Page 23 of Mechanic Next Door
14
Thomas
“Dammit,”I mutter as I speed onto the freeway, using the off-ramp to merge on from the opposite direction. I got the call to come down and assist in the efforts to clear the freeway and tow a car that was damaged back to the shop. So far I haven’t heard of any fatalities, but I reach into my pocket to grab my phone so I can check in on the status. I want to be mentally prepared. My heart already feels sick at the thought someone could have been seriously hurt - orworse.
And considering the manner in which Peach’s parents passed away, I’m not looking forward to telling her where I was allmorning.
After digging into my pocket and finding that I don’t have my phone, I check the other pocket and the console between the seats. An uneasy feeling hits me square in the chest as I realize I must have left my phone behind. I check my rearview mirror. Ray is behind me with his tow truck and ahead of me is a state trooper. A police cruiser with its sirens blaring parts the lanes of cars facing me and a few other rescue vehicles and a cop talking into his phone is setting up orange cones to block off theramp.
It’s confusion without the chaos. When I pull onto the shoulder, facing a line of cars head-on, I stick my head out the window to survey thedamage.
“What’s it look like?” I ask a trooper approachingme.
“It looks like some damn good luck,” he says, shielding his eyes from the veil of the sun. “No fatalities. Follow me, I can show you what we’re workingwith.”
I exit my truck and follow him closely, taking inventory of the scene. When I see a boy of about nine or ten with a brown bowl cut and a Transformers tee wiping tears away from his eyes, I break away from the trooper and jog toward theboy.
“Hey, hey,” I say to him. There’s a female officer trying to console him but all I really see is the tears in his eyes. I get down in front of him and offer asmile.
I stand up and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, turning to the officer to ask what’s goingon.
“He was in the car with his parents,” she says to me, leaning in with a hushed voice. “The boy walked away but his parents weren’t wearing seatbelts. They were hit from behind and pushed into the bumper of the car in front of them which caused the airbags to deploy and crushed the front of their car pretty bad. They’re being extracted from the car rightnow.”
I crane my neck to see where she’s pointing. A few firemen are using a hydraulic rescue tool to aid in getting them out of the front seat. I give the boy’s shoulder a squeeze and cast a tight-lipped smile tohim.
“Does he know what’s going on?” I ask theofficer.
“I told him they’d beokay.”
“Hey,” I say, crouching down so I can see the boy face-to-face, “your parents are going to be just fine,okay?”
He turns a panicked glance to hisright.
“Hey, listen up,” I say softly, taking his hands, “they’re going to be okay. I’m going to give you my phone number so you can call me if you want to talk.Alright?”
I realize it looks a little odd for a man in his upper thirties to be talking to a child in this way, but I don’t care how it looks. I just want him to feel like someone’s going to be accountable for telling him things are going to be okay. I know his parents will likely be in constant contact with the cops for the rest of the day, but still…it just feels right to tell him someone else will be there to talk if he needssomeone.
He takes out his phone and I give him my number as Ray comes over tome.
“Hey,” he says, “Ronnie called me. Said Peach was trying to find you. Said she sounded very worried. You should callher.”
He hands me his phone and my heart leaps into mychest.
“Fuck,” I say, pounding in the number for my house phone. I turn away from him and plow a hand through my hair as I bring his phone to my ear. It rings once before sheanswers.
“Hello?” sheexhales.
“Peach, it’s me. I’m so sorry. I didn’t have my phone withme-“
“Oh my god, you’re okay,” she cries. “Thomas, I saw the news and I thought something was wrong. Ithought…”
“No honey, no,” I tell her. I rub my chest to try to stop my heart from beating so fast. “I’m fine. I am so sorry. I’m coming to you rightnow.”
“Thomas,” she cries with a whisper. “I thought I lost you for a minutethere.”
“No, baby no, Pea. Never. It’s going to take a whole damn lot for the universe to pull me away fromyou.”
“I love you Thomas,” shesobs.
