Leaving Unknown

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Book: Read Leaving Unknown for Free Online
Authors: Kerry Reichs
desperation didn’t show. Never let a mechanic see your fear.
    “Fronts could go anytime.” Spit.
    “You’re telling me I have suicidal front tires?”
    “Guess so.” Darryl wasn’t big on pronouns.
    I closed my eyes. “How much?”
    “Cain’t just replace two. Ya gotter change all four.” Spit.
    My eyes popped open. “What’s wrong with the back two?”
    “Cain’t have two new tares and two old tares. Getcher wobblin’ that way. An’s hell on th’ axles. Gotta replace all four.”
    “How much?” I repeated, bracing myself. When he said $320, I started breathing very fast and my heart went feral.
    “Installation’s ’nother two hunnerd fitty.” I fought the impulse to break into a run, sprinting wild and free away from Darryl and his numbers. Instead I held up my hand to silence him, pressing the other on my chest to keep my heart inside it. My bad-luck curse giggled somewhere.
    “Five…” I swallowed. So much for not showing my fear. “Five hundred and seventy total?” I quavered. That was half of what I had left. At $4.02 a gallon, it cost me $80 to fill up Elsie’s tank, which I did more than once most days. After four spiffy new tires, I wasn’t going to make it very far. I was definitely voting in the next election. Gas was ridiculous.
    Darryl’s voice brought me back from political fervor. Surprisingly, my evident panic had the opposite effect from what I’d expected, and his eyes softened.
    “Got a deal goin’ where if ya buy three tares ya get the fourth free. Those tares’ll work with yer car. Save ya eighty bucks.”
    “Oh.” I exhaled with relief, nodding. It wasn’t much but it was something. “Let’s do that.” I even managed a smile.
    “’Course ain’t got ’em.”
    “What?”
    “Gotter order ’em. Take ya three days, mebbe.” Spit.
    “Three days.” My look was blank.
    “Yep.” He matched it.
    Three days in this town. I had a thought. “If I’m going to be here three days, can you give me some work? I’m really strong—stronger than I look. And I’m a hard worker. And honest. I’ve never stolen a thing in my life. I can pitch my tent right here, and I can clean, I can work a register…” I trailed off as Darryl shook his head.
    “Crystal does all that.” He said it as if I was supposed to know who Crystal was. Maybe I was. Maybe she was Miss Mechanic Oklahoma, doing mechanical goodwill all across the state. Maybe she could have an “accident” that would take her off her feet for a few days…
    “Place up the road might could use some ’sistance.” Darryl interrupted my plotting.
    “Really?”
    “Rico at the Okay Burrito’s always lookin’ for day labor.”
    My face fell. “Oh. I can’t get around. No car.”
    “Reckon ya can borrow the bike. Got left when Okay Spoke went outer business. Can pitch yer tent here, if ya want to, too. Get to Rico’s, turn left where Nellie’s Flowers used to be an’ follow on up past Duke’s to the light. Hang a right and carry on ’bout two blocks. Be on yer right.” Darryl seemed to thinkI’d spent a past life in Okay, cavorting with Crystal, Nellie, and Duke, but I didn’t care. I loved him. I especially loved that he didn’t ask me any questions about where I’d come from and how I’d ended up this ill-prepared far from the state that had issued my license plates.
    “Thanks.” I beamed. “Thanks a lot.”
    “No worries.” Spit. “Want them tares then?”
     
    I set up my tent on a charming piece of asphalt behind the garage, fragrant with diesel. Darryl took a shine to Oliver, so his cage was installed in the Okay Body office. I worried that Oliver would develop a mediocrity complex, but there was no other solution. As I pedaled off on the bike, Oliver was wooing Crystal with compliments about her hair and figure. If Crystal had ever been Miss Mechanic Oklahoma, it was fifty years ago, so she was charmed right to the roots of her blue rinse. I was assured he was in good hands.
    I found

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