Steele Drivin' Man 13/?
Date: December 6, 1984
Mileage: 38,292
Maintenance: Replace rear shocks
This week started out pretty good for Mr. Steele, but by the time
it was all over his body and his ego had both gotten kinda beat
up.
I mean, what is it with famous people? Do they get some kind
of thrill out of putting down ordinary guys like us? I hope
we never have to deal with people like that again, especially
if they're going to act like that old coot. That Nolan thinks
he's some tough guy, but Bruce Lee he ain't.
But anyway. Saturday night was pretty exciting I'll have to admit.
For days Mr. Steele had been going on and on about the Hollywood
Archives ceremony, and about actually meeting some movie stars.
I listened to his little presentation speech a dozen times as
he tried to get it just right. Miss Holt didn't say anything but
I could tell she was pretty pleased with herself for getting the
invite.
By the time Saturday night came around, he could barely hold himself
down. You know, when he gets excited he starts talking faster
and faster. Well, he was going a mile a minute by the time I picked
them up. Miss Holt tried to calm him down but she was pretty wound
up, too. Even her dress didn't distract him much.
The best part for me was getting in line with all the other limos
to drop off passengers. I could see the TV lights and camera flashes
as we got closer. I pulled up to the curb like we were arriving
at the Oscars. Some camera people ran up when I stopped, but when
they saw it was just Miss Holt and Mr. Steele, they walked away.
Well, excuse me!
I cooled my heels in the parking lot during the ceremony, but
afterwards I began wishing I had been keeping closer tabs on Mr.
Steele. If I had known he was going to end up in a dumpster I
would have stayed close by. He was OK, but we picked up some old
movie star along the way, Miss Mayo somebody. Never heard of her.
Obviously Mr. Steele had because he was all excited again being
in the same car with her. She wasn't much for conversation. Stuck
up movie star. Later on, though, after I thought about it, she
did seem a little nervous.
When we got to her house, Miss Holt asked me to keep an eye on
things outside while they went in with Miss Mayo. I played lookout
and took a walk up and down the driveway every once in a while.
After half an hour, Mr. Steele came out and told me Miss Holt
was staying for a bit, so I took him home, came back for Miss
Holt and took her home.
The next day I waited around for someone to need me. Mr. Steele
drove himself to that old coot's house, but it wasn't too far
into the morning when he called and asked me to come to Nolan's
place, and to bring towels. Well, that had me wondering. When
I got there he looked like he'd fallen in a ditch. He apologized
for making me drive out there, but he didn't want to get the seats
wet in the Auburn. Uh-huh. So I took him home to clean up.
After he dried out I dropped him off at some other movie star's
house. I kinda wished he had asked me to stick around, because
that story he told me about the mailman at Nolan's house gave
me chills. And on top of that, I find out later he and Miss Holt
were shot at again!
If they would just let me drive I could maybe keep these things
from happening. Or at least be a lookout while they're busy.
That evening I took Miss Holt to Rossmore and she told me to go
home, but I thought with everything that had been going on, it
would be best for me to stick around. It's a good thing I did,
because I saw Nolan and some linebacker type go in, and not five
minutes later they were in the car and we were off to Miss Mayo's
again.
Before I could open my mouth to point out that this wasn't going
to work, I had six passengers packed into the limo. Mr. Widebody
took up half of the backseat, and I didn't have much room to maneuver
with two in the front. We were putting some serious stress on
the suspension. I could just see us bottoming out in a driveway.
I got us going as fast as I could considering the load and headed
for the address Miss Holt gave me. It occurred to me that Mr.
Steele was being awfully quiet seeing as he was in the same small
space with three movie stars. I realized that he had had less
and less to say as time passed, and at first I thought it was
from being shot at more then once. Then Nolan made some crack
about Mr. Steele not having a gun, and I saw his face fall a little
more. The lightbulb finally came on this was obviously just the
latest in a bunch of putdowns Mr. Steele had been dealing with.
We got to the house we were looking for and everyone went in,
although it did seem to take Mr. Steele longer than usual to deal
with the lock. I watched lights go on around the house. Considering
everything that had happened I was being extra watchful. That's
when I noticed someone cutting through the hedges to the back
door. I got out as quietly as I could and followed him up the
driveway. Obviously he had a key because I couldn't catch up with
him before he was inside. Suddenly the lights went out and I heard
a terrible scuffle going on inside. I opened the door to go in
and got knocked over by this same guy, I think. I jumped to my
feet and might have caught him, too, if it hadn't been for the
stampede of people who came next. We all ran for the limo, except
for the old gals. Nolan and Widebody and me got to the car first,
and Mr. Steele and Miss Holt were hurrying the other two. They
shuffled along as fast as their little old movie star feet could
go, but I think if Mr. Steele could have had his way he would
have picked them up and carried them.
We piled in again and I took off after the bad guy as fast as
the beast would go, but a cludge like the limo packed with people
is no match for one guy in a fast car. When Nolan said, "C'mon,
driver, burn some rubber," he's lucky we had a lady between
us, or I would have reached over and throttled him. I got a name,
ya know!
The other car got quite a lead on me, but it was late and there
wasn't a lot of traffic, so I didn't have much trouble tailing
him to a warehouse. Mr. Steele just shoved Widebody out of the
way and ran inside. Miss Holt jumped over Miss Mayo, literally,
and was right behind him. Nolan wanted her to call the police,
but she just looked at him and ran inside. I knew it was time
for some help, so I got on the car phone and called the cops.
Then I called Miss Krebs.
The old folks milled around on the sidewalk while I went inside
and tried to find Mr. Steele and Miss Holt. Fortunately the ambulance
got there real quick, and by the time they got in I had found
them. They must have been hurting bad because neither one of them
tried to move.
The EMTs shooed me outside and I went back to the limo. I got
there just in time to listen to Nolan second guessing Mr. Steele,
going on and on about how he should have waited for "the
experts". Well, that did it. I wasn't going to listen to
anymore. Maybe I was tired, mostly I was disgusted. I told all
three of them that just because they were movie stars they didn't
have a right to talk down to Mr. Steele the way they had been.
They stood there all kinda slack-jawed while I lit into them.
I told them that Mr. Steele and Miss Holt had just put their lives
on the line for them, and the least they could do would be to
at least act grateful. They'd been acting all their lives they
could act like that, too.
They all looked pretty sheepish when Miss Holt and Mr. Steele
came out on stretchers. After they were loaded in the ambulance,
I told the three of them that I'd be around for them by 10 in
the morning, to take them to the hospital so that they could express
their appreciation.
Huh. Movie stars. If that's lifestyles of the rich and famous,
count me out!
To Be Continued---
To Part
14