Chapter 18

In HomeEc, my Miss Tiff had turned into a Motor-Head! She just went on and on and on, talking about fuel injection, carburetors, rocker arms and over-boring, until my eyeballs became as glazed as the desert bread we were baking. It turns out her daddy was a mechanic of the first water, a veritable diamond of a wizard, and Tom-Boy Tiff had absorbed U-joint lube and gear grease into her very brain toddling around at her papa's knees. I was used to this sort of talk from my mechanical sister-borg, but it was unexpected from this source in this venue. I tried to follow along, but in the end I was just smiling and nodding, more of a glazed grimace to be honest.

I can change spark-plugs, oil filters, or swap out a water pump even if it is accessible, but get inside the crank case and I am lost. Somehow, by the end of class, Miss Tiff had taken over the project, and was going to be Holly's partner in grime. Fine with me, but I would make certain that I kept in touch with the re-build, at least one day a week. The whole idea behind the impetus was not to have a car, although it would be nice, but to feed Holly's creative self-identity, and bond. However, bonding with an older female who also was not stereotypical was good too. We can't have too many positive role-modes.

Besides, I was pretty well bonded with my family, and Beth needed some extra attention from me supportive of her musical talent. She had been over-shadowed a bit by her more outspoken and vivacious twin. Introspective people need attention too! I began to think about where we could create a semi-professional recording studio. Well, the girls were getting to be old enough that they needed their own room, although up to now it was mostly their own choice which put them in the same room. The guest bedroom was only used once a year, if that, since Grandmother had passed on, making the house Mom's house, instead of Dad's mom's house.

I thought I could get the parents to agree to split the girls into two rooms, and build the studio in Beth's room. My guess was they would spend half the time in each other's or my bed anyway. Since the parents were so set on not obstructing their offspring, and allowing for free-range self-development, all I would have to do is use a little logic about un-utilized space which would be more usefully used fomenting life-skills and natural talent.

After School, and a demure hand clasp and kiss from my Miss Tiff, I floated home on cloud 9, oblivious and mostly dry inside my poncho to the deluge which had the pavement turned into a brook, and the eves of the houses turned into waterfalls. My ears were roaring in reaction to the beating of my love-stricken heart anyway, so I didn't even notice the roar of the rain on roofs and the gurgling of down-spouts and storm drains.

At Home, Holly took over my bicycle, drying and oiling it on newspaper in the garage, while I took a warming shower and changed into some dry clothes, then made a good rainy-day snack of sweet-and-sour soup, and home-made sausages on toasted hoagie-rolls. The sausages were split end-to-end, and grilled, then the thin-sliced caramelized onions were draped on top, and the slices of mozzarella cheese were melted on top before the lid was put on. More of a meal than a snack, but therapeutic on a wet day. I was going to have to start taking the bus more, without that kiss from my Miss Tiff wrapping me in a protective fog of love, I would have had a miserable ride home.

After the unusually hearty after-school snack, I told Holly to call Tiff, and work out logistics, as it turned out that my girlfriend knew more about motors than me. She seemed a bit put-off at first, but after yakking cars with Tiff for an hour, seemed to get over being miffed at me, especially since I countered her glare with a sound tickling. It is hard to glare and frown when you are giggling and shrieking hysterically. After she surrendered to my natural dominance as Elder Brother Worthy of Respect, we hugged and made up, and I think she realized she had traded up as far as Mechanic's Assistant went.