Chapter 5

It is easy to be brave, from a distance

Saturday morning he woke to the smells of breakfast, which for the first time since the second chemo treatment made him hungry. He quickly got up and went into the kitchen to see something he had not planned on, Robogym making pancakes.

Rubbing his eyes he asked, "Am I dreaming? Is that Robogym making breakfast?"

His mom asked, "Who is Robogym?"

"That would be me" nodding to Patrick's mom.

"Why on earth would you call him Robogym?"

"Well, first off his name is Robert James, and second look at him. He's a big guy and look at those huge arms from working out in the gym. What would you call him?"

"Robert!" said his sister as she was making bacon and sausage.

With a nod and a wink to Patrick, Robogym said to Patrick's mom, "It's okay Mrs. B, I'm okay with it. Sounds kind of cool anyway"

His mom looked crossly at Patrick but let it go. A moment later she turned to him and asked, "Are you hungry Patrick?"

"You know what, I am!"

His mom smiled and asked, "Well isn't that a great surprise! What would you like?"

Smiling broadly he said, "Robopancakes!"

His dad came into the house and joined them for breakfast. Patrick could see in his reaction to him eating that he was both surprised and happy, which made him feel pretty good.

"So what brings you here Robogym?" asked Patrick as he bit into some very good robopancakes.

"Your Dad and I are going to the junk yard to see if they have a replacement motor for your car."

He turned to his dad and asked, "Can I go Dad?"

"What do you think Robogym?" asked his dad with a smile.

"His name is Robert, Father" replied Patricia glaring at Patrick, who just smiled and waved his fork at her.

His dad shrugged his shoulders and sat down at the table.

Robert snickered and said, "Sure he can come along."

So, after a wonderful breakfast they took off to the junk yard which was about forty minutes away

It was an interesting trip to the junk yard, as the conversation between Patrick's dad and Robogym was disjointed and cumbersome as each tried, and somewhat failed, at making small talk. For Patrick it was odd as he never seen his dad so uncomfortable or Robogym being at a loss for words. Watching closely he could tell that both were trying very hard, maybe too hard, to communicate and to learn who the other was, and as the junk yard was just before them Patrick laughed to himself at how weird this was, seeing these two strong men being nothing more than nervous Nellies.

They pulled into the junk yard and parked next to the entrance, an interesting experience for Patrick, but the look on his dad and Robogym's face said if you seen one junk yard you've seen them all and let him know that this was nothing to be excited about. They got out of the truck, walked up a set of metal stairs and into a trailer.

As they opened the door an old man was yelling on the phone before slamming it down onto the cradle. He looked up and yelled, "Can I help you?"

Robogym smiled and asked, "Is Arnie here?"

"Yeah hold on" and picked up the phone, hit two numbers and yelled, "Arnie to the office, Arnie get your ass to the office" and hung up the phone. Without looking up he said, "He'll be right here."

Sure enough the door flew open and a middle aged man came storming in wearing grease stained coveralls wiping his hands with a rag, "Come on Grandpa, we talked about this before, no swearing over the intercom."

Grandpa didn't look up and just pointed at the three of them.

He turned to Robogym and said, "Oh, ah, hello, how can I help you?" with a smile.

"Yeah, Sam said to talk to you about an engine for me?" asked Robogym.

"Sam? Oh yeah, yeah, Sam. Listen the engine I pulled out for you is okay but it's just shy of ninety thousand miles on it. Now, I got another one that just came in and it's only got twenty two thousand miles, but it's still in the car, you'll have to get it out."

"Really? Twenty two thousand" he asked with a some anxiety.

"Yeah. Just came in the other day, and I know it's hard to believe, but the car was driven rarely" and turned to look at his Grandpa as he continued, "as the owner only drove it when her Husband would refuse to drive her to the grocery store. Ain't that right Grandpa?"

"She shouldn't even have a license!" he yelled back without looking up.

"Exactly Grandpa. He" pointing his head to his Grandfather, "was watching the Royals play on TV and didn't want to drive her with the game not over. So what did she do Grandpa?"

"She took the car" emphasizing on the she part.

"She took the car" repeated Arnie as he shook his head. Looking down at the floor he continued, "And then what happened grandpa?"

"She parked it on the street," again emphasizing on the she part.

"That's right, parked it on the street. And what happened when she parked the car on the street?"

"A god damn semi plowed into it," he screamed at his grandson.

"A semi plowed into it. It nearly took off the back end!" Turning back to Robogym he continued, "Thankfully Grandma was in the store."

"Yeah. Thank God because now I'll never hear the end of it for Christ's sake" screamed his grandfather.

He turned and yelled back, "Your lucky that she's still with us Grandpa."

He raised his hands and looked up to the ceiling and said loudly, "Yeah, I count my blessings every day. Then I turn off my hearing aid and all is right with the world!" and walked out of the office.

"Sorry about that. You can't tell Grandma no or wait till later, pisses her off to no end. So, the car is totaled but the engine is clean, just got to pull it out."

Robogym looked at Patrick's dad who shrugged his shoulders. Robogym looked back at Arnie and said, "Got any tools?"

Two hours later the engine was tied down in the back of Robogym's truck and they were back in the office, "So, three hundred for the engine right?"

Arnie smiled at Robogym and said, "I talked to your uncle, we worked out a deal between us, no charge on the engine, you're good to go."

"Really?" asked Robogym.

"Yeah. He's got that old Nova that I'm going to pick up for Grandma."

Patrick's dad jumped in "I can't except charity. We agreed to three hundred," and began pulling his wallet out.

Arnie put his hands up showing his palms and took a step back saying, "Oh no you don't, I need that Nova!"

His dad looked at Robogym and said, "Here, you take it."

Robogym did the same thing and said, "I'll let you work it out with my uncle, I've got nothing to do with this."

His dad shook his head and said, "Okay, I'll talk to your uncle when we get back."

Robogym tried to hide the smile as he said, "It'll have to wait a couple of weeks, he's on vacation."

"This is all your doing, isn't it Robert."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Right. Thanks."

The ride back home found both men at ease and comfortable with each other, the pulling of the engine seemed to have done its job.

Monday was dialysis and once again Robogym had dropped off his truck for them to use. Patricia seemed to find her stride in her relationship with Robogym as she easily slipped into his arms to kiss him goodbye when they picked up the truck and when he dropped them off at home.

The Tuesday after getting the engine Patrick rode his bike to Robogym's uncle's auto repair shop to see how it was going. It was a long ride, and he found himself stopping a few times to rest, his stamina nowhere near where he thought it was. But he made it.

He walked in to see Robogym pulling the old engine out with an engine hoist. Not wanting to startle him he waited until the engine was out and Robogym was resting next to the just pulled engine.

"Hey Robogym" he yelled as he walked up.

"Patrick? What the hell are you doing here?"

Robogym was sweating and had dark marks from dirt and grime all over him, worse than what he looked like at the junk yard. "Went out for a little ride is all. Got the engine out I see."

"Yeah, harder than what I thought, several bolts had to be sheared off because of rust and working in there is tight for a guy my size."

"Really? Tight for a guy your size? Wow."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Funny. Hey, since you're here how would you like to knock off one of the items from your list?"

"Really? Which one?" he asked excitedly.

"My buddy with the motorcycle is off today, I could call him and see if he will could take you for a ride?"

"Sure!" he said excitedly.

Robogym slapped him on the back and said, "Cool."

While Robogym went off to make the call, Patrick walked over to the car and looked in the empty engine compartment and at the engine on the hoist where wires and hoses dangled from it. It reeked of gas, oil and other smells unknown to him. It was filthy, and on closer inspection was caked with dirt and grime all over but especially in tight places. No wonder Robogym was a mess.

Just then Robogym said, "Okay, Rogigalo is on his way."

"Rogigawhat?"

"Rogigalo. His names Roger but he has a way with the, uhm, older, ladies so we added gigolo to the end. We actually think that he is a gigolo. But he's a good guy."

Seeing him looking at the engine he asked, "Are you interested in mechanics?"

"Sure."

He then began to show him the different parts of the engine, explaining what each did and how it worked. He was easy to understand and, at least from his point of view being a novice, was very thorough. It was fascinating and seemed to last for hours, which was not a knock on him but time seemed to slow down as he talked.

It was the sound of a motorcycle that stopped Robogym from talking. They both turned their focus to the front of the garage where a massive motorcycle stopped. The rider, clad in black leather, turned off the motorcycle, set the kick stand and got off.

"Come on, let me introduce you to Rogigilo" and walked towards the entrance.

As they got near the entrance Robogym yelled out, "Hey, Rogigolo."

Rogigolo, who was kneeling on his left knee inspecting his front wheel, stood up and said, "Roberto! How you doing?"

"Good. This is Patrick, the guy who wants a ride on a FAST motorcycle."

Guy? Not kid? Wow, moving up in the world, Patrick thought.

"Nice to meet you, Patrick," as he extended his hand.

Looking between Robogym and Roger he said, "Yeah, nice to meet you too, ah, Rogigilo?" He wasn't sure if he should call him by that so he waited to see how it was received.

He had nothing to worry about as Rogigilo snickered as Robogym laughed and said, "See, everyone knows about you."

"Yeah right. I'm sure him hearing you call me Rogigilo had nothing to do with it." He looked at Patrick and said, "So you're the one that wants to be shot out of a cannon?"

"Uhm, if you mean going fast on a motorcycle than yes."

"Great. Put on that helmet and we can take off." He looked to Robogym and asked, "How much time do I have?"

"How about be back in an hour or less?"

"Sounds like a plan." Looking to Patrick he said with a smile, " Ready?"