Thunder and Lightening Chapter 17 By Lazlo Zalezac Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2004 As the smell of coffee filled the house, Bill came staggering out of his bedroom rubbing the sleep from his eyes and yawning with a muted roar. Despite being sleepy, he had been looking forward to this day for a long time. At long last he was getting his cast removed. He glanced in the kitchen, not wanting to go into the cold room but it was difficult for him to resist the coffee and the French Toast. Bracing himself, he went into the kitchen and sat down at the table where Jerry had set a cup of Coffee and plate of French Toast for him. Looking over at this father, he said, "Today's the day." "Yes, it is." This was his day off and he had plans to be busy the whole day. Those plans included taking Bill to school and then picking him up to take him to the hospital to have the cast removed. "I'll be so glad to get this off," said Bill as he looked at the cast. It was covered with signatures and witty remarks. The kids at school and in the neighborhood had signed the cast to show their support. Although Bill wouldn't say it, the signatures meant a lot to him. Last year, he wouldn't have been able to get even one. The pair ate breakfast, each thinking their own thoughts about the day in front of them. Monday's were the best school day of the week for Bill. That was the only day of the week that he didn't have to get to school early so that his father could get to work on time. It meant a hot breakfast and no time spent in the library. Usually, the time spent after school included some sort of father son activity. Last week it had been a movie. The cast put a damper on the kinds of things they could do together. Bill finished first and took his plate to the sink. He rinsed it off so that it would be easier to wash. Going back to the table, he grabbed the cup of coffee and headed to the bedroom to get ready for school. He would be ready in plenty of time to make it to school. Jerry pulled away from the school after waving bye to his son who was joining his friends outside. His first stop was going to be picking up a new scooter for his son to replace the one that had been lost the night of the great storm when he had driven over to the house. He was looking forward to seeing the look on his son's face when he was presented with the new scooter. He turned on the radio of the truck. It was an AM radio with the old fashion mechanical knobs. As the drone of talk radio filled the air of the cab, Jerry drove along taking the scenic route that took him through older neighborhoods with tree covered lanes. The highway would take him a quarter of the time, but he wanted to enjoy the morning. Everything was fine until he reached one of the few busy intersections. When he stopped his truck at the traffic sign, an older model Toyota driven by a woman putting on her make-up came up from behind him and passed without even slowing at the stop sign. As the car ran into the intersection a Saturn hit her broadside behind the passenger door. The crash was thunderous as glass and metal flew through the air. Jerry watched in disbelief as the events unfolded in front of him, appearing to him as if everything was moving in slow motion. Automatically, he turned off the engine of the truck as he reached for his cell phone. He had made the call to 911 even before the cars had finished spinning. Carrying his cell phone, he left the truck to see what he could do to help the occupants of cars involved in the wreck. Before he had closed the door of the truck, an SUV crashed into the Saturn. Jerry froze, concerned about entering the road as other cars came to abrupt stops with a squealing of tires. When the 911 operator came on line, he started telling her what was happening. Even as he spoke, others were leaving their cars to render aid. As he described the situation to the operator, he realized that he was totally clueless about how to help them. He answered the questions of the operator even as sirens screamed the message that all was not well. The first official car on the scene was a police cruiser and Jerry let the operator know that the police had arrived. After a minute, he hung up the phone satisfied that he had done what he knew had to do to help the situation. When he went over to the police cruiser to wait, a fire truck pulled up to prevent fires from breaking out. With the arrival of officials, many of the people that had rushed to render aid returned to their cars. Jerry knew that as an eyewitness, the police would want to question him so he waited out of the way of the action. It seemed to take a long time before ambulances started arriving. He watched as a number of firemen gathered around the Toyota trying to get the door open to get access to the woman inside. Watching, he realized they were going to have a very tough time getting the door open. He headed over to help. With each step, he recalled the words and insults thrown at him by his ex-wife trying to wake the rage inside. The rage, surprised to be called upon, responded and he could feel his muscles swelling with power the closer he came to the car. A low growl emerged from his throat, catching the attention of the rescuers. Under normal conditions they would have moved to stop him, but they backed away upon catching sight of his red face, throbbing vein in his forehead, and the angry expression on his face. Reaching the car, he put a foot against the crumpled backdoor and grabbed the door. Ripped metal tore through the skin on his palms, turning his hands a dark red. With a roar, he pulled on the door lifting his body off the ground as he put every ounce of his weight and all of his strength into removing it. The sound of metal ripping cut through the air shocking all those watching him. His roar intensified as he pulled off the door and then lifted it into the air before throwing it onto the ground. Once the door was off, he staggered back away from the car and collapsed on the ground as his strength drained from him. The stunned silence was broken when a fireman said, "Fuck me!" Another fireman said, "I'll cancel the call for the jaws of life." Resting on the ground with his knees in the air and crossed arms on the knees, Jerry leaned forward to rest his head upon his arms in a picture of complete exhaustion. Closing his eyes, he breathed heavily trying to recharge his body. A weak trickle of blood dripped from his hands onto his pants. One of the ambulance personnel came over and knelt next to him. Tapping him on the shoulder, the man said, "Let me take a look at your hands." Jerry held out his hands, flexing his fingers, for the paramedic to examine his palms. There were several cuts in the fleshy part of his palm, most of them were insignificant although one cut had sliced a small vein. Jerry said, "Give me a minute to catch my breath." The paramedic said, "It will require two stitches to fix the bleeding. We'll give you a ride in the ambulance." Jerry shook his head and said, "I'll drive my truck. I still need to talk to a policeman since I witnessed the whole thing." "You weren't involved?" "No, I wasn't," answered Jerry as he looked back towards his truck wondering if he was going to have a chance to drop it off to be painted today. "You sure looked angry at the woman in the car," replied the man as he recalled the expression on the face of Jerry as he marched towards the car just a few minutes ago. "Had to get angry to get the door off the car," replied Jerry as he dropped his head forward again. He could feel his strength returning slowly but surely and he felt a strong desire to drink a glass of orange juice. One of the policemen came over to take his statement while the paramedic wrapped the hand to last until he made it to a doctor. It was a relatively short story and Jerry was finished telling it by the time the paramedic told him that he was done working on the wound. Jerry left the area to head to the hospital, but stopped at a corner clinic when he realized he could get the stitches there. It would be a lot faster than driving all the way to the hospital and waiting for others that were in more desperate shape than himself. It only took thirty minutes to get his hand cared for by the doctor at the clinic. Leaving the clinic, Jerry checked his watch and saw that it was almost eleven in the morning. He had planned to purchase the scooter by this time. His little scenic drive had ended up costing him two hours. There was no sense complaining about it, so he headed directly to the Honda shop. The salesman remembered him from his first visit to the place. It didn't take long for him to pick out a new blue scooter for his son. This time, Jerry wrote a check to pay for it rather than take out a loan. He was still making payments on the first scooter and only had three more months to go before the loan was paid off. After loading the scooter into the back of the truck, Jerry called Martin. When the young man answered, Jerry said, "Hey, Martin. I'm heading to the house now. I need to change clothes and then we can get your Caddy from the auto detailing shop." Irritated at the delay in picking up the car, Martin answered, "I've been waiting here for two hours. I was beginning to think that you had forgotten me." Jerry said, "I'll explain when I get there." The drive back to the house didn't take long and Martin was waiting in the front yard for him holding the brand new license plates. Jerry could understand the young man's impatience. The restoration of the Caddy was finished and he hadn't seen it since they had towed it to be painted. After the painting, it had been towed to an auto detailing shop to get the interior redone. They had installed new carpets on the floor, new seat covers, and new roof liner. They were also supposed to repaint the interior and replace the dashboard. Pulling up to the curb, Jerry got out of the car. Martin let loose a loud whistle when he saw the bandages on his hands and the blood on his pants. He asked, "What in the hell happened to you?" Picking up the scooter from the back of the truck, Jerry grunted, "There was an accident and they needed the door taken off a car." As Jerry sat the scooter on the ground, Martin asked, "And so you pulled the door off?" Pushing the scooter to the house, Jerry answered, "Yeah." Shaking his head in disbelief, Martin followed his neighbor up to the door of his house, giving him a hand in lifting the scooter onto the porch. After watching how easily Jerry lifted the scooter, Martin could believe that he'd rip the door off a car. Martin asked, "So did that save someone?" "I don't know. They were waiting for the jaws of life," replied Jerry. He didn't know if his actions had helped or not. He hadn't even thought to ask the paramedic about it. Pushing the bike into the center of the living room, Jerry looked around deciding that he would leave it there for Bill to discover when they came home that night. Martin looked over the scooter and said, "Nice. He's going to like it." Jerry went into his bedroom and, as he changed clothes, replied, "Yeah. I hope he likes it. I know he hasn't said anything, but he thinks that I'm angry with him for losing the first scooter. Hard for him to realize that I was happier that he got away from his mother who would have killed him. I think that scooter probably saved his life and the fact that he lost it doesn't matter a bit." Martin called back, "Well, he'll enjoy riding it around here. You do realize that we'll never see him and Abe again." Jerry laughed as he pulled on a clean pair of pants. He called, "I'm not worried about that. I think the two boys get along just fine and help keep each other out of trouble." "Are you kidding?" Jerry's laughter filled the room as he buttoned his shirt. "Okay, so the cast kept them out of trouble." He slipped on his shoes and left the bedroom. Smiling at Martin, he asked, "Are you ready to see your car?" "I've been ready to see the car since the first day that we started working on it," replied Martin. There had been delays as they had searched for a new dashboard. The plating company had waited for replacement knobs. He could only imagine how the car looked. "Let's get out of here," said Jerry as he opened the door. The drive over to the auto detailing shop seemed to go by fast for Jerry and slow to Martin. When they pulled into the parking lot, Martin practically jumped out of the truck before it was stopped to find the Caddy. Jerry watched with amusement as Martin walked past the Caddy not recognizing the car. Jerry walked around the Caddy examining the paint job and looking inside at the detailing. The car looked like it had just been driven off the showroom floor. Martin asked, "Where is it?" Jerry said, "Here." "Damn! That's fucking incredible," replied Martin as he looked over the car. When he had last seen it, the paint was flaking, the roof fabric was torn and weathered, and the interior was rotten. Looking up at Jerry, he said, "Is this really the same car that used to be parked in front of our house?" "Yes, it is," answered Jerry seeing the pride at a job well done filling Martin. The young man stood up straighter as he walked around the car. Martin opened the car door and looked at the interior. Everything was clean and polished, sparkling as if it were new. His eyes watered at the thought that he had brought this about. Looking over at Jerry, he said, "Let's pay and get out of here." "Sure," replied Jerry. He went to the truck and picked up the license plates. He had forgotten to bring a screwdriver to attach them and hoped that they could do that for him. The pair went inside and talked to the man that had done the work on the interior of the car. Harold had re-upholstered the seats and was waiting for them inside the office. Standing up with a smile, he said, "Well, what do you think of it?" "It's better than I ever could have imagined," answered Martin still looking out the window at the car. The man noticed the license plates that Martin held in his hands and said, "Let me have one of the guys in the back put them on your car." Handing over the license plates, Martin turned to Jerry and said, "My momma is going to be so proud to see that car." "Yes, she will." Martin looked down at the bill and said, "It's not as much as I thought it would be." "It adds up though," replied Jerry. Martin had already written several checks to pay for the parts, paint job, and chrome plating. Looking back out at the car, Martin replied, "It was worth every penny." Harold returned and Martin proceeded to pay for the work performed. Jerry walked around the office at the pictures on the wall of some of the cars that had been restored in the past. He noticed that the Caddy appeared in one of the pictures and smiled knowing they had done a first class job on it. He turned when the man said, "I had a customer in that was willing to pay twenty-five thousand for your car." The amount was a lot higher than Jerry had expected. Martin asked, "Twenty-five thousand?" "Yep, I thought that was a pretty good price," replied Harold with a smile. Having driven the car to the hospital, Martin knew that the car was impractical for modern size parking spaces. He answered, "I'll have to think about it for a couple of days." "There's no need to hurry. This coming Sunday, there's an antique car show in front of city hall. You might take it up there and see what kind of offers you get." Martin thought about the chance to show off the car to an appreciative audience and nodded his head. Looking over at Jerry, he said, "I just might do that." Martin followed Jerry to the auto paint shop enjoying driving the Caddy. He felt ten feet tall as he maneuvered the car through the streets. People pointed at the car, surprised to see the classic car moving through the traffic dwarfing the other cars around it. Jerry pulled into a parking spot in front of the shop. The owner, a guy by the name of Eddie, came out and looked over the truck. Shaking his head, he said, "Nice job on the bodywork." "Thanks," replied Jerry as he patted the truck on the hood. Eddie walked around the truck examining it carefully. After his first circuit around the vehicle, he said, "Nice. The bed needs to be replaced, but that won't be too difficult. The metal strips will have to be painted. A good finish on the wood would really make the exterior shine. I've got a guy that can replace the bed. He'll stain the wood and seal it real good. Would you like me to have him do that?" Jerry had intended to do that himself, but after thinking about it he said, "Go ahead. I think that Thunder could use a couple of special touches here and there." "Thunder?" "Yeah, that's the name I've given the truck. I bought it the same night that I was blown off my feet by the thunder of a lightning bolt that hit just a few feet away from me," answered Jerry. "I take it you aren't going to sell it when you're done fixing it up." "No way," replied Jerry. Eddie walked around the truck for another circuit as he looked at the work. He checked out the interior and asked, "You going to get the interior done?" "You bet. When I'm done with this truck, it is going to be the finest looking car on the road." Martin smiled and looked over at his car thinking that he could argue that point. Eddie looked over the car trying to imagine how he would paint it if given a free hand. He had done a lot of business with Jerry's shop over the years. He rubbed his chin and said, "I'll make a deal with you." "What?" "I'll give you a custom paint job for the same price as a simple paint job if you let me sign the work," replied Eddie. He added, "Leave it with me and I'll take it over to get the chrome plated and then over to the detailing shop. I'm sure they'll give you the same deal if you let me sign their work too." Jerry knew that Eddie was very good at his job. That was why he brought the car all the way across town rather than a place that was closer to home and cheaper. If Eddie was willing to sign his work, then that meant he had something really special in mind for the truck. Knowing that he'd be a fool if he let that opportunity pass him by, Jerry extended his hand and said, "Deal. Take real good care of Thunder for me." Eddie smiled and shook hands with Jerry. With a broad grin, he said, "I'll see you Sunday when you come to pick it up." "So quick?" "Yep. I want you to show it off on Sunday. There's an antique car show down by city hall. Come down there and pick it up when the show is over," said Eddie with a grin. He could see the finished truck in his mind and knew that it would outshine anything there. Martin looked over at Eddie and said, "We'll be there. I'm showing off the Caddy." Eddie said, "That was a real pleasure to work on. You guys did a great job on that one too. Are you selling it?" "Yes, I think so. It's just a little too big to drive around the city." "Yeah, you're right. That one belongs with a collector. You'll get top dollar for that. Fully loaded like that, a lot of collectors will be interested," remarked Eddie. "It's almost too nice to sell," replied Martin. The pair left the shop with Jerry getting a ride with Martin. On the way to the house, they stopped at a restaurant to get a bit to eat. It was well after lunchtime and the men were hungry. Martin had a hard time finding a spot to park the Caddy and ended up having to take up two spaces in a spot where he would have plenty of room to back out. The back end of the Caddy stuck out four feet more than any of the cars around it. Getting out, Martin said, "Sure is a big ass car." "Looks sharp, though," replied Jerry with a smile. As they walked over to the front door, they passed an elderly couple that was leaving the diner. The old man said, "Look at that old car. Reminds me of the one we had years ago." "I sure did love that car," replied the woman. Martin smiled and went into the diner feeling proud of his work. They sat down at a table, reviewed the menu, and ordered their lunch. After the waitress delivered their coffees, Jerry asked, "So how do you feel?" "I feel great," replied Martin. It was odd, but he was feeling something that he had never felt before. It took him a long time to identify the feeling. It was a sense of accomplishment. He had taken a rusted old hunk of metal that had become home for a rat and turned it into a thing of beauty through hard work. "I feel really good." Jerry smiled at the difference he was seeing in the young man sitting in front of him. Before they started working on the cars, he tended to think of him as a kid. Now he saw a man that had learned an important lesson that would carry with him for the rest of his life. He said, "I'm glad. You did a really good job on that car. You should be proud of yourself." "I'm going to buy a camera today and get some pictures taken of the Caddy." As the waitress set their burgers in front of them, Jerry shook his finger and said, "You really ought to get a professional photographer to take a picture of it. That's a great looking car and you could probably get the picture published in a car magazine." "You think so?" The idea was surprising. "Yes, I think so," replied Jerry as he started to put together his burger. He wondered as he piled the onion on top of the lettuce and tomato if he should have gotten the chili-cheese burger. He liked them, but they tended to give him gas. The idea of publishing a picture of his Caddy was very attractive. Martin was silent as he thought about the suggestion and tried to imagine opening a magazine to find a picture of the car. Smiling, he said, "Yeah. That would be nice." Jerry waited in the Camaro for Bill to get out of school. It didn't take a genius to know when school let out as kids came pouring out of the building en masse. It usually took Bill a little longer than the other kids as he struggled to carry his books with one arm in a cast. When the initial flood of kids let up, he spotted Bill coming out the door. Bill looked around for a minute before spotting the car. With a broad grin, he waved and headed directly to the car. It was nice to see his son that happy on school grounds. On the way to the car, Bill turned at the sound of a shout from his friend and waved to Woody. Rushing, he made it to the car and climbed in. Happy, he said, "I’m ready to get this cast off." Pulling away from the curb, Jerry asked, "Where are your books?" "I'm ahead on my homework and can take the night off," replied Bill with a grin. He had worked all of the problems in the chapters they were covering in class over the weekend just so that he could enjoy this day. "So what are the plans for tonight?" "Well, I thought we'd hit the Chinese Buffet and then head home for a nice quiet evening," answered Jerry. The plans under-whelmed Bill since he was expecting something a little more exciting for the night. He asked, "So did you take the truck in to be painted?" "Yeah. We picked up Martin's Caddy. You'll want to see it tonight," said Jerry. "I don't see how good it could be. It didn't look all that great before," remarked Bill. It was true. The body had been a patchwork of different colors as rust spots had been removed, dents fixed, and missing metal replaced. They had even replaced a door that was a different color from the rest of car. The top had been in shreds and discolored from years under the brutal punishment of weather. The interior had been ripped and decayed. "You'll see," replied Jerry. In a way, this would also be a good lesson for Bill. A young man needed to see the consequences of what hard work could accomplish. He explained, "I think you'll be impressed. Martin worked hard to rebuild a solid base. Sometimes that base doesn't always look great, but when you do the finishing work the attention to detail taken on the base shines through. You can't hide the flaws of a bad base." "I never thought about it in that fashion," replied Bill thoughtfully. "I think the same thing goes for people. You're young yet, but you've been injured real bad. I don't mean your arm. I mean your spirit. With a little hard work, we can repair the damage that's been done to you by your mother." Jerry was quiet for a moment and then continued, "I'm a lot older though and I've been hurt a lot more than you. The damage is a lot deeper. For me, it's going to take a lot of work and I can only hope to repair some of the worst parts of the damage." "Are you saying that we are damaged goods?" asked Bill rather upset that his father saw him as a flawed young man. The idea hurt him more than he could put into words. "Yes, I am," replied his father. He glanced over at his son and could see how upset the boy was getting. He added, "Do you remember how things were a year ago?" "Yeah. They pretty much sucked," replied his son. "That's right. You didn't have a friend in the world. You were a mediocre student and hated going to school. It was seven hours of misery that you just barely survived for five days a week. Most of the time you were angry at the world around you. Your family life sucked with a mother that valued Melissa more than she valued you. Hell, you had a father that only yelled at you." Jerry paused to glance at his son seeing that the young man agreed with him. He continued, "What about now?" "Things are a lot better," replied his son recognizing the differences that twelve months had made in his life. "That's right. You have four very good friends. Your grades are outstanding and you are participating in school events. Hell, you haven't been in a fight since the second day of school. I don't think you've been all that angry the last few months." "True," replied Bill. There were a lot of other positive things in his life. He was wearing new clothes now. His father treated him like an adult, allowing him to drink coffee in the morning and asking his advice at times. He missed the scooter, but that was the only real negative in his life. "So I'd say that we are rebuilding the base. You're a lot happier person today," replied Jerry. Bill sat in the car and thought about it for a while. He glanced at the bandages on his father's hands and wondered what the story was behind them. He hoped that his father hadn't lost his temper again. Recalling that his father had said that his case was even worse, he asked, "What about you?" "Me? I've undergone even more changes than you have. It's been rather painful at times. I used to dislike going to work and hated going home. I lost my temper on almost a daily basis. Today, I needed to lose my temper and actually found it rather difficult. You might not believe this, but I had never had a friend until I left your mother. Now, I'm on good relations with the people that work with me. I count Abe and Martin as friends. I really enjoy my time spent with Henry Buckman. Hell, I even have a girlfriend. Most important of all, I found that I had a son that I truly like and love." Embarrassed at the emotional element of his father's comments, Bill changed the subject, "You had to lose you temper today?" For the rest of the drive to the hospital, Jerry told his son about witnessing the accident and what he had done. If anyone else had been telling the story about ripping the door off a car, Bill wouldn't have believed that such a thing was possible. Having seen some of the things his father had done in the past, he knew that his father had told the truth.