you?”

“Uh, yes,” Ted answered.

Alex said, “That’s no good. You work until the job is done. Then you take a nap and get to work on the next problem.”

The expression Sally’s face was one of incredulity. “Where will we sleep?”

“We brought cots,” Sherry said brightly.

“Cots?”

Sherry said, “Don’t worry. They’re comfortable. They’re the same kind we have out in our laboratory.”

Looking concerned, Ted asked, “Do my mother and father know about this?”

Leanne answered, “Yes. Your mother told me that they were taking a two week vacation to Hawaii.”

“That’s news to me,” Ted said.

He was about to get irritated at his parents for dumping him here, then realized he’d be spending two weeks with his girlfriend. That had possibilities. He looked over at Sally and grinned. Sherry pointed to Digit. He frowned.

Sally said, “I guess I’ll see you in two weeks.”

Ted said, “Thank you, Mrs. Jones.”

“Ta ta! You kids have fun,” she said while heading off to her car. She was shipping Michael, Sally’s brother, off to camp for two weeks. Once she reached the car, she shouted, “Cancun, here we come!”

Sally said, “I wonder where Michael is.”

The next to arrive was Rick, Otterly’s long time boyfriend. His mother dropped off Rick warning him, quite firmly, to behave. Ricks mother knew that, despite being somewhat odd, the Cages were a friendly couple until someone threatened their daughter’s safety. Then they turned into avenging angels. Of course, her warning to Rick was unnecessary, since Digit was sitting beside Sherry.

“Hello, Dr. and Dr. Cage,” Rick said.

Tapping her foot, Sherry said, “Aren’t you forgetting someone?”

“Hello, Digit,” Rick said.

“Woof!”

“Hi, Rick,” Alex said.

“Hello, Rick,” Sherry said sweetly. She turned to Digit and said, “Watch him, Digit.”

“Woof!”

“Where’s Otterly?” Rick asked after looking around for her.

“My mother is bringing her,” Sherry answered.

Almost as soon as the words were out of her mouth, Alice’s car turned into the parking lot of the garage. Her arrival was announced with a short beep of the horn. Otterly got out of the car and headed toward Rick.

Staring at Otterly, Sherry said, “I don’t believe it. She’s wearing a pink coverall.”

Alex said, “I can’t believe they make pink work boots.”

“There’s something wrong with that,” Sherry said. “It’s not right.”

Otterly greeted Rick with a kiss which provoked a growl from Digit. Sherry’s mother followed her looking very pleased at the public display of affection.

“Hi, Rick.”

“Hello, Otterly,” Rick said glancing over at Digit.

Sherry said, “Hello, Mother.”

Not bothering to return the greeting, Sherry’s mother said, “I don’t know why you are insisting on this. I taught Otterly all she needs to know on how to fix a car.”

“You taught Otterly how to fix a car?” Sherry asked flabbergasted by the idea of her mother teaching anyone how to fix a car. This was like hearing that the Incredible Hulk had taken up knitting.

“Yes.”

“I don’t believe it,” Sherry said.

Her mother turned to Otterly and then said, “Show your mother how to fix a car.”

“I’ve got to see this,” Sherry said.

Alex said, “This ought to be good.”

Otterly turned to Rick. She batted her eyelashes. She reached over and started playing with the zipper of his coverall. His eyes went wide.

Sweetly, she said, “Rick. Will you fix my car?”

“Sure, Otterly.”

“Mother!”

“See. No problem,” her mother said.

“Leave. Leave now,” Sherry said pointing to the car.

“Come along, Otterly. We’ll make some cookies.”

“Otterly stays,” Sherry said.

“She just did her nails.”

“Otterly stays. You leave,” Sherry said firmly.

Sherry’s mother said, “Okay.”

“Now.”

“Did you program the telephone number for my mechanic on your cell phone?”

“Yes.”

“Mother! Leave! Now!”

“I’ll stop by and drop off the next issue of Celebrities on Parade for you to read while he’s fixing your car.”

“Thanks, Grandma. I don’t know what I’d do without you,” Otterly said.

“Mother!”

Sherry watched her mother drive off. Otterly waved goodbye to her. Once Alice was gone, Alex hit the garage opener. The door slowly opened.

“Follow me, kids,” Alex said.

The four kids, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, followed him into the darkened garage. Sherry brought up the rear. She hit the button that would turn on the lights. She hit the next switch that would close the garage door.

There are all kinds of ways to teach someone how to repair an automobile, but they all boil down to fixing a car that is not working properly. Now most people would just wait until something went wrong on the family car, and use that as a teaching platform. Some people would buy an antique car and rebuild it. Sherry and Alex weren’t like most people. They bought what could only be called a junker. In fact, they didn’t buy just one, they bought five which they affectionately named, Amos, Bertha, Chuck, Dick, and Elmer.

Sherry said, “I would like to introduce you to Amos.”

With a raised eyebrow, Ted asked, “You named the cars?”

“Of course,” Sherry said.

Sally leaned over to Ted and whispered, “Don’t say anything.”

“I know,” Ted said.

Sherry said, “Amos was was owned by a little old lady who only drove it to the store on Saturdays and to church on Sundays. This is what they call a low mileage car.”

The body had a few dings, dents, and scratches that gave visible evidence that the previous owner was not able to judge distances too well. Other than that, it looked like it was in pretty good shape.

Ted said, “My Dad says that you should always look for a low mileage car when you’re buying a used car.”

Hoping they weren’t going to have to do bodywork, Rick asked, “What’s wrong with it?”

Alex said, “The previous owner didn’t know that cars needed to have the oil changed. She managed to put 32,654 miles on it, before the engine locked up for good.”

“Oh,” Ted said staring at the car. “That’s not good.”

Otterly said, “Even I know that not changing the oil isn’t good.”

Sherry walked over to the last car. She said, “This is Bertha.”

The car was sitting there with no tires and a crumpled front end. The rims were obviously in bad shape.

“What happened to it?” Sally asked.

“The previous owner chose not to stop when an officer tried to pull him over for a speeding ticket. This triggered a high speed chase that lasted an hour. After driving over a spike strip, the individual continued to drive it for another six miles. The tires disappeared sometime after the first mile and the rims were nearly worn to the hub after the next five miles. The air bag deployed after striking a small tree. The tree did some damage to the front end of the car.”

“Where’s the previous owner now?”

Sherry answered, “In jail.”

In an attempt to be a good parent, Alex said, “What lesson should you learn from this?”

This was just too good for the kids to pass up. Smiling, they all exchanged significant looks. They each took turns ‘guessing’ what lesson was to be learned.

“Don’t let them catch you?”

“Don’t drive over spike strips?”

“Don’t hit a tree?”

“Run after the car stops?”

“Try for low speed chases?”

Getting into the spirit of things, Sherry suggested, “Buy puncture resistant tires?”

“Hey, that’s a good one.”

“Don’t speed,” Alex said, thinking that it was going to be a long two weeks!

“Oh,” Otterly said. “I would have never guessed that.”

“You could have given us a hint.”

Otterly asked, “Is that going to be a question on the test?”

“What test?” Alex asked.

“The one at the end of this class.”

“There’s no test at the end of this class.”

Otterly said, “Aren’t we getting credit for this class?”

“No.”

“Do mean that I’m risking ruining my manicure for nothing?”

“You’re learning how to fix a car,” Sherry said.

“They have people who do that for you,” Otterly said.

Thinking that he might enjoy going to Hawaii with his parents, Ted said, “She’s right. There are people who do that.”

Surprising everyone, Sally said, “Be quiet. I want to learn how to fix a car.”

“Oh,” Otterly said.

“Same here,” Rick said.

Sherry went over to the next car and said, “This is Chuck. The previous owner was a salesman who drove the vehicle for more than 450,000 miles, before trading it in for a new model. It runs ... well ... it runs like a James Bond car.”

“What’s that mean?” Sally asked.

“When you press the accelerator it produces lots of smoke out the rear in quantities sufficient to ensure that anyone following would not be able to see the edge of the cliff until it was too late to react.”

“I see,” Rick said shaking his head.

“I guess it doesn’t have any high tech toys in it,” Sally said.

“That’s right,” Sherry said.

Alex said, “It also tends to rattle and shake a bit.”

“How much does it shake?” Ted asked not quite sure he wanted a real answer.

“Well, it’s hard to hold onto the steering wheel when it goes over ten miles an hour,” Alex said.

“You piss blood for three days after riding in it for an hour,” Sherry said.

Alex added, “You can make butter out of milk with a short trip around the block.”

“Other than that, it runs fine.”

“When it runs.”

“Except for the noise.”

“And the lurching.”

“And the...”

“We’ve got the idea,” Ted said. He might have know nothing about repairing cars, but he knew enough that if the problem was as described, that they have to rebuild the whole car before the job would be finished.

Sherry pointed to the next car and said, “This is Dick.”

Otterly said, “Let me guess, it was also owned by a little old lady who didn’t know to change the oil.”

“Nope. It was used car that had been purchased by a defense company. It was the subject of an EMP experiment. It is now dead weight.”