Wings of Love (2 page)

“Need a lift?”  A deep voice came
out of the partially rolled down window of a black
Camaro.  “Come on, hop in.”  Bob reached across
the front seat to open the door.

“Good morning,” Amy said as she climbed in
and closed the door.  “Where were you last night?”

Bob revved the engine as he pulled away from
the curb.  “I helped out at a sled hockey camp for
disabled kids.  I stayed overnight and just got back this
morning.”

“When did you start doing
that?”  Amy asked surprised that Bob would spend New
Year’s Eve with a bunch of kids.

“It’s part of my community service for my
probation.”  Bob leaned over to change the radio
station.  
Don’t Go Breaking My Heart
 came on
by Elton John and Kiki Dee.  “I was wondering if you’d
like to go to the auto show this weekend,” he turned and glanced at
Amy.

“Oh, I’m sorry Bob.  I can’t,” said
Amy as she looked straight into his light blue eyes.  He
turned away but not before she saw them flash from hopeful to
disappointment.  “I have to work Friday night and I
already have plans for Saturday.”

Bob strummed his fingers on the steering
wheel.  “No problem, I just thought it might be cool just
the two of us hanging out.  I’m sure I can find someone
else to go.”  He stared straight ahead concentrating on
the road as he drove in silence.  The only sound was the
radio as it taunted the quietness with 
Give A Little
Bit
 by Supertramp.

Amy felt terrible that she let Bob down
again.  Even though Bob had quite the reputation for
being a bad ass and finding trouble, he had always been nice to
her.  Whenever Amy needed something it seemed like he was
there to help her. 

Bob pulled into the parking lot of the Farmer
Jacks Grocery Store and did some donuts in the freshly fallen
snow.  He drove up at the entrance and let the car
idle. 

“I am really sorry Bob.”  Amy
pleaded as she got out of the car.  “Maybe we can do
something another time.  Thanks for the ride.”

“Yeah, sure,” he peeled away the moment Amy
closed the door.

***

Adam answered the black rotary phone in the
back office.  “Harper Shell, can I help
you?  Tuesday?  For an oil
change?  Let me check.”  He placed the receiver
on top of the phone while he flipped through the
calendar.  “Is two o’ clock fine?  Okay, I’ll
pencil you in.  Have a great day.”  He hung up
the phone as he his thumbs rubbed his temples.  “Man, I
have a helluva hangover.”

“Aww, do we have a little
headache?”  Mr. Harper purposely used the air wrench
trying to be extra noisy.  “You want to be a man at night
you got to be a man in the morning!”

“Shut the hell up,” laughed
Adam.  “You’re real funny.”  He continued to
take the lug nuts off then tossed them in the hub
caps.  “You want me to work on that Ford with the
flywheel problem after lunch?”

“Yeah, that would be great.”  Mr.
Harper wrote the work order up for the car he just
finished.  “The old lady made me a damn doctor’s
appointment for a check-up this afternoon.  I’ll need you
to close up for me today.”

“Sure, no problem,” replied
Adam.  He finished up the tire rotation and let the hoist
down.  “Ding,Ding,” echoed in the garage to let Adam know
that a customer was at the gas pumps.  He went outside to
see his roommate’s Camaro parked by pump two.  “Hey,
what’s up?  Need a fill up?”

“Yeah, you can check the oil
too.”  Bob shut the engine off but left the radio
blaring, 
Bohemian Rhapsody
 by Queen.  “I
put this new eight track system in.  You can jump from
track to track.  It’s friggin’ cool.”

“It sounds awesome.”  Adam cleaned
the dip stick then checked the oil.  “You’re oil is
fine.  So are you going to Doogles Friday?”

Bob looked in his rearview
mirror.  “I’m going to the auto show but maybe I’ll stop
up there afterwards.  Who’s the chick that just pulled up
behind me?”

“I think her name is
Crystal.”  Adam removed the nozzle and placed the gas cap
back on the car.  “That will be $4.45.”

“Here, keep the change.”  Bob
handed him a five dollar bill.  “I’ll see you later.”

“Take it easy.”  Adam waved as Bob
peeled out of the driveway.  Adam went inside to ring up
the sale on the register.  He noticed the other
attendant, Dale, waited on Crystal.  Adam’s stomach
growled.  
Time for lunch
.  He finished
his bologna sandwich and threw the brown bag in the
garbage.  
Maybe another cup of coffee would wake
me
up.

Adam finished up all the work orders and was
about to call it a day when the phone rang.  “Geesh,” he
answered it and wrote down the directions to where a customer’s car
had stalled.  “I’ll be there in about 20
minutes.  Okay. Bye.”

Adam turned the sign from open to
close.  He shut the lights off inside and
out.  He locked the doors and hopped into the tow truck
then started the ignition.  
The Boys Are Back in
Town
 by Thin Lizzy came on and he cranked up the
radio.  Adam chuckled to himself thinking of all the
crazy times he had as he pulled the tow truck out into traffic.

***

“Hello mom?”  Amy peeked into the
door of her mother’s kitchen.  “Are you
home?”  She placed a bag of groceries on the butcher
block counter.

“Hi dear.”  Mrs. Makowski came into
the room and gave Amy a peck on the cheek.  “I see you
picked up a few things for me.  Thank you,
Amy.  I just didn’t feel like going out today.”

“No problem, Mom.”  Amy put the
perishable items in the refrigerator.  “How do you
feel?”

Ever since Amy and Joey’s father died
suddenly of a heart attack their mother had done her very best to
raise and support her two kids.  She never complained or
been bitter about working double shifts at the factory for over 20
years.  Now that she was retired Joey and Amy looked out
for her.

“I feel much better.  I think I
have a touch of the flu.”  Mrs. Makowski took a saucepan
out of the cupboard and placed it on the electric
stove.  “I am going to make some Mrs. Grass soup for
dinner.  Would you like some?”

“I can do that for you, mom.”  Amy
added four cups of water into the saucepan with the contents of the
box.  She remembered how Joey and her used to argue over
who could put the little golden egg in the pot. Amy shared all
the gossip with her mom that she heard at the grocery store from
the customers.  She placed a bowl of soup for each of
them on the table as well as a grilled cheese sandwich.

“Joey told me you are going out with
Adam.”  Mrs. Makowski took a spoonful of
soup.  “To be young again.  I remember the time
your father and I went horseback riding.  He was such a
show off.  Acted like Mr. Big shot and ended up in the
mud, horse and all!  I knew then he was the one for
me!”

She smiled listening to the story her mom had
told her many times.  Before, Amy only recognized the
sorrow she’d experienced from losing her dad.  But now
that she was older, she understood her mother had suffered even
more for having lost the love of her life at such a young age.

After they ate dinner and finished up the
dishes Amy decided it was time to go home.  She went into
the living room where her mom watched Family Feud.  “That
man sure likes to kiss all the pretty girls,” laughed her
mother. 

Amy gave her mother a hug and
kiss.  “Bye mom, I love you.”  She chatted for
a couple minutes as she put her coat and boots on then headed out
the door into the cold January night.

***

Amy could see the lights were on as she
walked up the path to the back door.  She climbed up the
steps then entered the house.  Amy hung up her coat on a
hook on the wall and kicked her boots off. When she walked into the
room she saw Joey and Angie at the kitchen table as they played
Easy Money.

“You owe me $88.00.”  Joey laughed
at Angie.  “Pay big daddy.”

Angie rolled her blue eye-shadowed eyes as
she handed him a hundred dollar bill.  “I want my
change.”  She stuck her tongue out at him.

“If you think this is bad,” Amy popped the
tab of her Diet Pepsi she grabbed out of the
refrigerator.  “You should see him when he
loses.” 

Joey pointed towards the
phone.  “Janet called earlier.  I told her
you’d call her back.  Her number is up there.”

Amy removed the thumbtack from the note that
was stuck on the corkboard next to the phone.  “Thanks,
Joey.  It was nice to see you again
Angie.”  She headed up the stairs to her
room.  “Goodnight.”

Amy went to her room and shut the
door.  She plopped down on the bed as she reached for her
yellow princess phone.  She punched in the number and
waited as the phone rang.

On the third ring Janet answered,
“Hello?”

“Hi Janet.  It’s
Amy.  Joey told me you called.  Sorry I didn’t
call sooner but I just got in the door.”

“Oh, that’s okay.  I had called to
see if you wanted to go to lunch.”  Janet paused as she
waited for Amy’s reply.

“Sure, my lunch is at noon and I get a
forty-five minutes,” Amy twirled the phone cord around her
finger.  “Where do you want to go?”

“There’s a Denny’s up by your work,” Janet
answered.  “I can meet you up there at noon.”

“Okay.  I’ll see you
tomorrow.  Bye.”  Amy hung up the phone as she
jumped out of bed.  She decided she was going to take a
nice warm bubble bath.  Then she would make herself some
popcorn for when she watched Happy Days and Laverne &
Shirley.

***

Adam pulled up in the long dirt driveway of
his parents’ farm.  He finished his hockey practice and
had something on his mind he wanted to discuss with his
folks.  He parked the truck next to the tool shed and
headed towards the barn.

“Hi dad, did she calf yet?”

“Evening, Adam.  I just checked
her.  It’s not her time yet.”  He slapped the
heifer on the rump as she mooed at them. 

“I wanted to talk to you about something,”
Adam nervously cleared his throat.  “I was thinking about
going back to school to get my GED.  Then I thought I
might try to go to college.”

“You do what you got to do son,” his father
looked seriously at him.  “You are a grown man and need
to start thinking about your future.  I still wish you’d
farm this place.”

“That is what I wanted to talk to you
about.”  Adam’s chest heaved as he let out a heavy
sigh.  “If I do go to college I might need to sell the
acreage you and mom gave me.”

Adam’s father took off his cap and scratched
his head.  “Your ma and I intended that for you to settle
down on and start a family.  I tell you
what.  You get you GED and then come talk to
me.  A man does need an education nowadays whether he
farms or not.”

“Thanks dad.”  Adam patted his dad
on the back.  “I’ll make you proud of me I promise.”

Father and son walked back to the farmhouse
that had been in their family for over a hundred and twenty five
years.  Many generations walked this path to the house
with the sun setting behind them.  Mr LaPointe wondered
if this would be the last generation to do so.

Chapter 3

 “Hello Mrs. Dunn. I haven’t seen you in
awhile.”  Amy weighed the bananas then rung up the price
on the cash register.  Mrs. Dunn belonged to her church
and was in charge of the annual rummage sale.

“Oh I’ve been busy watching my
granddaughter.  She is growing up so
fast.  She’ll be four next week.”  Mrs. Dunn
searched through her denim purse for her
pocketbook.  “Are you going to be able to help out again
this year?”

“I’ll be glad to help out.  I’ll
let you know what days I have off as soon as I find
out.”  Amy finished Mrs. Dunn’s order.  She
placed all the groceries in paper bags then back in the shopping
cart.  “That will be $56.41.”

“Thank you so much Amy.  I do
appreciate your help.”  She handed her the exact
change.  Mrs. Dunn slung her purse over her shoulder and
pushed her cart towards the exit.  “Say hello to your
mother for me.”

“I will.  Thanks for shopping at
Farmer Jacks.”  Amy placed the closed sign on her
conveyor belt and shut the overhead light off that read aisle
three.  She untied her orange smock, rolled it up and
placed it on the shelf underneath her register.  She
removed her money drawer. “I’m going to lunch
Sandy.”  The girl working at aisle four nodded her head
in acknowledgement while she continued to ring up her order.

***

When she arrived at Denny’s, Janet was
already seated and skimming over the menu. Amy sat down across from
her.  

“Hi Amy”.  Janet took a sip of her
ice water.  “I don’t know about you but I am
famished.”

“You and me both.”  Amy glanced up
at the waitress as she approached their table.

“Hi my name is Crystal.  I will be
your waitress today.  Are you ready to order yet or do
you need a few minutes?”  She had curly red hair and the
prettiest smile you had ever seen.

“I’m ready to order.  I will have a
tuna melt with fries and a Pepsi.”  Janet handed her the
menu back.

“And I’ll have a cheeseburger with fries and
a diet Pepsi, little ice.”  Amy slipped her coat off.

“How would you like your cheeseburger
cooked?”  She scribbled on her pad then looked up at
Amy.

“Medium well, please.” 

Crystal took Amy’s menu and placed her pad
and pen in her apron.  “I’ll be back with your
drinks.”  She walked over to the kitchen and put their
order up on the carousel.

“So what’s this I hear about Adam and you
going out?”  Janet turned giving Amy her undivided
attention.  “And who’s the blonde bombshell I seen Joey
with?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, we are going out
this Saturday!”  Her hazel eyes shone with
excitement.  “I was just about ready to give up on
him!”  The waitress placed their pops on the
table.  “Thank you.” Amy took a sip then picked up where
she had left off.  “As far as Joey and Angie, I don’t
know too much about her.  But I think he really likes
her.  In fact, he had her over the other
night.  What about you and this new guy, Peter?”