Becoming His Fix

16

Roland's POV

My arms burned, my back was sore from all the gravel rocks digging into it, and I was dealing with the annoying voice of Kit speaking nonstop just to fill the silence in the air. Forget the automatic lug wrench, the next thing I get will be a rolling back pad so keep the rocks off my bed.

"Hey it's almost time for lunch," Kit said as he swings his legs backs and forth from where he sits on a chair he had dragged from the patio front office. "You should probably find a stopping place so we can go eat."

"You go, I'll go in a little bit," I mumbled as I messed with the power steering wires.

"I thought you had rules for that," Kit asked. "Something about skipping meals could result in losing your cars?" I groaned at the reminder. At the time the rule seemed fair. Now that my hands were covered in grease and oil I didn't care for the rule very much.

"Go get me something then. I'll eat here."

"Is that allowed?"

"I don't see why it wouldn't be. I'd be eating. That's the rule." Kit was quiet for a while but after a few minutes he got off his chair and left.

I bathed in the silence for a long time. For the first time all day I allowed myself to imagine I was back in my dad's shop. The smell of tires and oil, the faint sound of clanging in the background, my mom's footsteps approaching quickly letting us know it was time to eat. It was perfect. My fingers picked at the wires, trying to find where the burned wire ended and the good wires began. It was tedious in this light but it was nice being back.

"I thought we had discussed you taking lunch and dinner," Mary's voice crashed through the scene I had created.

"Kit's getting it for me. We're eating out here."

"Well that's nice of him isn't it? Did you thank him?"

"For what," I huffed, getting rapidly more annoyed with every word that came out of her mouth. Kit was bearable. Mary was just annoying.

"For getting you food. He's doing something for you, it's polite to thank him."

"I'm not a child. I know how to thank people. I'm not rude."

"Okay," Mary said as she say down in the chair.

"Kit was sitting there."

"I'll be gone before he gets back. I just wanted to check in with you. Andrew told me what happened at the store."

"About how he paid for some of it?"

"He paid for it?" Her voice sounded high pitch and was laced with disbelief.

"Just a little." She sighed and muttered something about paying him back but I stopped listening.

"I meant more of the not getting everything you wanted. I know it was a bit more expensive than what you hoped for but that doesn't mean you can't have them. When you fix this one, me, you, and Andrew will sit down and talk about your cut. We'll probably do more of a commission based pay so you buy whatever you want with your money, Andrew and I will help you set up a budget to make sure you always have enough money to get a new car, hopefully always have enough money for savings."

"I told you that you're getting the funding."

"Just because we talked about that doesn't mean you have to do it. Since you have an idea of things you might want now, no one would blame you for not wanting to donate to us anymore."

"I don't need a lot of things. I just want a back pad. Then you can have all the money you want as long as I can always buy cars and parts."

"Like I said, we'll talk about that after this one is sold."

We worked/sat in silence for a while. The air felt tense for some reason but I don't know why.

"Did you need something else?"

"I was just going to keep you company until Kit comes back."

"You don't believe me that he's grabbing food."

"I'm not sure I do."

"Stay there for as long as you want then. But while you sit there, at least hand me that pair of wire cutters in that tool box so I don't have to crawl out of here." I stuck my hand out from under the car and after a few seconds too long of waiting I felt the nose of the pliers in my hand. "Tools get handed handle first to avoid injury. Try to remember that for next time, it's important."

"Noted," she said while sounded a bit upset at my words.

The wires cut easily with the new, sharp tool and I was happy for it. My dad always kept his old tools. If they still worked there was no point in throwing them out and there was never enough time in the day to sharpen them. I liked the new cutters but part of me wished I could at least hold the ones my dad used to have.

Soon enough Kit reappeared and I wished I could see the look on Mary's face when she saw him holding two treys.

As much as I didn't want to I forced myself out from under the car just to make her leave.

"I want a back pad and a head lamp. After I have those and enough money to fix cars, I don't care about the money. I care about the cars." Mary sighed again she got up from her spot on the chair.

"We'll talk about that later."

"I don't want to talk about it later. This is what I want."

"You deserve money for the work you're doing," Kit says defensively as he hands me my trey of food.

"I don't need the money."

"But there's always things that you could want. Snacks, new clothes, a book maybe?"

"I want a head lamp and a back pad. I won't care about anything else."

"I'll talk to him about it," Kit said as he took his chair back from Mary.

"There's nothing to talk about," I said with a glare as I pick at my food.

"I'll fix it," Kit said confidently with a smile plastered on his face. For what ever reason Mary smiled at him before she walks back to the office. "So-"

"Drop it."

"Got it. I mostly said that to make her go away."

"Mostly?"

"I still think you should rethink the money thing but I'll drop it until you're ready to bring it back up again." I hum and for a while we eat in silence again. I scarf down my food as fast as I could just to get back under the car but Kit stop me.

"What exactly is wrong with the car?"

"Power steering and the axle and router. I'm almost done with the steering, the axle and router are going to take a bit more time since I'll have to take breaks since I'm going to be working above my head, then I'll get the oil change done last and then it'll be ready to sell."

"And how heavy are these parts?"

"Only about 30 pounds, just being over my head is a bit harder. The jack weight 70 pounds though."

"You just casually carried all of that over here without struggle."

"Yea. After picking up a few dozen batteries and engines, a jack isn't that bad."

"Right," Kit said with a look in his eyes that I couldn't place. "How much can you lift?"

"I don't know. Never cared enough to see."

"Interesting."

"Sure," I said with a shrug. I didn't see what was so interesting about that but I trusted that again. I scrapped my food to the middle of the trey before scooting back under the car.

"So your dad taught you all of this?"

"Yep."

"And you find this fun?"

"Very," I said as I reconnected the wires before getting out from under the car and popped the hood to change the oil. Thankful I had already drained the old oil so all I needed now is to fill the pump up with new stuff.

"So what kind of stuff did you used to do outside of working on cars before you got here?"

"Nothing really. I didn't like movies that much and that's mostly what my dad did on the side. My mom liked cooking but I never cared for cooking."

"So literally all you do is fix cars?"

"Yep. I like it."

"Absolutely no other hobbies?"

"Nope," I said shortly, getting tired of his endless questions. When the pump is full I put the cap back on and hopped in the car.

"So what are you doing now?"

"I'm testing the power steering to make sure the wires were the actual problem."

I turned the key over and the engine actually sings. It's a beautiful song that's ruined by Kit's talking that I pay no attention to. My heart beats out of my chest as I place my hands on the wheel and turned it slowly. Relief filled me as the wheel turned easily. It was fixed.

"So you did it?"

"I did it."

"So now what?"

"On to the next problem."

December 31, 2023