Laura Ray (Ray Series) (7 page)

“Right.” Laura agreed. “Coach wants you to live for another day. To get bigger before you have to take on those big boys. He did put you on second string. He may let you play a little during the games.”

“Okay, I see what you mean.” Danny relented then said accusingly, “Coach let Bobby play.”

“Remember, Bobby is a year older and bigger than you.”

“Yeah, okay.”

Laura’s car started making funny noises. She didn’t know what to do for it. She drove it back and forth to work every day hoping it would make it and then hoping it would start to go home. The day that she noticed it was time to fill up, she drove into the gas station to fill up. The attendant asked her if she would like for him to look under the hood, always before she had always told them no, because that’s what John always said. This time, she said, “Yes.”

After a few minutes, the attendant pulled his head out from under the hood and came to her window wiping his hands on a greasy rag.
“Ma’am? Have you checked your oil or water lately?”

“No,” she shook her head. “Was I supposed to?” she asked.

“Well,” he said with a little smile, “Somebody’s supposed to.”

“How long have you had your car, Ma’am?” he asked.

She rolled her eyes around thinking, “Something like a year now.”

“Your car is at least two quarts low on oil. Your water is low and maybe needs antifreeze.” He shook his head, “I can add some oil and water, but if I were you I’d have an auto mechanic look at it. Just to check it out and see what all needs done to it. Now
, I can do it or you can have someone else look at it.”

Laura hesitated, thinking about another bill she hadn’t anticipated. “Could you add some water and a quart of oil until I decide what to do?”

He nodded and went to fetch the oil and water.

As she drove away she remembered John changing the oil. He w
as always tinkering with something on the old truck. She had never paid much attention. She derided herself hoping she hadn’t ruined her new car
.

When she got home she called Harold, “The man at the station said that I needed a mechanic to look at my car. Where should I take it?”

“What seems to be the matter with it?” Harold asked.

“I really don’t know. It’s been making funny noises, but today when I filled up the man at the station said that it was low on water and oil and that I needed to take it to a mechanic for a checkup.” Laura said feeling helpless.

“Have you ever thought about taking it to Arthur, Mary’s brother to look at it? He opened a shop in town,” Harold suggested.

“Oh, okay. I had forgotten. At least, I sort of know him. Sure. Where is his shop?” Laura stammered.

“He’s on Third and Mill Street on the west side of the road.”

“Thanks, I’ll go by and see him,” she promised.

As she drove the short distance to the station, she noticed that the car was driving better since the man put oil and water in it. She pulled up in front of the mechanic shop that had a sign printed on the door ‘Art’s Auto’ and walked in. A large counter covered almost the length of the room on which sat an old cash register. Behind the counter on the wall three calendars hung portraying almost naked women in bathing suits. A few keys hung on some nails along with some more rags. A greasy transmission lay on the floor to the side and some other unknown objects to her.

When Arthur walked in he saw her standing there clutching her purse to her stomach looking all around as if she had walked into another planet. “Hi,” he said with a smile. “Harold said that you might come by.”

“Right,” Laura said as if unsure of herself. “Uh, my car isn’t running well. I hope you can fix it. The man at the station said it needed to be checked out.”

“Well, if you want, I can take a look at it. How long has it been since it had an oil change?”

Laura shook her head. “I haven’t done anything to it. I hope I haven’t ruined it.

Arthur laughed, “
I doubt that. When can you bring it in?”

“I don’t know. I have to work every day except Saturday and Sunday.”

“Would Thursday work for you? I can go to your job and pick up the car and bring it back before you get off. If not I will take you home myself. Would that work for you?” Arthur suggested.

“Well, I guess that would be okay,” she said slowly as she thought about it. “I don’t want to cause you any trouble.”

“Not at all. I do this for people all the time,” he said with a smile.

Thursday morning
, Laura left the keys under the mat as Arthur directed and went to her machine to start her first bundle. She had been making quota for a while but didn’t seem to improve beyond that, but she felt pleased that her wages had increased considerably as soon as she reached that level. As usual Lori Mae sat there at her machine popping her gum. Laura spoke but, of course, Lori Mae looked the other direction and didn’t hear her.

During the day she heard Lori Mae complain to the woman who distributed the bundles, “You give more small bundles to Laura than you do to me.” Lori Mae believed that it was more work and harder to do large and extra-large, which it really was.

Laura didn’t really know if she got more smalls than Lori Mae so she kept her mouth shut and kept working. She was almost to the point that she shuddered every time she came to work and sat down beside her. Another contention which Laura would never reveal was that their names were so similar. How could Laura be compared to Lori Mae? Yuk!

Chapter Eight

Arthur stood outside of Cherokee Togs waiting for Laura to come out after work. He knew he should have been done with her car by now, but this seemed to be his best shot at getting a chance to visit with her. When he came home from his twenty year stint in the military, he wanted to settle down in Pryor to be near Mary’s family, especially his nephew Aaron.

Art, as he had been known ever since he left home, and his wife
had not ever had children, not for lack of wanting them though. They had never used birth control of any kind. After a few years she found that she had come down with uterine cancer. By the time the she was diagnosed, it was too late. He saw his beloved wife’s life slowly decline until she became nothing much more than bones with skin stretched across them. She passed eight years ago.

When Art came home he came with hopes of building a new life for himself and to enjoy being around his nephew. He smiled remembering the first time he had seen Laura wearing those boyish clothes at the Halloween carnival. Had it not been for that blond ponytail she might have been more successful in pulling it off. He felt that night the first awakening since his wife died that he could be attracted to another woman.

Art asked Mary to invite her over to her house so that he could get better acquainted. He enjoyed her cute demeanor and competitive spirit while they played cards that night. Then the rape occurred. He gladly helped Harold that night mostly for what the man had done to Laura, but he felt that the man had taken away from him also. Laura needed time to heal emotionally from the rape, time Art didn’t want to lose. It had been a year now and he wanted to see if Laura was ready to begin a relationship with him.

Laura walked out of Cherokee Togs looking all around to find her car,
then she saw him standing there with a big grin on his face. Feeling happy to see him but her heart thudded wondering if her car had extensive repairs that would cost her a lot of money that she didn’t have.

He opened the pickup door for her to get in. As soon as he climbed in on his side, she turned to ask questions. He held up his hand. “
Your car is okay and no, it will not cost you a fortune.”

“Are you a mind reader?” she asked relaxing a bit.

“Let’s just say, I’ve been around the block, so to speak,” he smiled to release her tension some as he pulled out of the parking lot. “I have given your car a complete inspection and am happy to tell you as your car doctor that she is now in very good health.”

“I’m happy to know that, Doctor Arthur,” she quipped.

“Please call me Art. I know that’s what Mary calls me, but nobody has called me Arthur in twenty years except my family.”

“Sure, Art, I like that much better anyway.”

“Okay,” he glanced at her in appreciation, “Now, back to the car. I drained the radiator and put new antifreeze and water in it. I drained your transmission and replaced it with new fluids. I put in new brake fluid and checked your shocks. I greased underneath the car. I put in new spark plugs and wires. I checked your battery and cleaned the posts and cables. Your carburetor, fuel pump, and water pump seem to be in good working order. It doesn’t seem to be getting hot so your thermostat seems to be good. I balanced and rotated your tires for you so that’s taken care of for a while and changed the oil. I also replaced your windshield wipers; they seemed to be old and stiff.”

Laura sat there in shock with her mouth open. “I thought you said that this would not cost much. I’ve never heard John talk about even half of that stuff
.”

Art just chuckled. “I promise you will be able to afford it.”

“I will bring the car by your house at six o’clock. You see, I’m not entirely innocent here,” he confessed. “When I bring the car over, I will need a ride home and I hoped you and Danny would go to dinner with me.”

Laura hesitated, this sounded entirely too much like a date. Was she ready for this?
He had been nice and he did include Danny.

“If you don’t want dinner, that’s fine. I can go home and eat a TV dinner by myself,” he glanced her way to see her reaction
.

Oh, well, she resolved within herself, it’s just dinner, “You know what, I really would hate for you to have to eat another TV dinner, by yourself. Why not? It’s just dinner.
Right?”

“Right,” he grinned, “Just dinner.”
Whew, he thought, got through the first hurdle
.

Laura and Danny were ready when Art drove up. “You drive,” he said handing her the keys, “I want to know what you think.”

She started the engine and there was no whine or knock. The car purred like a kitten. “Wonderful,” Laura said as she drove out on the highway for a test drive. “It sounds like a new car.”

“Hey, Mom, can I drive it?” Danny asked enthusiastically from the back seat.

“Sorry about that, I can’t afford to get my car messed up right now.”

“Laura, if you don’t mind. I could take Danny out in the country and start teaching him how to drive. Mary and I both were driving by the time we were his age. Just not on the highway or in town,” Art suggested.

“Mom, please,” Danny pleaded.

“I’m not trying to persuade you against your better judgment or anything, but it’s always good to know that should some accident occur, he could drive in an emergency,” Art stated practically.

“Okay,” Laura conceded realizing the advantage. “Just not in my car.”

Danny reached up to high five Art. “Thanks, Mom.”

When Laura asked Art for the bill for car repairs, He only charged her for the products used to replace fluids and the windshield wipers.

When she protested, “You didn’t charge me anything for labor!”

“No,” he said, “Just consider that I worked on your car as a friend.”

“I really intended to pay you what you regularly would charge,” she protested.

“I charged you what it cost me. So you will be paying me back.”

“
Thank you, so much,” Laura said gratefully.

Laura stopped at Thomas’ Café for dinner. The three of them chatted amicably during the dinner. Mostly Danny talked about football practice and Harold teaching Aaron and him how to spar with their boxing gloves. Art was happy that Danny felt so comfortable with him to talk to him like he was. Laura on the other hand didn’t have much to say.

After Laura and Danny dropped him off, Art sat in his living room still wondering how he could jump start this relationship he wanted to develop. Right now he was out of options, it seemed. He watched television for a while and then went in to take a shower to go to bed. While he showered an idea hit him. Aaron told him that next week was their last football game for the season. He knew that Laura never missed a ballgame, he would be there. Maybe he could salvage this after all.

At footbal
l practice Coach Bradford had the boys line up offensive against defensive to practice their plays.  Danny and Bobby had gotten along just fine since they had started on the football team together, so Danny felt comfortable but cautious just the same. They had practiced like this before with no consequences. At the Coaches signal they began running. Bobby blocked Danny time and again. Danny played running back where Bobby played defensive end position. It was Bobby’s job to contain Danny on running plays to the outside.

This particular day Bobby charged Danny so hard that Danny was hurting from his rough tackles. Every time Bobby came at him, he could tell he was coming with full force. Danny tried to see Bobby’s eyes to tell if he was acting maliciously.
It seemed that Bobby didn’t see him, like his eyes weren’t focused.