Chapter 6

Waking up, thinking about something that you can't remember, is unsettling. Is Alzheimer's getting to me? Who knows?

After taking the usual pills, I walked around the park, avoiding getting anywhere near Maria's. I met Caroline again on the way back. We chatted, but she was preoccupied today, too.

Instead of going to the patio, I made my own coffee, along with some bacon, eggs, and toast. I was cleaning up when Steve came over. He knocked and came in. I offered him some coffee, but he said he just stopped by to make sure I was all right.

"I'm fine. I have to see my ex this evening, but I have an attorney that's going with me because something is up. She wouldn't be pushing so hard for this meeting for nothing. She advised me we were through Monday and had cut off my cell phone and the bank accounts. It's just weird. She didn't get to serve me with her divorce papers and faked the service so hers would be first. That might cause her some grief, but who cares."

"Well be careful with her. If you need legal help, let us know. We know some good attorneys."

"I'll be fine, I'm just nervous over it, that's all. I'm headed over to the cart shop to see if there is any warranty stuff. If there isn't, I'll check with R&D. I think I know of another older lady that could use some help. I'll go there too."

Steve was nodding, "You're doing great. What you did for Maria is really nice. Juanita told me about Maria's offer and your insistence that she only cook for you. That was nice. I don't know whether I would turn down that cute little girl."

"Steve, I take a lot of medicine and none of it is good for a man's ego, if you know what I mean. What would I do with her?"

"Play my friend, play."

"That would be fun, Steve, but I would just want more and I wouldn't be able to have more."

Steve walked out and said, "Where's the new cart Crystal painted up for you?"

I took the key and opened the shed. "I couldn't stand leaving it out overnight. It's too pretty."

Steve laughed and said, "I'll see you at lunch."

There were four carts in the warranty area, so I did those real quick. There was nothing much to fixing the problems and two of them just had bad bolts. From there, I checked with Dennis and he really didn't need me. I went over to the park and drove up to the trailer that had an old Ford Thunderbird in the driveway. The body looked good, but it was faded real bad. The tires were all up and looked like they had good tread. I had walked by before and the hood had been up, so that's why I was here.

A very heavy older lady came to the door.

"Hi, I'm Mark Robins. I like to help folks that may need some car repairs. Is your Thunderbird running okay?"

"The lady smiled and said, "No, it doesn't run at all. It usually won't start, and when you do get it to started, it won't go. The transmission may be gone."

"How about I look at it, unless you're going to have it towed off instead of fixing it?"

"I can't afford another car right now and I can't afford to fix it. I'll get the keys, you're welcome to try."

She brought me the keys and I turned the key trying to start it to hear the starter solenoid sticking. I had to get on my back, but I whacked the solenoid with a wrench and went around and turned the key. It started right up. While I let it warm up, the transmission was whining as if it didn't have any fluid.

When the engine was warm, I checked the transmission dipstick and it was dry. I told the lady, "I'll be right back, I am probably not fixing it yet, but I'll get it running enough so I can get it to my place and work on it."

"You've already done more than my son and son-in-law. The neighbor fellow tried to help too, but it was beyond them."

I went to the parts store in my cart and bought a bunch of transmission fluid.

Back at the park, I poured the max amount of tranny fluid into the car, then started it and let it run. When it was warm, I put it in gear and it slid right into gear. I said I would be right back and drove the Thunderbird to my trailer.

I walked back and gave the lady my telephone number, then drove my cart home.

It sure would be nice to have a lift. Hmmm, they have lifts at the truck shop. I wonder. Well, I can do this one here. But first, I jumped in the cart and drove over to the truck store and went to the parts counter. I asked the parts guy, "I see guys in jumpsuits. Where can I get a couple?"

"You can buy them here, but we sell them retail. You can buy them over at the factory store at wholesale. Last, you can borrow a couple off the uniform rack, bring them back dirty, and get a couple more."

"The uniform rack is for me."

I stopped, "Oh say, what kind of strings would I have to pull to use one of those lifts"

"Since you seem to know what you're doing, none. You might get hooked into helping on another job, but bring whatever it is over and use the little lift. We hardly ever use it."

"Thanks, I'll remember that." I went to the rack and got two bright orange coveralls and rode back to the trailer. The car was still running so I slid underneath to see what was leaking. That was easy, there was a crack in the transmission pan.

I dropped the pan. It wasn't caked with crud and only had a few metal shavings. Instead of going to the parts store, I called since I figured this would be a special order item. I was right, and they said I would probably only find one at a junkyard and only if I was lucky.

I cleaned the pan until it shined then ran over to the truck body shop where they put the bodies on. I had the pan in my hand when I saw Crystal. I wolf whistled and she spun around. I walked over to her grinning and showed her the pan and said, "I need someone to weld this or for someone to lend me a straight arc."

Crystal smiled and pointed at a nice Lincoln arc welder setup in the corner. I took the pan and using tools on a nearby bench pounded it out flat and smooth then looked over the rods to find the right kind for good steel.

I put the pan in some clamps and grounded it, then turned up the welder. Using the gloves that were on the machine and the hood that was on the bench, I drew a bead along one side of the crack. I shut everything off and looked at it. I turned the pan over and clamped it. I drew another bead on that side. With everything shut off and put away, I used some grinding tools to smooth the weld. I could have used some better rotary tools, but these guys probably didn't weld that often. I finally got it smooth on both sides. On the way out, Crystal wanted to look at my work. She nodded in approval. I had to stop at the parts counter for a sheet of gasket material.

I cut the material out and bolted the pan back up. I checked all around to make sure nothing else was damaged. I did the usual checks, then ran over to the parts store for the parts for a tune up, oil change materials, the starter solenoid and more transmission fluid.

It was getting to be noon, so I washed up, changed clothes, and went to lunch. Crystal was there and asked if I was done for the day. I told her that I changed to be clean for lunch. Steve laughed, "If you're working on something, come like you are. We work out here. Dirt washes off."

I thanked him for the info and said that next time I would come in coveralls.

After lunch, I pushed to finish the car quickly. I drove it to the lady and knocked on her door. I handed her the keys and said, "Everything works, I checked the air and it works too."

She came out of the house and all two hundred fifty pounds hit me. Wow, she was a "big one." When she finally calmed down, I asked her what her name was. She said, "That's right. I was so rude I didn't even tell you my name. I'm Katherine Spencer. I've lived out here for a long, long time."

"Well, Katherine Spencer, your car is ready to take you somewhere. The car is in really good condition. It needs a paint job or some wax, but it runs good now. The transmission pan was cracked and the fluid leaked out. The starting problem was the solenoid. I tuned it up and changed the oil. Like I said, it runs great."

Katherine said, "You know I bet that happened at the shopping center. I ran over one of those parking bumpers and it scraped the bottom of the car. I backed up but the damage was probably already done. Well, thank you, Mark, isn't it?"

"Yes, Ma'am. If you know of any other folks like yourself who need help, let me know. I'm happy to help them out."

I walked back to the trailer, stripped, showered then sat at my computer in my shorts to check e-mail. There was nothing new. I didn't think I would need any money, but I counted my cash. I still had almost three hundred dollars. Just to be on the safe side, I put two hundred in my checkbook in the desk and kept a little over a hundred in my money clip.

Should I dress up or wear jeans as usual. Why not jeans? I wasn't trying to impress anyone. But then Sarah was coming, so I decided on khakis. It was getting toward five, so I dressed and was ready to go. I had called Sarah this morning and we were going to meet at Publix near the house. I would leave the Bronco there and ride with her. That would work.

I wanted a drink but thought better of it. Guess I was ready. I drove at a reasonable speed over to the Publix and parked. About ten to six, Sarah showed up. She said, "I talked to a friend of mine who is in the Sheriff's department and I have a hint of what's going on. They're cooking up some kind of charge against you and the cops are going to arrest you. Do you still want to go through with this or run? After the last time I had someone go to jail, I'd say run."

I was sick, almost to the point of wanting to throw up. I said, "I haven't done anything to get arrested for. Anything that I'm charged with is bogus. Please know that, Sarah, and help me if you can. I'll need a criminal lawyer. Maybe you know one that's good."

"I know a couple, but I'll be there to get you out tonight. Let's go get this over with. If I have to, I'll call in some federal favors. You'll be fine."

We drove up to the house to find the grass still needed to be cut. Oh well. A strange car was in the driveway, but I didn't care. It might even belong to her friend.

I rang the doorbell and Judy answered the door becoming surprised and alarmed that I had brought someone. I introduced them, "Judy, this is Sarah Perkins, a friend, and someone to represent me tonight and witness what happens. Sarah, this is Judy, my wife, or soon to be ex-wife."

We walked in and Judy led us to the kitchen where a tall guy, a lot younger than me, was standing. He had a superior look on his face with his head back, looking down at me.

I asked Judy, "Who's this?"

Judy almost sneered, "Someone to keep you in your place."

Turning to Sarah, "What do you think, this isn't going well, should we leave?"

Judy turned sweet, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound like that. This is Steven Barts, a friend of mine. He's here to kind of watch out for me."

Judy turned to the guy and said, "Why don't you serve us some wine, Steven?"

I don't drink wine often. Judy knows that. Steve brought out a couple of wine glasses already poured and placed them on the table in front me and Sarah. He went back into the fridge and brought out two more wine glasses and set one in front of Judy and one for him. They each took a drink but Sarah and I just sat.

I asked, "Why did you shut off my cell phone. I used that a lot. That was a good service."

Judy said, "We'll get to that."

"And what's with the shutting down the two bank accounts. The business account is mine too."

"I'm fifty one percent owner of the company, even though I didn't do anything. I can do with it what I want."

Sarah rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything.

"Okay, what do you want to talk about?"

"Drink your wine, Mark, it will relax you."

"I gave up booze, Judy, the doc said no more of any kind of alcohol. A bottle of water would be fine. I'll go get it. Do you want one, Sarah?"

I jumped up and went to the garage refrigerator. I noticed a Kawasaki rice rocket in the garage. Oh well. I brought two unopened bottles of water out and handed one to Sarah. I moved the two glasses over to Steven and Judy without touching them.

Judy said, "You know that I know you like to look at pictures of little girls, very young girls. You know that's wrong."

"Judy, you know I've never been interested in kiddie stuff. You and I used to watch stuff like deep throat and you used to like that guy Jeremy or something like that, but that's the only stuff we've ever watched."

She came back with, "You read those nasty stories about little kids all the time. I know you do. You even downloaded a lot of them and pictures too."

"What's this about, Judy? You know I've never done any of these things. Sure I've looked at pictures on the web before, but not kids. I read stories too, but no kiddie stuff. As a matter of fact, a lot of them don't even have any sex in them. You know I can't do anything with the medication I take. It takes the fun out of even thinking about sex. You sure haven't tried to encourage me, that's for sure."