5. Kindness

The truck had the patina of an outdoor vehicle. The girl had the look of a farmer about her too.

“Would you like some help with that?” Dan asked. She hadn’t paused in her efforts.

“Yeah. I guess so,” she drawled, standing up and dusting her hands. The spanner stayed where it was, clinging to a reluctant wheel nut. Both tyres on this side of the old truck were blown out and it was heeled over at an angle. “Hollerin for one of my brothers to come bend it ain’t gonna do no good.” She gave him an appraising look as if he were a bit small and she doubted he’d be as effective as one of her brothers. “I guess I’ll be grateful for whatever you can do.”

Four foot of pipe on the shaft of the spanner made it the work of one hand to get the first nut moving and he didn’t even have to bend down to do it. He jacked the truck closer to level, then let it down again just far enough for the wheels to grip.

“Do you carry two spares?” He asked.

“Yeah. I got two though they aint exactly new.”

She sauntered around to the back of the truck, skinny bare legs silhouetted between her raggedy denim shorts and a slightly oversized pair of boots.

Dan knew it had been tough farming out to the west recently. Food prices were down, which was good for Chareen City but tough on the farmers. It had been a dry year too out west and in the mountains, so he’d heard. Alm didn’t much care as most of their food came in from rural Parkerton to the east and these days if Alm didn’t care then Chareen didn’t much either. All eyes were eastward. He got the first wheel off and the girl dumped a spare on the ground and hefted the old one into the back.

“You on your way to Chareen for work then?” he asked. The passenger side front tire was shredded. The girl was lucky she hadn’t ended up in a ravine.

“Lookin for work in Chareen, yeah.”

She’d come this far in a truck that wasn’t making it back on a good day and without even a job offer. If things were that bad, she wouldn’t be the last to try either. The second wheel was soon done.

“What do I owe you?” she asked, after stowing the remains of the second old wheel.

“Nothing but a handshake.”

She seemed relieved and shook his hand with a smile.

“I’m Millie.”

“I’m Dan. Welcome to Chareen, Millie.”

“If alls you city men are as polite and handy it’ll be a pleasure.”

Dan didn’t comment on that. A naïve country girl was a naive country girl and she would have to learn to survive in her own way. He did tab her the address of a garage where she could take the truck and might even find work. Ebano needed the help and he liked ‘skinny white chicks’, if only for the ‘lookin and laughin’ as he put it. Ebano was nearly seventy.

Dan was late tired and grubby when he reached home and Molly. She stripped his overalls straight into the washer, insisting he keep his hands in the air, then squealed and ran away when he tried to embrace her. She didn’t run very far or very fast though and he was soon holding her against him and drawing warrior makeup on her face with his sooty fingers.

“Look how scary mummy looks!” Dan said, scooping up Jack who laughed at Mommy’s streaky face or perhaps because he was filling his nappy.

It was an hour of nappies and bills and washing before they finally got to eat. Molly, sat in his lap, fork feeding him and then trying to bite off whatever was outside his teeth for herself. It certainly wasn’t the fastest way to satisfy his hunger but it was the best. He made sure she got enough and she kept going until he said,

“No more. Time for bed.”
“We should go to the park on Sunday if the weather holds.”

“Yes. That’ll be nice.”

“You’ll have to tone down the flashing at strangers though if we want a quiet morning playing with Jack.”

“Nonsense. The people of Chareen love my pussy and sitting cross legged is good for my posture.”

“I almost forgot,” Dan changed the subject. “Matt says the war in California may be over in a week.”