Chance Encounters

Farms and Lakes

Frank pulled into the parking lot. In his hand was a mug of his usual coffee. He had a frown on his face almost like he was irritated about working on a Sunday. As he opened the shop door I seen a newspaper underneath his arm. The headline read ‘Troops defend Saigon as Vietcong pushes forward.’ I thought about that headline and what it meant for my father over there. Frank’s voice broke my train of thought.“Ready to knock out these work orders?” He asked. I nodded, chugging the remainder of my tea. I looked at the oak desk that held a stack of work orders. Sifting through them I decided on something relatively easy.

Since it was Sunday, according to Frank as long as we got at least two work orders done then it was a successful day. No need to push and grind everyday Frank explained. After I got the first work order done I shuffled through the work orders again and found an oil change,along with glow plugs and a combine cutting knives that needed to be replaced. Not too bad,might as well get as much done now so I could relax later on in the week.

The glow plug replacement was a cakewalk. Once I removed the old ones I cleaned the connectors. It made a world of a difference, the tractor not only sounded better,but also started up almost like it was brand new. The chopper knife was a challenge. Frank showed me the tool that he made, it was a wrench that could fit through the auger side of the combine. The chopper knives were dull which is to be expected after a lot of harvest seasons. I snapped the lock out pins into place and disconnected the battery. “Most of the time,” Frank started to explain; “you disconnect the battery to save yourself from getting a shock.” He chuckled. I nodded soaking all the information I could in. I replaced the blades on both sides of the rotor, tightening up the bolts to Frank’s specified forty four foot pounds of torque. I made a mental note that when I get my check I will be investing in a torque wrench. We checked the blades manually turning the rotor to make sure the blades were in place. I reconnected the battery as I smiled. I just learned another thing about tractors.

Work wasn’t long as it was only a half day,but the information I learned was invaluable. A heavy sigh escaped me as I wiped the oil off on my shirt. Frank was putting his tools away as he turned to me.”Good work today, see ya tomorrow. We have quite a bit to get done in this next coming month.” I nodded, “Sounds good to me boss man.” He gave me a thumbs up. I wiped off my tools and hopped in my truck.

Stopping at the gas station on the county line I filled up my truck and bought a Mtn Dew. The cashier behind the counter gave me a look, probably because I was still in my work uniform. I suppose there aren’t to many females wrenching or willing to work with their hands.I dug in my pocket for the loose change I had. My total was 2.25$. Paying for everything, I jumped back in my truck having the eternal debate of going home right away or going to do something lingered in my mind. I decided that driving was my better option. My mother and aunts were sure to be home,I didn’t feel like dealing with them on top of a day at work. I drove until I passed county line and out to Jefferson.

Back out in Chesterfield is where I found myself. Continuing my drive up further landed me in Algonac. It was interesting to see the water and boats again. I wanted to stop at a shop and see how they wrenched on boats. I wanted to know the ins and outs of a boat shop. I parked in a boat launch area. I walked to the end of the dock and sat down. The blue water crashed against the pillars of the dock. To the right of me was a marina called salty dog. My curiosity spiked and I thought about walking over and watching them work.

I made my way over to the gate on the backside of the marina. Through the chain link fence I saw a lift of some sort pulling a boat out. It moved it on a trailer where a machine pulled it. I caught a glimpse of the crew maneuvering it to a building. I moved to the other side of the fence and was blocked by a sea wall on one side and the back of the building on the other. I was intrigued and wanted to see more, at least before the season ended. Something broke that thought process though and that was Mark, I wondered what he was up to. So I made my trek back down where we lived. The marina would wait another day.

The air hit my face as I drove down the main road. The crisp autumn day cleared my head. Smiling to myself as I shifted gears, the transmission I put in worked incredibly well. Smooth sailing,until I hit my neighborhood. Creeping past my house I seen my aunts and mother there. Shaking my head I decided to make my way to Mark’s house.

I saw Mark in his driveway about to get in his car. He looked up as my truck was rolling to a stop. “I was just about to go see if you were home.” I paused looking at his grease stained pants and ocean blue eyes.“Hop in.” I said. Mark smiled and yanked open the passenger door.

I admit, my truck was a mess. It was rather embarrassing and I made a mental note to clean it as soon as I had the chance. Having Mark sit in my truck and actually driving around were two separate ideas. He was wearing a t-shirt and jeans. He had a hoodie in his arms, which I have to admit he was more prepared for the fall weather than I. “What do you feel like doing?” I asked, my eyes glued on the emblem on my steering wheel. “Well, let's get Larry and the three of us can go hang out the rest of the day.” I nodded and drove over to Larry’s house.

Mark scooted over to the middle giving Larry enough room to sit. “Sorry its a tight fit, I should think about a different truck.” My hand had to keep brushing against his thigh as I held the stick shift. Larry broke the awkward silence, “You two are so lucky that you skipped. I got stuck going and it was an awful experience.” His words just cemented why I didn’t want to go to any future events. Mark and I laughed. “Oh good lord I can only imagine. What did you two want to go do?” I asked. Larry said he didn't care, and Mark said the same thing. “Alright, I guess we will go for a drive.”

We pulled up on some old farm property. A wore out barn was further in the back. Down shifting my truck I crawled across the field. Deciding on going into the barn we hung out. I went underneath my seat and grabbed a blanket, spreading it out on the ground we sat on it. Larry pulled a mason jar out of his coat pocket. “It’s moonshine,I took it from my dad.” We all sipped the shine letting it burn our throats as it went down. Reaching into my pocket I lit a joint and passed it around. “Do you two ever see yourselves getting serious with someone?” Larry blurted out after a long time of silence. Mark nodded,”Yeah there may be a person I want to be around. I don’t know if they feel the same way though. What about you Larry?” Larry shrugged, “Maybe later in life sure, but now I want to do what I want.Plus I haven’t found anyone yet.” They turned and looked at me, “What about you?” I shrugged, “Not sure, maybe one day,but I doubt any guy would like me because I am too work oriented.” Larry laughed, “Yeah,we can tell,look at your overalls and shirt.” Mark laughed, “Nah I’m sure you’ll find someone.” My face turned red. I laughed,”I highly doubt that.” We started to head back. Larry hopped in the truck while Mark pulled me into his arms giving me a hug. We dropped Larry off who went to help his dad making art on gun barrels. Mark decided to stick around with me. Both of us agreed that we were hungry,and both of us agreed that going home was a bad idea. “Do you know of any places Mark? I’ll buy.” He nodded, “Yeah, I do, there’s a little diner not to far from here.” I smiled, although it could have been from the joints or moonshine was yet to be determined.

The diner wasn’t packed,but I did see a car that was impossible to not know. I sighed it, was Dawn’s car, a blue charger. I climbed out of my truck and Mark followed suit. I felt awkward because of the work clothes I still had on. Thankfully Mark wasn’t dressed much better than I.

Walking in the diner we were greeted by an older woman. She was slightly bigger in the belly and had an apron with some stains on it. “Well hi there welcome to the Towne diner, please go and seat yourselves.” I glanced at Mark as he led the way to a booth. I could feel eyes on us as we sat down. Two menus were placed in front of us. With a sigh I glanced around, the black and white tile on the floor made the assortment of neon signs pop out. Mark looked at me, “I already know what I want,but take your time.” He said. I nodded in response shifting awkwardly as I seen Dawn and her new boy toy glaring daggers at me. After little thought I picked the first thing my eyes landed on; a burger and fries,perfect. Our waitress walked over to us. “Hey you guys ready to order?” She asked almost too cheerfully. I nodded and Mark said, “I’ll take the burger and fries, uh meat well done everything on it. Oh and a Coke.” The waitress jotted it down on her pad before turning to me. “Uh I’ll have the burger and fries,but only cheese and meat medium rare, also a Coke.” She nodded giving Mark a wink then bounced to the kitchen.

I sat slouched in my seat. “So how was work? You look tired.” Mark said sipping on his Coke. “It was alright,just replaced some cutting knives and cleaned some glo plug connectors and replaced them, although I am still learning things.” Mark nodded, “I was helping my buddy Bill replace a front end of a Buick. It sucked,but the car is coming together.”

Out of the corner of my eye I seen Dawn walk up to us. Mark must have seen the same thing because he rolled his eyes. “Hey Mark.” She said emphasizing his name. Leaning over the table her shirt extremely low cut showing off her chest quite well. I turned my head. “Oh you must be hanging out with her because you feel bad?” I shook my head. “Mark why don’t you come over and hang out with us? There’s plenty of room at our table.” I glared at her,but I wouldn’t have blamed him if he left, she was attractive and I,well I looked like a typical blue collar worker. “No,I am content with her,plus you might be “pretty”,but at least Skye is goal oriented,now if you excuse us we have a burger to eat.” I smiled to myself about that. I’m shocked Mark stood up for me. In a way. She huffed and looked at the guy she was with,apparently it was her brother. He walked over to us, “Hey you bastard don’t hurt my sister’s feelings,she likes you.” Mark shrugged. “And? I don’t really give a s**t honestly.” He looked over at me. I was in the process of tuning him out and attempting to eat my food while it was still relatively warm. “God you are a sorry excuse for a female, doing mens work,what for?” I raised my eyebrows, swallowing a chunk of burger. It gave me an extra few seconds for me to formulate my reply. Shrugging I looked at him, “Yeah,and I’ve got more balls than most of the men who do those jobs.” He grabbed my collar of my shirt. “Oh young man you might want to rethink that stunt you are doing.” He laughed. “Or what b***h?” He sneered. I stood up grabbing his wrist and in a sweeping motion I threw him over my shoulder. He was locked in a fireman’s carry as I walked out the door. I’m not a heathen fighting is for outside.

As I walked out the door Mark followed suit. I threw Dean to the ground. His short brown hair flopped in his face as his body hit the concrete. “Uhg.” He moaned,sitting up. His elbow bruised and scraped. Staggering he got up. “You made a big mistake.” He mumbled. He went to throw a punch and I ducked. We repeated this a few times before I got fed up. Dawn, was looking at Mark as if she wanted him to stop me. He in fact didn’t care, he was watching ready to step in if needed. I looked Dean in the eyes,and swung with my left hook. It landed right in his right eye. He hit the ground,if it was a boxing match he would have been knocked out. A few people helped him into the car as his sister Dawn sat in the driver’s seat.

We didn’t ruin a good meal as we went back into the restaurant. The guys clapped as we walked back to our seats. “Nice swing there.” One patron told me. I smiled a little hard not to when the men were even complementing me. We finished the burgers and fries. I paid and left a tip.