Skates, a Stick, and a Dream

by Bob Leroux

  “Six o’clock, same as yesterday. My dad says if I’m going to work, I’m going to work a full shift. No running off just because business is slow.”

  Brian’s sunburned face broke into a grin. “Jeez, you’d think you’d get tired of telling me that.”

  “Aw, go soak your head, Weir. It’s not my fault you keep asking me the same dumb question.”

  Dave laughed at his brother’s attempt to get mad at his best friend. “You guys keep on blowing air. I have work to do.” He turned to go, then stopped and looked back. “By the way, Brian, you should get some air in those tires. We’re having a special today.” He laughed and disappeared inside the garage.

  Brian quizzed Billy. “What’s he talking about?”

  Billy shook his head. “Don’t listen to him. He’s just trying to tease me about Elaine and Susan, after he said he wouldn’t.”

  Brian’s pulse quickened. “They were here again?”

  “Yeah,” Billy had to smile, “getting air in their tires, again. They’re lucky they don’t blow them up. I saw a guy do that once. He was filling — ”

  “Shit, Campbell, how long did they stay? Did you talk to them?”

  Billy reacted to the urgency in Brian’s voice by studying him for a moment. Brian had always been bigger than him, and now he had shot up sooner than Billy. It seemed he was maturing earlier, without any of the awkwardness that was supposed to go with it. Brian was as self assured and relaxed as ever. He probably didn’t even realize he had developed a shadow on his upper lip that would soon give him an excuse to shave. And his voice had almost finished changing, while Billy was still croaking, halfway between child and man.

  Brian got impatient. “What’s the matter with you? Did they say anything?”

  “Sorry, I was just thinking.” Billy scratched his head, trying to remember the question. “No, I didn’t talk to them. I was working.” Then he added with a guilty grin, “I was pumping gas and watching them at the same time. So I spilled gas on myself, see?” He pointed to the wet stain all down one leg of his jeans.

  Brian laughed. “Looks like you peed yourself.”

  “Does not!” Billy reacted. “You can smell the gas.”

  Brian waved a hand at him. “Okay, okay; I was only kidding. Now, what happened with the girls?”

  “Nothing, they just took off. All they did was get me in trouble with Henshit McLeod.”

  “Who?”

  “Henshit MacLeod. He’s the guy from the ninth of Lancaster, who keeps his car in the henhouse. That’s why — ”

  “Yeah, sure.” Brian was getting impatient. “But what about the girls?”

  “I told you, they left.” Billy figured Brian was making too much fuss over two girls getting the giggles.

  “Yeah, but what are we going to do about them?”

  “What do you mean?”

  Lowering his voice to a near whisper, Brian tried to impress Billy with the importance of this quest. “Next time they show up, you should call me and I’ll come right over, and we’ll talk to them. Maybe we could ask them on a picnic, over in the grove, eh? That would work.”

  Billy was still puzzled. “Why can’t we ask them to play baseball, or something? That would be more fun. Or we could go and watch them work on the new arena. I was over there yesterday, and they’re starting to pour — ”

  Brian’s whisper went the way of his patience. “Aw, shit, Billy! How are we going to get anywhere with girls, asking them to watch cement dry? Is that all you ever think about, hockey?”

  “I didn’t say anything about hockey,” Billy protested. Then he started grinning. “Maybe if we played baseball, you could get to first base.”

  “Don’t act stupid. This is serious.”

  “You’re just girl crazy, is all.”

  “Yeah, well, how come you keep talking about that car you’re going to get?”

  “What does a car got to do with it?”

  “You’ll see; you’ll be just like your brother.”

  “My brother?”

  “Don’t play dumb with me, Campbell. Your brother takes girls out in his car all the time.”

  “Oh, that. Looks pretty boring to me, riding around in a car all day.”

  Brian threw up his hands in exasperation. “Okay, I give up. But what about my idea? At least if we took them swimming in the pond we could see them in bathing suits, or something.” Then his eyes lit up and his voice dropped a notch. “Hey, maybe we could talk them into skinny-dipping.”

  “Don’t be crazy. The pond isn’t deep enough for swimming.”

  Brian grinned. “Now you’re getting the idea.”

  Billy took a step back. “Forget it! I’m not telling that in confession. No way! Father Sullivan would give me holy heck, and so loud the whole church would hear him.”

  “Baloney. All you gotta do is talk fast and mumble. Anyways, which girl do you like best? MacDougall or Gravelle?”

  Billy frowned at him. “You know I like Elaine best. She’s a good skater. I know, because I — ”

  “Yeah, yeah, you told me a hundred times. You skated with her last winter. Big deal. Bet you didn’t even hold her hand.”

  “I did so! How are you going to skate if you . . .” He stopped when he saw Brian grinning at him. “Aw, dry up, Weir. You’re just jealous.”

  “Hah, Elaine’s just a skinny kid. Susan’s got a real figure. Especially when she wears those short shorts, and those blouses with no sleeves.”

  “You mean those blouses Sister Thekla would never let the grade eight girls wear, no matter how hot it got?” He smiled. “Remember that time she sent Jackie Belair home?”

  “Yeah, but that was grade school. Those nuns were nuts.” Brian started scratching his head then, asking himself why Billy always seemed to get him sidetracked. He tried once more to get him back on matters of importance. “Anyways, next time they come by, you can call me up. And I’ll come over, okay?” He pointed at the phone on the wall. “You can do it right from there.”

  “Easy for you to say. What if my father’s here?”

  “Yeah, yeah, but will you try? At least?”

  “Try what?”

  “Calling me, dammit!”

  Billy grinned. “Okay, okay, don’t get so excited. I guess so. If my father’s not here, and Dave doesn’t start laughing at me.”

  “Okay, great! We’re in business.”

  “What kind of business?” Billy teased.

  Chapter 10

  The Mechanics

  Funny business didn’t come as easily as Brian Weir might have hoped. There would be no skinny-dipping expeditions launched from Angus Campbell’s garage that summer. In fact, it was the middle of August before one of Brian’s schemes led to the first date. On the way home from the show on a Friday night, the two Romeos tracked Elaine and Susan all the way down Main Street to Shirley’s Restaurant.

  The girls giggled all the while, expecting the boys to step on their heels at any moment. Once inside, they made sure to choose a booth with two spare seats. If Brian hadn’t stopped, Susan’s plan was to stick out her foot and trip him. It wasn’t necessary. The young, blond giant found his nerve and asked the age-old question. “Are these seats taken?”

  Susan blushed scarlet. “Yes — or no — I mean, no! They’re not taken. Who would take them?”

  As Susan continued to stumble over her own tongue, Elaine sighed and took over. “She means you can sit there, if you like.” When the boys sat down, she added, “I don’t know why you’re being so silly. We’ve only known each other since grade one.”

  Brian grew serious. “But this is different.”

  “Why?”

  He hesitated for a second, and then blurted out, “Because Billy and I want to buy you some chips and a Coke.”

  “Just one Coke, between us?” Elaine teased.

  “No, two, if you want,” Billy volunteered, oblivious to her sarcasm.

  Susan’s face lit up. “You mean this is a date?”

 
The two boys blushed furiously. “I guess so,” Brian half whispered.

  Elaine smiled. “You should have told us earlier.”

  “Huh?” Brian was confused.

  She laughed. “Before we bought our tickets for the show.”

  There was a good laugh all around, starting off loudly and trickling down to nervous giggles. The first challenge had been met, asking for a date. Now came the supreme test, making conversation. At first, they filled the space with placing their orders and talking about the movie they had just seen. That only lasted until their food arrived. Then the silence descended, like dead air on a radio station, made more obvious by the restaurant noise all around them.

  There was a bead of sweat on Brian’s lip by the time Susan came to the rescue. “So, Billy, what’s it like? Working in a garage all day?”

  Billy tucked in his chin and lowered his voice. “Oh, it’s pretty tough work, hot and dirty. But I’m learning a lot about cars.” He stopped to bite the end off a french fry, and then prefaced his next statement with a smug sigh. “It’ll be worth it, though, when I get my own car this fall.”

  “This fall?” Brian felt side-swiped by this sudden disclosure.

  “Yep, didn’t I tell you? My old man’s going to let me buy a car to fix up. If I save enough money.”

  “But you’re only fifteen,” Elaine interjected.

  “I won’t be driving it right away. Just fixing it up, for when I turn sixteen next June.”

  “Hah,” Brian challenged, “you mean Dave and your father will be fixing it up.”

  “Well, they might help me, but I’ll do all the work. That’s the deal, my dad says.” Billy was getting perturbed. He had expected everybody to celebrate with him, not challenge the idea.

  Elaine saw the disappointment in his eyes and responded, “That’s great, Billy. That should be a lot of fun.”

  Billy smiled again. “Yeah, I guess so. But hard work, too.”

  Brian couldn’t resist a jibe. “Well, I’ll be getting my licence in March, and my old man says I can use our car anytime I want. In fact, he lets me drive it already.”

  “Waddaya talking about, Weir?” Billy found himself suddenly resentful of his friend’s deep voice and fuzzy lip.

  “It’s true. I was driving just the other day, on the back road to Lancaster. The old man was with me, but I drove all the way.” Seeing the disbelief on their faces, Brian felt compelled to add some facts. “Funny thing, though. Every time I stepped on it, the engine started missing.”

  Billy laughed. “You must have been stepping on the brake.”

  Brian reacted. “Bull roar, Campbell.” Then he added in his deepest voice, “Must have been some bad gas.”

  Accepting that he couldn’t match that voice, Billy tried to outflank him on mechanical knowledge. “It would miss at low speeds, too, if it was the gas. Must be the carb. You know, the carburetor.”

  “I knew that.” The match was on.

  “Yeah,” Billy drawled, “probably your float’s sticking when you accelerate. Did you smell gas after you stopped the car?”

  “Yeah, sure, could be the carb,” Brian answered with a swagger. “Heck, the car’s almost four years old. The old man bought it used, and he’s too cheap to pay for a good tune-up.”

  The girls were watching with growing interest as the advantage bounced back and forth across the table. Both boys were enjoying the attention, but Billy was about to take unfair advantage of his father’s occupation. “A tune-up? Naw, not for a little problem like that. A carburetor kit, that’s all ya need.” Then he smiled and added, “Drive it over tomorrow, and I’ll put one in for you.”

  Stunned by his friend’s bravado, Brian took a moment to recover. “How much does it cost?” he finally came up with, hoping it would prove too expensive to consider.

  “Only a couple ’a bucks. Your old man’ll go good for it, once he sees how much better the car runs.” Billy grinned with satisfaction, still confident his friend would back down. And that’s when he made his big mistake. “You’re not afraid to drive it over, are ya?”

  Brian stole a look at Susan’s admiring eyes, then swallowed hard and said, “Sure, I’ll bring it over. Tomorrow morning, as soon as my father goes to work.”

  “Can we come, too?” This was Susan, eager to build on the momentum of this first date. Billy looked over at Brian with raised eyebrows.

  Brian sensed the danger, too, but couldn’t think of a way out. “Uh, I guess so.”

  “What time?” Susan asked.

  “Uh, nine-thirty or so, I guess.” Brian looked at Billy and shrugged. “Okay?”

  “Yeah, sure, nine-thirty,” the mechanic confirmed, his voice reaching new depths.

  The first date ended shortly thereafter, with youthful anticipation of the next instalment clouding everyone’s judgement.

  Brian rolled up to the garage on schedule, still in second gear. The prompt arrival of Susan and Elaine sealed the fate of the would-be mechanics. Billy came out of the repair bay where he had been sweeping up. After the usual greetings, Brian looked around for Angus. “Isn’t your father here?”

  “Nope. There were no jobs lined up, so he decided to go fishing with my uncle, in Lancaster. He left before I got up.”

  “Dave’s here, though?” Brian could only hope.

  “Naw, he was out late last night. He’s still in bed.”

  “You’re all alone?” Brian knew the answer, but hoped Billy would take the hint.

  He didn’t. Having thought about the task long enough to convince himself it was easy, he puffed up his chest and announced, “The old man left me in charge.” Then he nodded in the direction of the car with just as much confidence. “You still want me to put the kit in?” Brian hesitated long enough to lick the sweat off his upper lip. “You sure you can do it by yourself?”

  “Sure,” Billy answered, with one eye on the girls. “I do this stuff all the time.”

  The false confidence lasted about fifteen minutes, just long enough to remove three of the four nuts connecting the carburetor to the intake manifold. When the fourth nut proved stubborn, Billy grunted once to impress the girls, then put his full weight into it. “Oops,” he muttered when the bolt snapped off in his hand.

  “What?” Brian asked as he strained to see what had happened. “Holy shit, Campbell,” he yelled at the sight of the broken stud. “You broke it!”

  “Take it easy, man. It’s just a bolt.” Billy stalled for time, lifting the carburetor out and taking it over to the workbench.

  Brian stretched over the fender to get a closer look at the damage. He ran his fingers over the spot on the manifold where the broken stud remained. “Jeez, Billy! There’s nothing left to get a grip on. My old man’s gonna kill me!”

  Billy returned to check the damage. As he studied the situation, thoughts of his father began to fill his youthful head. It was the face of a fifteen-year-old high-school student that looked up at Brian and the girls. “Maybe we can fix it. I saw my father do it, once.”

  “We’re waiting till he gets back, right?”

  “Yes, Billy,” Elaine chimed in, “maybe you should wait.”

  Billy thought about that just long enough for the image of an angry Angus Campbell to form in his mind’s eye. “Naw, we don’t need him. You just drill out the broken stud and put another one in. It’s easy, you’ll see.”

  “Man, this is really bad.” Brian wiped the sweat from his forehead and left a streak of black grease behind. Susan stifled a giggle, but he was way past noticing. “Are you sure you can do this?”

  “It’s only a drill, man. I use it often.” Billy was getting his nerve back.

  “All right, Campbell, if you think you know what you’re doing,” Brian muttered. The irony of that last statement escaped them all, and Billy got the drill set up and started to work.

  Before long, the two boys were up on the fender, taking turns attacking the recalcitrant stud. They thought they were doing pretty well — until the drill
broke off in the hole. That brought another round of curses, and then apologies. At that point, the girls looked at each other and wondered if this was one date that should be cut short.

  “I guess it’ll be a while before you’re finished?” Susan ventured. Who knew what these boys would try next?

  Billy answered her with the sorry look of an animal with one leg caught in a trap. “Yeah, could be, I guess.”

  Elaine was moved to pity. “Do you think you can fix it, Billy?”

  He put on a brave face. “Uh-huh; it’ll take just a little longer, is all.”

  “It looks pretty complicated to me.” Susan grasped Elaine by the hand. “We better get going. It’s almost noon.”

  Elaine let herself be led. She looked back at Billy. “Are you sure it will be all right?”

  “Oh, yeah, it can’t get any worse.” He was wrong. After the girls left, he convinced Brian they should use another drill and make a hole beside the broken bit. That worked for a few minutes, until the hardened steel of the broken bit forced the new drill sideways in the hole.

  “Shit,” Brian exclaimed when Billy finally pulled the new drill out. “You chewed half the inside threads off. Jeez, Campbell, you’re wrecking it.”

  “Waddaya mean, I’m wrecking it? You were drilling, too.” It was down to the short strokes now. Soon it would be every mechanic for himself. “Anyways,” Billy muttered between silent prayers, “it’ll probably still hold a stud, if we can get the rest of the stuff out of the hole.”

  Brian felt he had no choice but to go along with each new drastic step. He watched and suffered as Billy used a steel punch to chip away at the remnants of the broken stud. When the remaining threads were finally clear, they searched out another stud in Angus’s box of spare parts. Then they held their breath as Billy threaded it into the damaged hole.

  Billy had to be optimistic. They’d been at it over two hours, and his father might be back any moment. “It’s a little loose,” he assured his friend, “but it goes in all right.”