Special thanks to my beta readers
Lauryn and Linda, my medical advisor Robyn, and my Australian
historian Jax.
Steele Drivin' Man 11/?
Date: 1/5/84
Mileage: 13,290
Maintenance: who knows?
I've been out of pocket for quite awhile, ever since that Wednesday
afternoon four weeks ago when I doubled over in the parking garage. My
gut had been bothering me on and off for a couple of days and
I didn't have much of an appetite, but I didn't really worry about
it until after lunchtime, when I started getting hot. When
we parked the car and I got out I felt like I'd been stabbed with
a hot knife in my right side. I went down to my knees and
Mr. Steele and Miss Holt were next to me in a flash. I tried
to help myself up, but it hurt so bad.don't think I've ever hurt
that much. They got me into the backseat and then Mr. Steele drove
us to UCLA Medical Center. I didn't know he could corner
that hard.
In the emergency room the doctor poked me and I hollered and he
ran some tests and then sent me to surgery. By the time they
had me ready to roll in, Miss Krebs had arrived, and they made
a pretty grim looking group. The last thing I thought before
they put me under was that I was way too old to have appendicitis.
After my surgery I was kinda out of it at first, and it didn't
help my getting better to have my obnoxious brother visit me.
When I needed to get up to use the bathroom, he had to make a
rude comment about the view that he got of me in my hospital gown.
He wanted to know if he should run down to his car and get the
package of diapers he just bought for his kid, in case I wanted
to cover up. Very funny.
After a couple of days they kicked me out of the hospital before
I was really ready and sent me home to recover. Mr. Steele
and Miss Krebs got me all settled in, and I was glad to have their
help. I felt like I'd been run over by the limo. While I was gone
Mr. Steele had cable installed at my house, so I didn't have to
be subjected to the proliferation of inane programming that filled
the daytime airwaves, or something like that. Later in the
day Miss Holt came to check on me, and I told her I was sorry
for all the trouble I had caused. She told me there was nothing
to apologize for. She said she didn't know how they'd get
along without me, but they'd manage somehow. That made me
feel better, but it worried me, too.
So I stayed home and laid low. Miss Krebs came by every day
and helped me with stuff like the dishes and laundry. She
even took care of paying my phone bill and my car payment.
After about 10 days I started feeling a lot better, and when I
wasn't outside walking trying to get my strength back, that cable
really saved my life.had just never gotten around to getting it
installed, but now I know what I've been missing. One night when
I couldn't sleep I caught a Green Hornet marathon. I watched some
interesting documentaries, and some basketball, and caught a few
of the old movies I've heard Mr. Steele go on about.
After the doctor released me and I got back to work, I thought
I was going to be sick all over again. The limo was a mess. Whoever
Miss Holt had hired to fill in was a slacker, no doubt about it. I
thought that maybe now that Mr. Steele had the Auburn (and don't
get me started on that subject right now) that they'd just leave
the limo in the garage, but apparently they'd found a temp of
some sort while I was out. But man! The tires were low,
the oil change that was due on the 30th hadn't been taken care
of, and the car wash hadn't been visited. I spent the better
part of a day on and off cleaning it up.
The inside hadn't been vacuumed, and the trash bag up front was
overflowing. Under the seats I found all sorts of stuff -
bags and wrappers, rubber bands, paper clips....I even found a
couple of red paper stubs with fortunes printed on them, like
from one of those old fashioned fortune telling machines. I
remember when Aunt Margaret took us to Coney Island when we visited
her in New York and we took turns putting nickels in the machine. One
of these fortunes said, "When there is trust, no proof is
necessary. Without trust, no proof is enough". Heavy.
The other one said, "Things do not usually happen overnight.
It takes time and hard work." I had to laugh at that one
because it reminded me of what George at the garage told me one
day when the limo was on the rack and we were eating Chinese in
his office. If you put "in bed" at the end of a
fortune, it makes it even funnier. Works on this one!
I had to brace myself to look in the trunk, after what I'd seen
in the passenger compartment. I guess it wasn't so bad, because
everything was in boxes, but obviously SOMEONE had not taken these
where they needed to be dropped off. They all had Miss Holt's
handwriting on them. There were a bunch of what must of been
clothes that were marked "Goodwill", but another box
marked "Laubach Literacy Center" caught my attention.
The box was full of that Charlotte Knight trash. I'll be
glad to drop those off. Maybe Miss Holt doesn't need to read
about romance anymore, if you know what I mean. I got eyes,
and ears.
While I was working I couldn't help but think about this guy named
DeGroot. I had watched a really interesting show on PBS about
the history of the Sydney Harbour Bridge while I was laid up.
It seems this DeGroot was really angry about the way the head
of the government had handled the financial problems in Australia
during the Depression. He was so mad he got on his uniform, mounted
his horse and used his sword to cut the ribbon to open the bridge
before the officials could. I could relate to that. I got the
uniform, and I got horsepower, but not the horse. Sure wish I
had the sword I know who I'd use it on, if only I knew who he
was. I asked Miss Holt about that joker but she clammed up tight.
Probably didn't want to have to bail me out after I went looking
for him. She probably could tell by the look on my face I wanted
to strangle him.
I finished cleaning up just in time for Miss Krebs to call and
tell me Mr. Steele was on his way down. I had the door open and
waiting for him. He started to get in, stuck his head in there,
and then pulled back again. He gave me a big smile, and I felt
three inches taller.
It's good to be back.
To Be Continued---
To
Part 12
ELEMENTS: Sydney Harbour Bridge, a package of diapers,
phone bill, romance novels by the same author, fortune from an
automated fortune teller.