The Mechanic (short sotry)

The Mechanic

Adam opened his eyes and stared blankly at the cracked ceiling. He stretched out his arm and touched the bare back of the warm naked woman that lay beside him. She was a sound sleeper and did not wake up nor turn as Adam got out of bed. Adam grabbed his holed trousers from the floor and an old button up shirt from the chair and glanced back at the sweet and lovely woman sleeping in his bed. He exited the apartment and raced down the staircase and came out to the empty street. As Adam walked to his local coffee shop he noticed a group of boys sniffing glue in a dark alley.

The coffee shop was located in a cellar of an old rugged apartment building. He ordered an espresso to go and some of the shop’s special homemade bagels. The bagels were not fresh. They had been made the night before and left out so now they were just a soggy mush. He grabbed the bagels and coffee and then strode down the street to work. It was six am when he arrived at the mechanic’s shop. Other than him there was only the stray dog who had found a juicy bag of garbage to lick. Adam unlocked the metal garage door and pulled it open.

The warm air rushed out to greet Adam. Adam took a long sniff at the welcoming odor of oil and benzene. He enjoyed the smell of mechanical oil and benzene in the morning. Adam had grown up in the neighborhood and his father had been a mechanic. From an early age Adam had learned to enjoy the pleasures of being a mechanic. When Adam’s father passed away Adam had taken his place in the mechanic’s shop.

Not too long after Adam had settled down and finished of his bagel and coffee his pal Marty came in. Marty pulled a pair of oil stained overalls on and sat down on a low stool to smoke a homemade cigarette.

“That shit’s gonna kill ya, ya know,” Adam said.

“Oh hell, don’t tell me ya become a doctor now,” Marty smirked back at Adam.

“Well, it sure as hell beats this shitty job.”

“So how was the gal, any good?” Marty asked changing the subject as he took another long drag at his cigarette that was burning quickly.

“She was a wild one this one, I reamed her all night.”

“For real, how old was this amazing gal ya honed?”

“Not sure looked some 22 years. Got a killer body though.”

“Oh hell no, Adam, she’s still a kid. How many times have I got to tell ya we don take the young ones to bed they’ll stick to ya like a stink on a shoe. Next thing ya know she’s gona be calling ya her dady and shell be waiting in yer bed every night wanting ya to driller till she passes out.”

“That don’t sound too bad now, does it?”

“Oh, get back to work, ya piece of shit,” Marty said as he laughed and stamped his cigarette out.

At mid day Adam and his buddies Marty, Pete, Bobby, and Hank closed up the shop and the five of them left for lunch. They settled down at a homely sandwich shop with only three tables. There were spider webs in the corners of the ceiling and the glass windows were stained.

“Hey take off yer hats boys, we’re gentlemen aren’t we?” Adam said as they were entering the shop.

“Sir, yes Sir,” Pete replied sarcastically.

The sandwich shop was run by an old woman who was in her 70s. The old woman was hunched over a walking stick and her clothing dragged on the floor. In Adam’s opinion the woman did not look 70. The boys argued that she had to be more like 90 and that she just lied about her age.

Adam’s group of mechanics were usually the only ones in the store so when a tall young blond stepped in through the low door they were all shocked. There was a moment of silence as they watched the woman walk past them into the back room where the old woman was sitting on a rocking chair knitting.

“Who the hell is she?” Pete asked.

“Who the hell cares?” Bobby replied, “She’s young and hot and ready to be tapped.”

Adam shifted uncomfortably in his chair and continued to eat in silence. No more was said about the woman for she never reappeared from the back room.

Adam left the mechanic’s shop at three. As he was walking back to his apartment he thought about what Marty said in the morning. What if the girl he slept with was still in his apartment. Adam cursed and said to himself, “What the hell was I thinking? I should have listened to Marty’s advice.”

Adam spit out a chain of curs words as he walked up the flight of stairs to his apartment. Adam unlocked the door and pushed it open. The door flung open, screeching at the rusty hinges. The room was empty. The only sound in the room was that of water dripping from the broken bathroom sink. The apartment was as messy as he had left it in the morning. The kitchen sink was full of dirty dishes and the table had a pile of beer cans. The blanket was in a pile on the floor and the toilet bowl still had his morning piss he left un-flushed. The apartment cleaner came once a week but her round would not be for another day.

That night Adam hit the bars again. To his surprise he saw the blond again. She was sitting on a barstool drinking a Cosmo. She was all dressed up with a tight miniskirt and a low-cut top.

“Hey, mind if I sit down here?” Adam asked her holding the stool beside her.

“No, go ahead,” she replied before she glanced at Adam. “Hey, aren’t you the guy I saw earlier at the sandwich shop.”

“Yea that be me and me boys. We eat there every day except on Sundays.”

“She’s my grandmother, the old bag. I have been coming here the past four years giving her money. That stupid sandwich shop is not enough to pay her bills. No offense but you’re the only customers she has,” the blond said rolling her eyes and taking another sip at her Cosmo.

“I’m sorry but what ya say yer name was, mines Adam Spiltser.”

“Merry Heilberg,” the blond replied.

The night continued with small chitchat. Drink after another the bill grew for the two. Then suddenly Merry said good bye and left. Adam, who was shocked that he had let her slip his grasp, looked around for another girl to hit on. His motto: A new girl a night keeps a man young and strong.

He found a redhead slightly round in the face with a voluptuous body. She was already drunk and was all over Adam the moment he stepped beside her. He helped her to his apartment where the two started to pull of their clothing already before reaching the bedroom.

“Wow! That was amazing,” the redhead whispered after they had finished. Adam said nothing and thirty seconds later he was snoring.

In the morning, Adam woke up to a pair of soft hands running their fingers down his chest.

“Wake up big boy,” the soft voice said.

Adams eyes opened just enough to see the blurry image of the redhead sitting on top of him smiling.

“What time is it?” Adam asked.

“Oh it’s almost nine.”

“Shit, shit, sorry but I have to get to work,” Adam said getting up and pushing the redhead over on to the bed. “Just lock the door after ya when ya leave,” Adam said as he rushed out of the apartment still zipping up his trousers and buttoning up his shirt.

“You were great last night,” was the last thing Adam heard echoing in the hallway before he was out of the building and back on the dirty sidewalk.

When Adam arrived at the mechanic’s shop he was shocked to see fire trucks and a ambulance outside of the shop. Smoke rose from the building and Adam saw Marty in a stretcher. He rushed over and saw the flames scourging out of the building. Marty had an oxygen masque over his mouth and his arms and face had third degree burn marks.

“Where are the rest of the boys?” Adam asked an officer.”

“They are already on their way to the hospital. That man over there is the last one. He was trapped under a burning beam and lucky for him was saved just before the roof came down. His leg, however, is broken and he has carbon monoxide poisoning.”

Adam sat down on the sidewalk and watched as the last ambulance drove away. The lights flashed and the loud siren of the ambulance waved good bye to Adam. The sound of the water spraying from the fire trucks soon covered the noise of the ambulance. As Adam watched the fire fighters he saw the burnt face of Marty in his mind. He could hear the sirens playing the eerie noise that signaled death.

Adam closed his eyes and saw himself with eyes filled with tears standing beside Marty. Marty, who was three years older than him, had his arm around Adam. They stood outside the same shop and watched as the medics carried his father into the ambulance. He was only nine at the time so ever since Marty had been the person Adam had looked up to for advice and help. Marty had helped him out of every sticky situation he had ever been in and Marty was the one who remembered him on his birthday when no one else did. Adam remembered once when he was sixteen and he and some other boys had gotten into a fight with some black boys. Adam got his ass kicked. His lip bleed and his stomach ached. Then he remembered how Marty pulled his car over and jumped out from the driver seat holding a baseball bat. “Hold on blonde we will get ya to the hospital,” Marty shouted while flipping of the black boys. “Yeah run to yer mommies ya wimps” Marty screamed after the boys.

Marty was the big brother who had always been there for him, and now when Marty needed him where had he been?

Adam opened his eyes when he heard the trucks start their engines. The fire was out but the building was still steaming. Since the building had been a mechanic’s shop there was a lot of benzene and oil in there, making the fire very hot and fast burning. There was nothing left but ash. Adam’s heart was broken, his-life was in that building. All his memories of his father had burned down. Now his friends were in the hospital and his best friend would never look the same.

For two days Adam was not permitted access to see Marty. The other boys had only had carbon dioxide overdose so they were able to leave the hospital after the first day. When Adam finally was able to see Marty, tears filled his eyes. Marty lay still in bed his face was wrapped in burn pads. His leg was in a cast and was tilted slightly up from the bed. There was a chair set beside the bed and Adam sat there. He rest his head on his arms and wept. If Marty was ever going to recover he was never going to be the same. He would not be able to play games the same way he used to play. Adam could hear the nurses talking in the hallway.

“It’s amazing, look at that a man as massive as him still has a heart. He weeps at his friend’s bed side,” a nurse named Mary-Ann outside of the room said to another nurse.

“It is so sad. The poor man almost died in the fire,” the second nurse said but by now the nurses had moved on and their voices were but a faint sound in the hallway.

Adam spent his nights sleeping beside Marty’s bed. For three nights there were no signs of life in Marty but then on the morning of the fourth day after the fire Adam woke up to see his friend’s eyes open. The dark eyes peaked from behind the burn pads.

“Adam ya lucky bastard it’s nice to see ya again. How long have I been sleeping.”

“Who ya calling lucky? I’ve been stuck here mourning for ya and what ya doing just napping like nothing happened,” Adam said wiping his tears away.

“What has the doctor said?” Marty asked.

“The doctor hasn’t said anything to me but them damn nurses think yer as good as dead.”

“Right now that would not feel like such a bad thing. My leg hurts like hell and my face is numb. What the hell have they been pumping in my face, and look at these damned wraps my face is covered with,” Marty exhaled deeply as he finished complaining about his misery. “How’s the shop? I didn’t have time to watch the fire show.”

“The shit hole burned completely down. All that is left is a black ash pile.”

At eight the nurses came to check on Marty and found him awake so she left to get breakfast. Ten minutes later the same nurse reappeared with a plate with some porridge and a glass of water. Marty and Adam spent the day talking and by evening Adam’s sorrows had withered away.

“Adam, ya should go home and sleep there. Ya look like shit.”

“Hell yea I been watching ya day and night.”

Marty started to look better every day but then tragedy happened. On a Sunday evening a week after the fire when Adam came to the hospital he found his friend covered with a white sheet.

The body was lifeless, cold and pale. Adam could not understand what happened. His friend was looking so good but now he was dead. At the same moment the doctor happened to walk in.

“What happened? Why did he die?”

“He didn’t tell you?”

“Hell no if he had then I wouldn’t be asking ya now, would I?”

Adam’s lip started to twitch as it always did when he started to loose his temper.

“We found out yesterday when we were doing the x-ray scans that he had his skull cracked and it was causing pressure in his brain which caused swelling. The swelling was already too great and we could not do anything about it.”

“So yer telling me there was a fucking crack in his head and ya could not see it right away and because of that my friend is dead,” Adam said as he tensed his arm and curled his fingers into a fist and his lip twitching furiously. He turned and smashed the door on his way out. The door flung open in a loud bang.

Adam decided to drown his sorrows and anger with alcohol. It was early in the night so the bars were still empty.

“What would you like to drink tonight sir?” asked the female bartender.

“I don’t care just load me up. My best friend is dead and I just want to feel out of this world.”

Two hours later when Adam was tipsy and walking back home with a bottle of beer in one hand he saw groups of friends having a great time together. He saw couples and families. He then remembered Marty, his sorrow returned and his anger burst out. He smashed the battle on a street lamp and started shouting. “Go to hell all of ya, my life is in ruins and what, no one cares. Y’all act as if nothing happened, well who the hell ya think ya are, people are not just items that are used then left. He was my family, my closest friend.”

Adam collapsed onto the sidewalk, His back leaning against a building wall and his legs tucked in to his chest. He sat there with his head between his legs. It was here where Mary-Ann found him. She was on her way back from the hospital to her home when se recognized the hefty man. The strong arms were wrapped around his legs and his palms covered his blond hair. Adam’s green eyes and sharp nose were hidden from the world.

“Adam, what’s wrong?” she said remembering his name from the hospital. There was no reply from Adam so Mary-Ann lifted his head to reveal his face. Mary-Ann quickly pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number. Five minutes later a tough looking man came to where Adam and Mary-Ann were.

“What’s the emergency?” the young black man asked.

“This man is passed out and I can’t just leave him out on the streets.”

“What so special about this white guy that you want take him home. Besides who knows what he might do once he comes back out of dream land.”

“Shut up and just help me.”

They loaded Adam in the backseat of the car and took him to Mary-Ann’s.

“So are you going to tell me why you wanted to help this guy in particular?”

“I met him at the hospital. He was there because his friend was in a devastating fire accident. Today his friend died.”

No more was said about Adam or his friend until he was laid onto the sofa in Mary-Ann’s apartment.

“Hey sis would you like me to stay over also. You know just to make sure nothing unwanted happens,” the black man asked.

“No it’s fine I’ll be fine. “

When Adam woke up his head was aching. He was confused about where he was and how he had arrived there. He decided to find out so he looked around. The apartment was neat, there was no garbage lying on the floor, there were neither dirty dishes nor piles of laundry. The bedroom had beige colored walls and light blue curtains. The bathroom had soaps and shampoos ordered neatly beside the shower. The apartment was so clean that it amazed Adam. He found a yellow sticky note stuck on the front door with a short poem.

“Hope is a strange invention
A Patent of the Heart
In unremitting action
Yet never wearing out

Of this electric Adjunct
Not anything is known
But its unique momentum
Embellish all we own

Emily Dickinson”

THE END