A horrible accident sends two of Point Place's own to the hospital – one of the friends may never possibly recover….Red can't stop blaming himself…who will be a true friend and stay till the end?
(AU – after Season 8 – OC – all fiction, don't own anything but the plot and author is not a mechanic – only in my dreams)
T7S
Chapter 01 – Reluctant Hero
February 1980
T7S
Kitty poured Eric a second cup of coffee from the carafe. She sat down in the seat next to her husband. "So, Eric…you've been home for a few weeks…what are you going to do today?"
Red Forman put down his morning newspaper and smiled brightly at his son then answered his wife, "I volunteered Eric to come down to the shop to help me with that new display of car batteries."
Eric held up a fork full of scrambled eggs. "Yeah, my ambition to come home early and go to school was shot straight to…."
"Okay, now… no potty mouth at the breakfast table ahahahaha." Kitty said. "We all know that Donna went to college and you broke up with her and that was a mistake, but son….how many more times do we need to hear about it?"
Eric hung his head. It was true; he did rush home expecting everything to be the same – Donna forgiving him for the break up letter – all his friends hanging out in the basement. He expected time to stand still….until he came home. After the New Years Eve party, Donna finished packing for college and left; Kelso went back to Chicago to work in his police career. Hyde was still a basement burnout that owned a record store and Fez was still a shampoo boy.
Red downed the last of his coffee. "Hurry up Eric, Jackie's opening the office for us at 8:00 o'clock." Eric's head shot up, "What did you say?"
"I said Jackie's opening the garage. She works part-time in the office and once in a while in the shop."
"Oh." Well, that was different! "I thought she worked at the public access station."
Kitty smiled. "It didn't pay well. Jackie has a part time job as a hostess at the Cattleman's Station and in the mornings she helps Red with his paperwork. Why are you worried about Jackie?"
"Eh, I can't believe out of all my friends, she's the only one that still hangs around." Eric answered disappointedly. Red cleared his throat. "Well, I still think she's the only one of you kids that isn't entirely useless."
Kitty kissed Red on the pate of his head. "I'll see you tonight."
T7S
Eric was ambushed with a hug. "It's so nice to see you again Eric!" Jackie squealed. She turned around and grabbed a thick ceramic mug. "Here's some coffee."
"Oh…yeah, Dad said you worked here. What a… nice….surprise." Eric replied.
Red gave his son a glare, "Don't start anything." He took the second cup of coffee and wrapped his beefy hands around the mug. "Thank you Jackie. Did the auto store drop off that new batch of batteries?"
"Yes sir. I had them put the pallet by the new charging station. I filed the packing sheets in your drawer."
"Great. Could you show Eric what I need done while I return some phone calls?" Red headed for his office leaving Eric alone in the shop with Jackie. "Hang on a sec; I just need to do something." Eric watched as Jackie stepped over to a locker and pulled out an apron and tied it around her neck. "I don't want to stain my clothes." She handed Eric a pair of leather gloves and motioned for him to follow.
"Okay, these are the instructions, here are your tools. When you start actually handing the batteries, use the gloves because there's a corrosive acid inside."
Eric looked at the pint sized micro-manager. "You can't be serious." Jackie hopped up on the work table and crossed her legs. "Well, I would do it but your dad won't let me use power tools."
Eric sat on a wooden spool. "Jackie, why are you doing this?"
"Doing what? Working for your dad?"
Eric waved at the greasy and oily chaos of the garage. "Well yeah. I thought someone like you would shy away from a mess like this. Aren't you all about fashion and beauty?"
"God Eric, don't sound so bitter. I'm not all about fashion and beauty. You say it like it's a bad thing. Haven't you ever heard the adage opposites attract? I happen to like it here. This garage is real and honest. "
Eric scoffed, "Like this garage… which sucked up my college tuition… is that honest enough for you?"
Nonplussed, Jackie continued, "Just keep your bad attitude to yourself. All I know is that outside these walls, people become fake and insincere. They behave like people expect them to. In here, I help your dad and I feel like I'm valued. Do you have any clue what that feels like?"
"I didn't come here to get a lecture from you."
"Trust me, this is not a lecture. Your dad asked me to show you what needs to be done and here it is." She handed Eric a blueprint. "That's the charger stand where we test the car batteries. Sometimes a battery just needs to be recharged or whatever. Your dad got a good sale on this new brand and he needs a shelf built to hold them."
"So…because I can use a screwdriver I'm qualified?"
Jackie laughed. "Yes and you can lift the heavy shelves. Donna's not here to protect you so get a move on!" Jackie laughed and walked back to the office. Eric looked up to see his dad and his nemesis going over something like a ledger. Yeah, they were in the warm confines of the office and he was stuck out here in the bay with old Jim, the mechanic, where it was fricking cold!
After a couple of hours, Eric had the skeleton of the shelves built and he was looking at the blueprint to see how the cantilever rack attached to the frame. The racks were slanted to allow the next car battery to slide forward when another battery was removed. He looked up to see Jackie standing in front of him.
"Hot coffee and a glazed donut – my treat?" Jackie asked.
Eric sat back on the stool actually grateful for the break. "Yeah, that sounds good."
Jackie looked at his assembly of the rack. "You do good work." She ran her hand over the steel frame, pulling on the grid, testing the strength." She sat down on a chair next to the charging station. "Can I let you in on a secret?"
Eric tried not to smirk. "Sure. I've got no one else to talk to. What's the secret?"
"Damn, Eric if you're going to act like a smart ass, I'll leave you alone. You seem to like it better that way." Jackie got up and started to walk away but Eric caught her wrist. "Sorry, that's just me being callous – coming home was not what I expected. Please sit and tell me the secret."
Jackie sat and leaned forward so she wouldn't have to speak loud. "What I wanted to tell you was that your dad's been having trouble with his hands. He can't grip small screws or nails and stuff like he used to. He says he too young to get arthritis, but just watch how often he rubs that warming ointment on his hands. He takes a lot of Tylenol. So what I'm saying is that by you assembling this shelf, you don't know how much you're helping him out."
"Huh." Eric never really thought about his dad getting old in that way. But yeah, he did take a lot of over the counter pain medications and he was always holding a hot cup of something. Maybe what Jackie said had some merit. "So, how does he work on the mufflers or engines?"
"He does what he can, I can reach tight places but mostly Jim helps. If you could stop by once in a while, he would really appreciate it. I know he wouldn't say it because that's just how Mr. Forman is."
"I have no desire to be a mechanic." Eric wanted to argue.
Jackie pushed her thick hair over her shoulder. "I'm not saying you have to work on cars. Sometimes he just needs help with inventory. You know, counting some of the small stock, putting parts on the upper shelves. He would pay you."
Eric exhaled. "Let me think about it okay? I'm not totally against the idea but I get the feeling that he doesn't really want me here."
Jackie smiled. "Because you don't act like you want to be here. If you showed any kind of interest in his shop, I bet you could actually crack out a smile from him."
Eric pretended to look scared, "Red Forman smile? Those words just don't belong in the same sentence."
She laughed. "So tell me, how goes the job hunting?" For some reason he couldn't explain, talking to Jackie at the moment was the most meaningful conversation he'd had since he returned home from his short lived African adventure.
"Well, I reapplied at Price Mart but I don't really want to work there."
"I know you went to Africa with the intent on being a teacher….is that what you still want to do?"
"I'm not sure. I like the idea of teaching but the little bit I did was harder than I thought. I did learn that I was good with numbers and drawing."
"Oh! I remembered that time you drew the picture of that turtle in the magazine for that art school. You did a really good likeness."
Eric nearly blushed, how had she remembered that? Jackie smiled, "Have you thought about drafting? I mean you read this blueprint with no problem and you knew all the measurements without asking for help. Maybe that is your hidden talent."
Eric thought about that. He did like to draw and he was good with math and fractions. He always got an "A" in geometry….there was some college money left over…"Jackie, I didn't think I'd ever say this to you but you may be on to something."
She smiled. "You could design stuff like kitchens or plans for parks. Or you could get a job with a survey company; you know…you're smart like that."
Before Eric could reply, Red came out. "Breaks over; I'm not paying you to chitchat."
Eric looked up at his dad, "You're not paying me anyways." Jackie snickered and Red put his hand in his pocket. "It's a figure of speech dumbass. Finish that shelf or you'll have to come back tomorrow."
Eric watched the retreating figure of his dad's back. "I really shouldn't even be here." He muttered more to himself than anyone else.
A little bell over the side entrance rang and the door pushed open. "Hey, is Red here?" An elderly man was struggling to carry one of the new batteries. Eric quickly got up and set the battery on the workbench with a couple of others. Red came out of the office, "Mr. Martin, are you having a problem with that new battery?"
Mr. Martin wiped his face with a checkered handkerchief. "Yep. Got in to start my car and it was as dead a corpse on Halloween. Had to get my no good son-in-law to drive me over here to exchange it."
"Sure. Eric could you put Mr. Martin's battery on the charger and we'll see what's wrong? In the meantime, we'll give him another one to take home." Jackie took the inventory sticker from a fresh Day/Night Volt Battery then Eric carried it out to the son-in-law's car following old Mr. Martin.
Red turned to Jackie. "This is the fourth battery that we've had troubles with. I think I should return them and get a different manufacturer." Jim walked over and wiped his hands on his coveralls. "Yeah Red, I've gotten a couple of telephone calls that engines just don't want to start in this cold weather."
Eric came back and removed the leather gloves. He went back to the shelves he was building as Jim looked at the three battery cases sitting on the bench. Red and Jim moved to the pallet of new inventory.
Jackie bumped Eric with her hip, "Hey, scoot over, I need to get the model number off this thing." She teased.
Jackie bent down over the charger and saw a small crack forming in the corner of Mr. Martin's bad battery. She screamed and covered her face with her hands. Red turned around and saw a white cloud of vapor being released from the battery. He couldn't hear what she was saying but Red knew immediately that Jackie was in trouble. He started running towards Jackie and Eric just as the battery exploded.
Red dived and pushed Jackie and Eric to the ground as pieces of the battery casing burst open and became projectile fragments that covered Red's head and chest. Jim shouted in pain and grabbed the fire extinguisher. Red rolled over onto the floor, pieces of plastic and metal still embedded in his skin.
"Eric…son, are you okay?" Red asked his voice raspy from the acid fumes. Eric nodded. Red struggled to his feet. "Help me get Jackie to the sink. She got sprayed. We need to irrigate her eyes."
Eric was still reeling from the loud bang and the exploding charger stand. Red was already dragging an unconscious Jackie towards the wash sink. "Jim, call 911. Those batteries are going to blow too!'
Eric picked up Jackie's legs, "Dad, you're bleeding!"
"It's okay, son, I've taken shrapnel before, let's save this girls eyes."
T7S
