Everything to Nothing (11 page)

What Sally did
not realize at that time was the shock she was going to receive in
this exclusive part of the town later that same day.

Chapter 13

David also
slept fitfully that night, but for a different reason than Sally.
Every time he closed his eyes all he could see was her face. That
last smile seemed to be imprinted, burned onto his retinas.
Whenever he opened his eyes it was as if Sally was stood in front
of him the image his mind created of her was so perfect. Eventually
he did drift off only to be woken at some time in the early hours
by a drunken reveller making their very late way home singing
loudly nonsense. David’s eyes rested upon one of his many tool
boxes and the image of him hurling a wrench through the window and
wrapping itself around the singer’s neck made him smile and briefly
replaced the image of Sally. He resisted the temptation to maim the
drunk and instead his brain quickly and annoyingly flicked back to
Sally.

‘Dum, da, dum,
da dum,’ he muttered to himself, ‘oh when will sleep come?’ He
contemplated his ramblings for a moment and then said, ‘I’m a poet
and I don’t even know it. Right now I wish I had never met that
stupid girl! Who takes their car along that road at that time of
the night anyway?!’ He closed his eyes but he knew he was wasting
his time. ‘Ohhh come on now!’ again, he spoke out loud, ‘I am
acting like a twelve year old who has got his first ever crush! She
is not that nice!’ Again, he contemplated his words and then added,
‘Who am I trying to kid?! She is, without question, the most
gorgeous woman I have ever laid eyes upon! Right, no point lying
here if I am not going to sleep, up you get young man!’

He sprang out
of bed and glanced at the clock after which he let out a long
groan. ‘It is so, so early! What am I going to do?’ He thought
about his question as he made his way to the toilet and it was
while he was there he came up with the idea of going to the garage
and making a start on fixing the Mini which he had been intent on
doing later that day. David had volunteered to work on Saturday
anyway and he would try to make the car better than it was. ‘She
obviously likes the car,’ he stated to himself, ‘so what better way
to get in her good books than by fixing it?’

Whilst having a
quick wash he was thinking about how on earth he was going to fix
the car. His thoughts soon stopped though as he remembered the
man’s bodily fluids and solids that were in the car and he let out
a little shudder as he thought about it. Deciding to not come up
with any plan until he had arrived at the garage, he returned back
to his room and pulled on some overalls along with an old jacket.
He then went downstairs into the kitchen and grabbed an apple and a
banana, not having anything more substantial for breakfast as his
boss always brought the Saturday workers something fatty and
filling for their first meal of the day. After putting on his work
boots and getting his keys, David exited his house and entered his
car. It started with a mighty roar, mainly due to the large muffler
attached to the exhaust system rather than having anything to do
with the power of his old Ford Fiesta. He expertly reversed the car
off the driveway, sped down the street and raced his way to the
garage.

While he was
driving he had passed the entrance to an estate that he always
slowed down to look at when he had time. He could not see anything
through the main gate, but after he turned onto a smaller road that
wound up and onto the brow of a hill, it gave him a view over the
whole of the estate. He pulled over to the side of the road and
munched quietly on the fruit while he thought about the lucky
people who lived in such a place. He had no idea who lived there,
but he imagined they were of course very rich, with garages full of
expensive cars. From this position he viewed the house down on an
angle so he could see the front and also one side of the expansive
mansion. Surprised, he noted that one of the windows was showing a
light. ‘Didn’t think people that rich would have to get up this
early!’ he commented to himself out loud. Shaking his head in
bewilderment as to how anybody could be that rich and still have to
get up at six in the morning, he started the car again and
continued his drive to the garage.

David arrived
at his place of work not too long after his viewing of the estate.
He parked round the back, tucking his car out of the way in a
corner of the courtyard. Briefly he went up to the office,
rearranged the furniture to how it was and washed the cups so no
questions would be asked as to who he had had in the office. After
flicking a switch that turned on the lights in courtyard he left
the office and went down to the truck that was carrying Sally’s
car. He switched the truck on and then lowered the ramps at the
rear of the truck. Pressing some buttons on the side of the truck
released the cables that were attached to the car and it slowly
rolled back. When the car was fully off the vehicle David
unattached the cables and then moved the truck away to its
appropriate parking space. He then returned to the car and studied
it.

First of all he
realized that he would have to face the gross task of cleaning the
inside. He returned to the office and rooted around in there until
he found some gloves. Also, he filled up a bucket of water adding
lots of soap, grabbed some old rags along with a few copies of a
newspaper. Going back to the car he pulled on the gloves and laid
out one of the newspapers open on the tarmac yard. He then flung
open the driver’s door and simply scooped up the faeces in his
hands and dumped it on one of the papers. He wrapped up the paper
and coolly walked over to a skip and threw it all in it. It was
only then that he let himself feel a little nauseous but he quickly
shoved that aside as he returned to the car to remove the fluid
that was around the steering wheel and which had also dripped onto
the floor of the car. Taking one of the rags that had been soaking
in the soapy water, he wiped away all the ‘egg white’ and when it
was all removed he calmly again walked over to the skip and threw
away the rag. Nausea again threatened to overwhelm him but after a
few moments he composed himself and started to feel happy now that
the gruesome task was out of the way.

Returning to
the car he started to scrub the driver’s seat trying to get rid of
all traces of the excreta. As he worked he pressed the power button
on the radio and was happy when it came to life. Humming and
sometimes singing along to a popular love song, while the song was
reaching its end he thought and thought of the previous night, how
beautiful she looked considering the horrendous night she was
having, considering how wet and bedraggled she was. He was sure
that he would see her again, but he knew that last night they had
shared some moments that would hopefully stay with them for a life
time.

As the song
changed, he resumed his scrubbing and slowly the stain faded. When
he was happy with the interior of the car he sat in the driver’s
seat, not minding the wetness, and tried to start the car. The key
was turned three times until, with a cough and a splutter, the
dried out engine caught. ‘Yes! They don’t make them like they used
to! Can’t believe it started!’

David closed
the door and took the Mini for a quick spin around the yard, loving
the wind blowing into his face through the window frame. He did a
couple of handbrake turns, enjoying the handling of the Mini, and
then he stopped outside one of the doors to the garages, wiping the
wind-tears out of the corners of his eyes with a big grin on his
face. ‘They really don’t make them like they used to!’ he exclaimed
again.

Stepping out of
the car he opened the garage and then returned to the vehicle and
carefully rolled it in. Inside was everything a person needed for
the removal of dents, however, this was definitely not one of his
strong points. ‘Give me an engine to dismantle any day off the
week,’ he muttered to himself. However, he got to work, not
listening to the radio because he was worried about the power of
the battery, and removed the dents as best he could.

David continued
working until he heard voices in the yard. He stopped what he was
doing and stepped into the enclosure and sucked in the crisp, clean
morning air. It was dark when he had entered the garage and now he
was glad to see it looked like being a glorious day. Two of his
work colleagues came across and he told them how he managed to
acquire another broken car since they had left the previous
evening. The only thing he did not tell them was a description of
Sally. He wanted to keep that image to himself.

Leaving the
Mini for the time being, David had to carry on with the garage’s
work. Around 11am his boss arrived bringing bacon, sausage and
fried egg sandwiches with him for his workers. They broke off their
respective tasks and sat on chairs in one corner of the yard, ate
their sandwiches, and talked man talk. David’s two colleagues had
been out the night before and they talked about their successes
with the women, the copious amount of beer they had consumed and
they fight they had been involved in. David listened and laughed
along, but when he asked how much money they had spent he inwardly
winced. Going out, getting outrageously drunk and fighting was
something that had never interested him. He had always thought that
instead of drinking all his money away he would save it and spend
it on something worthwhile. He was interested in the women side of
their stories though.

Knowing he was
not academically gifted, David finished his education at the age of
sixteen, knowing it was pointless to even try and attempt a college
course. Mechanics was something that had always interested him, and
he obtained an apprenticeship at this time. Due to him saving and
rarely going out, along with his male dominated profession he
hardly met any women never mind stunningly beautiful women like
Sally. Therefore, all his thoughts, as he feigned interest in his
work colleagues’ stories, was to make sure that he did all he could
to impress Sally and make her want to be with him.

Eventually,
long after David was beyond bored with their success stories, his
boss came across and shooed them all back to work. With some more
overtime under their belts and the work done, his manager dismissed
them all, but David said that he was going to stay. His boss had
noted the Mini in one of the garages but had not commented upon it
until now. ‘Where did we acquire that Mini from?’

‘It is a
friend’s. She broke down last night. I picked it up. Been doing
some work on it.’

‘Is she
paying?’

‘No, I’m doing
it for free in my own time.’

‘What about the
equipment costs?’

‘Take them out
of my pay.’

‘You did say
“she” yeah?’ David nodded. ‘She must be special if you are spending
money on her. Tighter than cramp you are!’ To this his colleagues
laughed and David joined in with a pretend laugh. ‘In that case you
had better get to it. Are you removing dents?’ David nodded again.
‘Oh to be a fly on the wall! Not exactly your forte is it?’ This
gained another laugh from them all, but David did not join in this
time. ‘Come on then boys, beers on me at The Oak! Let’s leave this
da Vinci of the mechanical world to his creation, or should that be
destruction?!’

With another
laugh they left a forlorn looking David stood alone in the
courtyard, walked to the boss’s car and left him alone to his
destructive creation.

He started to
feel down as soon as they had left; he always did whenever he was
the butt of their jokes, which was quite often. Just because he was
different and did not believe in spending vast amounts of cash on
nights out, pissing and vomiting out the purchases of the money, he
was frequently made fun of by his colleagues. This time though, it
did not last for long him being down. This time he was here
working, not for the money, for something one hundred, a thousand,
a million times more important than money, he was working for the
heart of Sally.

*

David worked
and worked for the rest of the afternoon on the Mini. He
painstakingly removed the dents to the best of his ability, and he
was busily finishing a paint touch up when his mobile rang. He
looked at the caller identification on the screen and saw it was
Simon. He did not really want to speak to him but he thought it
would be rude not to. Simon had had a date last night and David
supposed he wanted to gloat another success story to him. He
pressed the green button on his old, battered Nokia and answered
the call.

‘Alright Dee.
Where are you?’

‘Bloody hell
Simon! Dee is short for Diane! How many times do I have to tell
you?’

‘Don’t be soft
and answer the question!’

‘I am at
work.’

‘At this time
on a Saturday? You’re usually done by now aren’t you?’

‘Yeah, I am.
Doing some extra work.’

‘Some extra,
extra, extra work more like. When will you be done?’

‘Don’t know,
hopefully soon. I’m knackered. How was your date?’

‘She didn’t
turn up the bitch!’

‘She didn’t?
Shame, she sounded good.’

‘Good? Good?! A
sweeping understatement there matie! Stunning more like.’

‘Funny, I met a
Sally last night.’

‘Did you?
Where?’

‘She brought a
car to the garage late on,’ said David, slightly twisting the
truth. ‘Not your Sally though, this Sally had black hair and blue
eyes. Yours has blonde and green doesn’t she?’

David again
twisted the truth a little. Although Sally did have black hair last
night, when Simon met her she had blonde, but she definitely had
green eyes; he would never forget those eyes. He was inwardly
wishing that Simon’s Sally was different from his, but he already
knew the truth before he started asking the questions.