Uncaged

Chapter 2

"Lucas, the clutch is in for that Ferrari!" my granddad called out from across the shop.

I sighed and rolled myself from underneath my pet project, the black beast. Had that damned clutch not come in, I'd be on my way to get the last part I needed to finally get it up and running. My granddad had taught me the ways of the junkyard years ago. We'd go there trying to find things we could buy cheap and then repair enough to sell. I'd cut my teeth on old beat-up lawnmowers, appliances and cars.

After a while, I'd gotten so skilled that I could start working on cars that were new enough to still be owned, and so began my life in the garage. Slowly but surely working my way to be able to fix just about any car out there. The exotic European cars were some of the harder ones to fix, and I'd had to take several courses on them to be able to fix them. But we were centrally located near several very wealthy communities, and there was always a call for them to get repaired without the owners taking them to the dealerships that were usually located much further away.

The Ferrari in question had been dropped off several days ago, with a ripped-up clutch. No doubt a teen trying to show off and not caring how much it cost to repair. Ahh, money, it always seems to teach some people the wrong life lessons. Unfortunately, the new piece being in meant that I would be finishing the little red sports car instead of my amazing black beast.

I wasn't thrilled about it, but the shop was here to make money, and working on my own pet project wasn't going to make any of it for my granddad. He would always chip in with money for my mom, and he employed me, so I really owed him a ton. So, I rolled my sleeves back up and got to work.

We knew the new clutch was on the way, so I'd already prepped the car by taking out the old one. But the job still took about 3 hours, just because with these fancy cars you really want to make sure you do a good job. The owners could very well be a lawyer, or be related to one, that would love nothing more than a lawsuit over shoddy work.

I didn't do shoddy work.

"The Ferrari is all set," I mentioned to Stacy, my grandad's receptionist out front. She was an unabashed flirt who had dated almost every mechanic in the shop at one point or another. Other than me of course, she knew I was off limits.

"Thanks, hot stuff!" she shot me a harmless wink and pulled up the file to start making calls. "Mister Donovan will be thrilled, as this was ahead of schedule."

"Do we have anything else on tap?" I asked, hoping the answer was no, though happy to hear that the Ferrari was owned by Brad's dad.

She scanned the work inventory with pursed lips before shaking her head. "Nothing but a pair of oil changes, but Harry wants the newbies to do those, so you're free." She loved calling my granddad Harry, hell everyone did, but I just couldn't do it.

"Thanks Stacy, let him know I'm headed out to get a part for the beast if he comes looking for me." I quick walked over to my pickup, another one of my finds from the junk yards, and glanced at my watch. I still had 90 minutes before the parts place closed, and I could do that drive in 45. I was in luck.

I pulled out onto Route 50 and headed west out of town. Route 50 is a main road that cuts Florida in half, from the Atlantic to the Gulf, and passing straight through Orlando. West of the city, in some of the more remote counties, it drops lanes and becomes much more fun to drive with the lack of traffic lights. It gets a little scary in the rain at night though since they never put in streetlights for large stretches of it.

But there was also a junk yard out there that had exactly what I needed, an exhaust system that would fit on my baby. Just over three years ago, up at a junk yard in Ocala, I'd found the bare bones of what I refer to as my baby, or the black beast. It was a 1939 Lincoln Zephyr that I was chopping and making into an old hot rod. It was love at first sight, I couldn't pull my eyes from it, and the yard had given it to my granddad at a steal since it had been there for so long. He bought the body and frame for me, and I'd been working on it ever since. For a long time, all I could do was repair the imperfections in the body, but slowly and surely, I had been able get everything put together. It was nowhere near original, as I was on a tight budget and usually resorted to finding anything that would fit. But damn it was stunning.

Now, I was headed to a junk yard I'd never been to, way out west in a little place called Ridge Manor. It was a nice drive, the last part of it going right through the Withlacoochee State Forest, a place I'd never even knew existed. But it looked beautiful, I might have to bring my younger siblings out here for a hike someday.

The shop itself was in bad shape, I wasn't at all impressed. It looked as though a strong breeze would take it over, with a tin roof that had been repaired in multiple places, and windows that only has wooden shutters to cover up for the missing glass. The odor in the shop shouldn't have been that bad with no windows, but there was no air conditioning, and instead it was like a wall of wet dog stench. Charming. A wiry looking middle-aged man with a nasty looking scar down the left side of his face was lounging in a chair behind the counter but looked up at me with a calculating expression when I entered.

"Can I help ya?" he growled, standing up as he spoke.

"Yes please. I called earlier about the tail pipe assembly, my name is Lucas," I explained quickly, trying not to breathe in the foul odor.

"Oh yeah, let me get that for ya," he said, nodding quickly. Luckily, the pieces were outside, so I was able to inhale again, and he pointed to several old boxes filled with car pieces. I opened the top of the boxes and wasn't surprised to see a lot of mismatched pieces, it was hardly as good as I hoped, but it should do the trick, even if the brackets weren't there. I could make my own easily enough. "That was it right? That will be $100."

I looked up at him with narrowed eyes. "$100? This morning it was $50." I hated people like this. They check out the customer and want to try to make a little extra money. He just made sure I wouldn't be back here, that was for sure.

"Yeah, well we had another customer looking for that same thing after you called, and he offered $100," the man lied with a grin.

"Oh, well that makes more sense," I agreed smoothly. "Then have a nice day, I'll let you enjoy that sale." I headed back towards my truck, leaving the boxes on the ground. If they had all been matching pieces, I might go for $100, but I could just find them elsewhere, I just had to be patient.

"Wait, wait! Hold on now, you don't want to walk off without your pieces, do you?" the man whined.

"I really don't, no. I want the pieces, but not from you. I've spent a lot of money at places like this, and I know when to walk away from crooked dealers. Too bad too, I could have come back quite a bit to a place like this," I told him coldly. That part was true too, it was well located for me, I could have come back on many weekends just to look through what else was around. But not now.

"Fuck, alright, $50!" he snarled. Damn, he sounded and smelled like a dog. What a guy.

"Fine." I passed him the cash and loaded the boxes into the back of my truck. He was back in the office before I was done, and I didn't see the point in saying a tearful goodbye.

The drive back wasn't quite as nice because my mind was too caught up in being pissed off at that scammer. I swung into the shop, dropping off the boxes next to the beast, and then checking in with Stacy to make sure nothing had come in while I was gone. Nothing had, so I went in and started putting in some work on the exhaust system, though I noted that the Ferrari was gone now. I was nervous, if all went well, I'd be able to take the beast on its first drive soon, and part of me was worried that there might be something missing or that I'd done something wrong. It was, by far, the most ambitious project I'd ever undertaken, and I just prayed it worked.