Chapter 9
Once the trucks were parked in the loading zone Laura was quick to take charge and when she ordered Mike to get off his ankle he was quick to remind her that he had to go up the stairs anyway so he might at well take an arm load.
Laura consented to let him carry the couch cushions while she jumped right in with Marco and the two of them carried the couch. Johnny and Chet each grabbed a chair and followed and when Mike started to follow the guys out for the second load Laura put him in charge of directing traffic and seeing to it that everything was sent to the room it would be used. After each of the rest of the moving party had carried 4 to 5 loads to the apartment the trucks were empty and moved to visitor parking except for Mike who just parked in his assigned parking stall. It was only 11 a.m.
Mike went to work unpacking all of the dishes and pots and pans and other kitchen items doing his best to smash the boxes flat so they would be easy to throw away. That is after he taped several pieces together to put under the short leg of the dinning room table that had been left by the previous tenant.
Marco helped Laura assemble the end tables and bookshelf while Chet and Johnny tackled the job of putting the bed together.
"It surprises me that she would only get a twin bed," Chet commented as he was helping Johnny screw together the shelf headboard to the bed.
"I guess she isn't planning to do any entertaining," Johnny responded with a smirk.
"NO I don't plan on doing any entertaining with my bed, in my bed or even in my bed room, not now or ever." Johnny and Chet turned red faced to the door to see Laura standing there with her hands on her hips and a less than pleasant look on her face. "I think you two better just get out of here and leave the bed assembly to me before you get any more ideas."
"I didn't mean that the way it sounded," Johnny quickly tried to apologize but Laura wasn't buying it.
"That's okay I can take it from here, you boys have done your part," Laura motioned toward the door as Mike came to see what was going on.
"What's wrong?"
"Johnny here opened his mouth and something disgusting escaped from that warped brain of his," Chet explained hoping to escape from being blamed for any part of what was said.
"Me?" Johnny defended, "You're the one that was asking why she only got a twin bed."
"I want to thank you all very much for helping me move today but I can honestly manage everything from here." Laura continued to gesture toward the door as politely persistent as possible. "If I let you guys do any more I won't be able to find anything when I need it."
Laura made her way to the kitchen to retrieve the remaining donuts to hand to the men she was chasing out of her apartment when there was a knock on the door.
"Well that can't be for me," Laura responded to the knock on the door, "Mike would you please answer that and help them find who their looking for?" Laura then proceeded into the kitchen as Mike opened the door to find a Latino man standing there with a foot locker in his arms and a child of about eight who looked to be of Asian descent standing next to him carrying a duffel bag.
"Can I help you?" Mike asked and Marco stepped up incase he was needed to translate.
"I'm looking for the apartment of Laura Elmer?" he spoke in perfect English.
Hearing her name, Laura stuck her head out of the kitchen to see who was there. "Carlos! Robert! What are you two doing here? Where are the girls?" Laura made her way toward the door thrusting the boxes of donuts into Marco's hands as she moved. "Come in if you can get in."
Where do you want this?" Carlos gave a gesture with the foot locker he was carrying.
"Just set it anywhere," Laura pointed to a chair, "I didn't expect to see you for two weeks."
"Yeah well Bobby and I decided we needed a father son outing and we wanted to inspect your new apartment to make sure you didn't get yourself into some dump." He looked around the room cluttered with boxes. "How many places did you look at before you settled on this one?"
"This one," Laura answered defensively. "It's close to the hospital I'm going to be working at and has a bus stop out front, what more could I ask for?"
"Actually it's not bad for you, you'd be happy in a tent with a rip in the top of it." Carlos teased as young Robert continued to carry the duffel bag and smiled at his father's joke.
"Yeah, well I was appreciative for the air-conditioning." Laura jibbed back as Mike and his shift mates broke out in smiles at the teasing.
"And when it rained?" Carlos added.
"I was the only one in camp that didn't have to walk to the shower." Laura was giggling now and after giving Robert a hug she threw her arms around Carlos's shoulders.
"Who are your friends?" Carlos inquired with all the tact of an older brother.
"Sorry about that, everybody this is a close family friend, Carlos Garcia and his son Robert. Carlos is an engineer on a fire float on the Puget Sound near Bremerton Washington just out of Seattle. Carlos these are some new friends here in LA, Marco Lopez, and Chester Kelly, John Gage, and Mike Stoker their all firemen too. In fact they're part of the crew that pulled me off the ledge on my most recent escapade with tranquilizers."
"I want to thank you boys for what you did, this girl is mighty special to a lot of people," Carlos spoke sincerely; "It's one of those things I just can't understand. If you give a thousand people a tranquilizer nine hundred and ninety nine of them will go to sleep but this girl's body gets taken over by aliens."
"We noticed," Johnny joked.
"I'm sure glad she's going to be working with people that understand that, it's also going to be nice keeping her in one place for a while." Carlos continued to tease just a little while expressing himself.
"My mail always caught up with me, eventually," Laura shrugged her shoulders. "I actually got your wedding announcement six months after the wedding."
"It's a good thing we didn't rely on the mail then isn't it."
"Yeah, it was, so what brings you here today, you didn't drive all the way down from Washington just to bring me that foot locker did you? I mean there's nothing in there that couldn't wait for two weeks when you come down to Disneyland for vacation."
"I was having nightmares about you standing at a bus stop at one a.m. in the rain so I had to get you some wheels so I can sleep at nights," Carlos answered.
"But you said that the truck needed a lot of work and you didn't think you could get it done before you came for vacation," Laura questioned with a scowl on her face.
"That truck has too many miles on it Laura; it's not worth the money it's going to take to get it running right." Carlos informed and Mike could see that he was bracing himself for some expected response from Laura.
Laura's face turned suddenly serious, "What did you do?"
Carlos stretched out his hand with a set of keys in it but Laura didn't take them from him, instead she glared at him waiting for an answer. Carlos responded by flipping his hand to show the keychain and Laura's expression went from serious to looking like she had seen a ghost.
Mike quickly moved a box from the sofa and helped Laura to sit down as Carlos found his voice.
"You know the only reason your father kept that car around for so long is because he wanted you to have it."
"But you--,"
"I only took it to keep you form selling it to someone who wouldn't give it back when you were ready for it." Carlos cut her off. "What good is a car like that to a family man like me any way?"
Laura continued to look at him in
shock and disbelief and he kept his hand with the keys outstretched
in her direction. Finally after a long silent minute Laura reached
up and took the keys from Carlos's hand and tightened her fingers
around them pulling them close to her.
Carlos stood silently
watching her until she sighed in relief and then took the duffel bag
from his son before speaking again. "We also thought that you were
finally ready to bring this alive again." He said as he unzipped
the bag and pulled a violin case from with in.
Laura closed her eyes and shook her head solemnly. "I'm not ready for that yet but I'm getting closer." Laura acknowledged. "I guess maybe having it around will help things along."
"Glad I brought it to you then," was Carlos's reply but it was accompanied by a subtle sigh of relief.
Laura and her moving party then made their way to the parking lot where a large u-haul truck was parked in a yellow zone. Carlos raised the back door to revel a car covered with a canvas car cover. Carlos proceeded to pull the loading ramps out and with the help of Marco, Johnny and Chet put them in place.
"Do you want the honors or should I do it?" Carlos turned his attention to Laura who stood taking in the car with a multitude of emotions in her facial features.
"I'll do it," Laura finally answered in hesitance and started walking up the loading ramp and then stepping around the cars bumper. She reached down and unlatched the canvas cover on one side at Carlos reached up from the ground and unlatched the cover on the other side and then Laura began to roll the cover away from the car exposing the turquoise blue Mustang convertible hidden beneath.
Unable to open the door in the confines of the truck Laura pushed herself up and slipped inside the driver's side window and into position behind the steering wheel. As she sat there in silence moving her hand across the steering wheel Carlos took hold of Mike's arm and gently tugged him to the far side of the truck out of Laura's sight and away from his shift mates.
"Laura received several letters from a Mike Stoker while she stayed in the apartment over our garage. Are you that Mike Stoker?" Carlos inquired.
"Yeah, I've written to her, she really helped me out and my family too. She helped me find the circumstances of my father's death and come to grips with it." Mike answered not sure weather to be afraid of this man or not.
"You know that she's had a really hard time then?" Carlos continued to question Mike.
"Yeah," Mike answered still confused as to why they were having that conversation.
"I'm really glad that she finally left that organization she was working for, I think this is a really good move for her." Carlos was talking quietly and quickly, "I feel a lot better about her being here knowing that she has a friend keeping an eye on her."
"I know what you mean." Mike acknowledged feeling more at ease himself.
"If she needs anything or she has any problems give me a call, night or day, My station phone number is on the front and my home phone is on back of the card" Carlos added as he slipped a business card in Mike's shirt pocket before hearing the engine of the car turn over.
Stepping back behind the truck Carlos started motioning toward himself with his hands. "Just ease her straight back now," he called as the car gave a slight jolt at being shifted into gear and slowly backed onto the ramps and down onto the asphalt.
"Wow, that is one sweet ride," Chet Kelly exclaimed as he, Johnny and Marco walked around the car taking it in with awe and longing in their eyes.
When the drooling firemen were clear Laura again put the car in gear and pulled into her assigned parking stall before getting out and running her hand along the hood of the car.
"You've never even driven this car," Laura exclaimed as the men gathered around her once again. "It has less than sixty miles on her."
"Like I said I knew your father wanted you to have it I just agreed to store it for you until you came to your senses."
"What makes you think I've come to my senses?" Laura sighed questioningly and nearly glared at her friend.
"You finally quit that international medical organization for one," Carlos answered with a smile, "I've caught you smiling a time or two for another." "Besides I didn't think driving your brother's truck was in your best interest. You'd be too tempted to just sleep in the hospital parking lot and it's already broken down on you three times, and that's just in the last month."
"So does it really need a lot of work?" Laura was clearly questioning her friend's motives.
"It needs a new trans, a major carburetor overhaul and a rear axel. Not to mention new tires and a windshield and I think your rings are leaking a little." Carlos listed.
"So what do I owe your for the work you've done to get this thing up and running?" Laura eyed her friend over.
"Well I was wondering if you would be willing to part with that camper," Carlos suggested, "It will fit on my truck just great."
"Deal," Laura agreed.
"Well sorry to drop everything and run but I have to report for duty in the morning." Carlos moved to slide the loading ramps back in the truck and shut the door.
"You're not driving all the way back to Bremerton tonight are you?" Laura questioned as Carlos shook his son awake and guided him to ward the door.
"No, one of my buddies has a pilot's license and since he was down here for a conference already he offered to fly Bobby and me home with him."
"Is he a good pilot?"
"Don't worry Laura, I remember everything you taught me about making an emergency landing, and I'll still never use it." Carlos chided back as he continued his way out the door. "Sure nice meeting you guys it's good to know Laura has friends who understand her."
"Call me—"
"When I get home," Carlos finished her request and it was clear that she had made the request often. "I'll see you in two weeks and we'll have more time to talk then."
When Carlos and his son left Johnny, Marco and Chet excused themselves and each one took an arm load of empty and flattened boxes to the dumpster on their way to their cars as they left.
Mike stayed behind looking at what was left to be done, "Where would you like me to move this foot locker to?"
"It goes in the bedroom but I'll take care of it." Laura made it clear he was not welcomed in her bedroom and he figured she was still reeling from Johnny's poor taste in words that Mike was sure Johnny had no idea she could hear when he said them.
