Chapter 10
As the sun came up on the horizon, Big Thing and the truck boys were preparing to leave. Although they were all slightly hung over, their anticipation to start their trip couldn't be hindered.
The trip started south, with Beau in the lead and Big Thing at the rear of the group. They stopped in Forth Worth, passed through Arlington and paid a visit to Dallas. They were about to head further south, but Austin made a suggestion in changing the trips course. They had never explored much of southwest Texas, and it would be a different place for all of them. Beau agreed and changed course, and decided they would start heading towards Abilene.
For Big Thing, the trip couldn't have been more enjoyable. Seeing the different sights of Texas was a refresher, since the only places in Texas he really knew were Houston and Clay. While traveling he got to see different cars, buildings and landscapes to give him a better all around feel of his home state. The more things he saw, the more he felt at home.
Suddenly, the trip was altered when the boys saw that the main highway out to Abilene was closed, due to a serious accident. They were detoured onto a back road, and not knowing the area too well, the boys started getting lost. They went down one road after another, trying to find a way to get back onto an open part of the highway. However, they found no onramp or any sign of the highway, and continued to drive on.
"Shouldn't we ask for directions?" Luke finally asked with concern.
"Don't worry, Luke we'll find our way back. It will only be a matter of time," Beau replied. Although, now he was starting to get worried they would not find their way back.
"Who would we even ask for directions? There's nobody out here!" Big Thing chimed in, looking around. They had not seen a soul for miles, and were only surrounded by miles of dirt and brush land.
"Let's not panic here, guys. I'm sure we'll find our way back," Beau said. "Come on, I think I see a main road up ahead."
Sure enough, they did find a main road and continued on. As the boys kept driving, they started to get hungry. They had not stopped for gas since leaving Dallas, and they were all in need of a fill up. To the group's dismay, they had not seen a gas station since they were detoured, and panic began to set in. Beau tried to keep everyone calm, but he knew that all of his friends being gas guzzlers increased the probability of everyone running out of gas at the same time, and then they would really be stuck.
Fortunately, they ran up on a gas station, although it was far from exceptional. There were four old pumps outside that lacked a roof to cover them, and next to them was a rundown convenience store. The store was made of old wood that was peeling, and some of the windows were either cracked or broken.
The truck boys pulled up cautiously. Austin stared at the old station with grimace.
"Well, do we have to stop in here? Maybe there's a station up the road that's a little nicer. Hell, we don't even know what type of gas they serve!" Austin whined.
"We don't have a choice," Big Thing replied. He pointed to a sign a little distance up the road that read 'Next service station, 68 miles'.
"68 miles?! You gotta be kidding me!" Austin whined back.
"We're stopping here. Pipe down, Austin," Beau said, shooting Austin a look. From there, Beau started looking around. He noticed the station was full service only, and saw a small sign outside the convenience store that read 'Truckers honk, all others come inside'.
"Come on, guys, in here," Beau said, waving for them to follow him. As they entered the building, it was just as old looking on the inside as it was on the outside, and they could hear "Amarillo By Morning" by George Strait playing on an old record player. The room was not very well lit, and the windows didn't provide much natural light to help. There was one fan in the center of the room, blowing around the musty air of the store. One small fridge of food stood at one end of the store, and at the other was an old Chevy Blazer fast asleep behind a counter. The old green Blazer was wearing a brown cowboy hat with a black band, and adorned on his hood was a pair of cattle horns.
"Hey, Austin, check that out! What's an old gas station geezer wearing cattle horns for?" Luke asked, nudging his friend. Austin started chuckling in reply. Big Thing looked on with confusion.
"What's so special about cattle horns?" Big Thing asked, curious.
"They're a status symbol here in Texas. Usually if you have a lot of money in either the oil or cattle industry you wear them. This old coot looks like he just wears them around 'cause he thinks he has money, or he's crazy," Austin said, laughing at his comment.
Beau ignored his friends and went up to the counter, knowing their dire need for gas was more important than speculations. He tried to wake the old Blazer, but he was in a deep sleep.
"Excuse me, sir, we need gas. Sir?" Beau kept asking, but nothing seemed to work. He looked back at his friends and shrugged. He knew they couldn't leave without getting gas, but the old man didn't seem to be responding. The Blazer continued to sleep, and then started snoring.
"JOE!" a female voice thundered out as a maroon Blazer came crashing through the back door. Big Thing almost jumped out of his frame, the fuming woman taking him by surprise.
He was not the only one who had been surprised. The Blazer behind the counter was ripped from his sleep, waking up with full alertness. His blue eyes were wide as he tried to recover from the shock of waking up suddenly.
"Joe, you know not to sleep on the job! We have customers waiting and we need the money!" the maroon Blazer spat at him. Joe slightly cowered, muttering a faint but pleading "yes dear".
"Sorry for making you wait, boys. My name's Maddie, and if you need anything let me know. I'll be out back taking care of the tractors," Maddie said to the truck boys sweetly. She turned around and drove out through the back door, giving Joe a menacing glance as she slammed the door behind her.
Big Thing and the truck boys turned back to look at Joe, who was fully awake now. He gave them all a sheepish look before driving out from behind the counter.
"Sorry for my wife's yelling, boys. She's been through a lot," Joe said distantly, driving past them and out towards the pumps. Austin and Luke exchanged looks and Big Thing began to ponder how weird the entire scenario was. No one he knew ever admitted out in public that they had no money.
To further the boy's aggravation, the pumps were not working. Joe tried his best to get the pumps to start, but nothing was coming up from the tank below them. Joe cursed out from under his breath as he removed the pump from Big Thing and secured his gas cap.
"Don't worry, there's gas. The system just isn't working. Y'all go back inside, I gotta go 'round back and get things up and running," Joe said quickly, before disappearing behind the convenience store. Feeling frustrated, the boys went back inside and waited.
As they waited, the boys looked around the store. Luke looked in the fridge, Austin looked out the window to watch Joe struggle to fix the pump system, and Beau was checking out Joe's record collection. Big Thing was slowly driving around in circles, until something caught his eye.
On an old bookshelf, Big Thing saw a photo frame that was tucked away behind a few books and broken records. He drove up to the bookcase, shoved aside some of the books and grabbed the picture.
Big Thing couldn't help but smile when he laid his eyes on the photo. It was a picture of Joe and Maddie in their more youthful and happier days, and the photo's backdrop was a farm. Each of them had a smile painted across their front bumper, and Joe was adorning his cowboy hat and cattle horns. Between them was a dark green baby Blazer that had large brown eyes, which were staring absently up at the camera.
Looking at the photo more closely, Big Thing did a double take. The farm they were on looked familiar, and he realized they were at the abandoned ranch in Clay. However, in the photo the ranch looked far from abandoned; this photo was taken back in its heyday. Then he realized something else, which shocked him even more. The baby between them was actually not a Blazer; it was a Tahoe.
"HEY! Big guy! What the hell are you looking at?!" Maddie yelled as she thundered through the back door again. This time Big Thing did almost jump out of his frame, and jolted in surprise. He lost grip on the photo, and it came flying out of his tire and hit the ground, the frame shattering into a million pieces.
Big Thing looked down at the broken picture in shock, and then turned sheepishly to Maddie. She was fuming, and looked like she was ready to burst. At that moment Joe drove into the store. He was about to say the pump system was fixed, but stopped when he saw the look on Maddie's face.
"Y'all have no right to be looking at my personal things! Get out of my store! All of you!" Maddie yelled, and she started to corner Big Thing. He couldn't help but cower in fear.
"I'm sorry ma'am! I didn't mean to look, but it's such a nice picture. I couldn't help but admire the family you have," Big Thing squeaked out, and nodded his hood to the picture.
"I don't have a family anymore! Now y'all get outta my store, 'cause if you don't I got my shotgun and I ain't afraid to use it!" Maddie threatened.
"You don't have a family anymore? Why, what happened? Is that why you have become who you are? Shouting at customers to leave over nothing when you need the money?" Big Thing asked, a little bolder this time.
Maddie stopped in her tracks. Big Thing had struck something in her since she seemed to calm down, but he could still see anger in her eyes. Joe looked on at her and then drove up to her side. She did not chase him away.
"Y'all have no idea what both Maddie and I have been through. We lost everything, including our son," Joe replied somberly. He drove ahead of his wife and picked up the photo amongst the glass carefully. He held the photo up to Maddie and whispered to her. Her face softened a bit, and then turned to address the boys.
"Years ago, we had everything a couple could've asked for. We had a great marriage, a wonderful farm to call home and an income that was more than enough for us. We didn't think things could've been better, until our son was born. He changed our lives." Maddie paused and looked at the photo. She started to get emotional.
"We fell in love with him; he was the light in our lives. Joe wanted to spend time to raise him, so he sold the farm. He decided he would not be able to run the farm and raise our son at the same time. He was offered a job, and we sold everything and moved. When we moved and tried to rent a house for the time being, Joe found out at the bank that we had no money. We lost the fortune the farm gave us, every penny of it. We had no idea where it went, and the bank couldn't help us. In a matter of minutes we went from being rich to poor." Maddie paused again, and this time tears began to well up in her eyes.
"When we found out we didn't have a dollar to our name, we didn't know what to do next. We needed a job and fast, and Joe was able to call up a friend who gave us a job here and conceal our identities. Yet, we needed to get there and support ourselves, and realized that we wouldn't be able to support our son financially, so we, we…" Maddie broke down crying before she could finish.
"We had to leave our son behind, and we had to leave him on the street. We didn't have the time or money to bring him to an orphanage," Joe said, letting his crying wife lean into him. "It was one of the hardest things I ever had to do in my life, and I have never forgiven myself for it."
Big Thing's frame froze. He was found out on the street when he was only a baby.
Could it be?
"Where exactly did you leave this car?" Big Thing suddenly found himself asking. He wanted to know more about their son.
"Houston, that was where I was relocated. We were eventually going to move outta the city, but we didn't make it that far," Joe said, lowering his hood. Maddie was still crying at his side.
"Also, when I saw the photo, that's a Tahoe not a Blazer. Correct?" Big Thing asked.
"Yes, our son is a Tahoe. Before he was born we could genetically upgrade him to a Tahoe, since we had him a little later on in our lives," Joe said intently.
The pieces were falling together. Their son was a homeless, dark green Chevy Tahoe that was left on the streets of Houston, and Big Thing was aware that only one car fit this description that he knew of. That car was him.
"What was his name?" Big Thing asked, feeling a rush of excitement.
"Arlington," Joe said, looking Big Thing directly in the eye. "What I would do to see my son again, boy you don't even know."
Big Thing couldn't help but smile. All these years had gone by, and now he finally learned he had a name. He had an identity. At that moment, he felt like he had found a piece of himself.
Then he thought of something, and turned to Luke. "Luke, you gotta screwdriver in your bed toolbox?" Big Thing asked.
" 'Course I do. Why, you need it?" Luke asked, giving Big Thing an uncertain glance.
"Yes, and I need your help," Big Thing said as he went and grabbed a screwdriver from Luke. He handed the Dodge the screwdriver and lifted up the left side of his body, exposing some of his underside.
"See that license plate? Remove it for me, please?" Big Thing asked. Luke didn't ask any questions as he removed the plate from underneath Big Thing, and when he was done he handed it to him.
Big Thing looked at the plate quickly and smiled. It was his child's license plate that he had decided to hold onto. He knew the plate was the only connection he had to the parents he never knew, and he needed it now more than ever.
"Do you recognize this child's plate?" Big Thing asked as he handed the plate to Joe.
Joe took the plate, and nudged Maddie to look as well. She had recovered from her crying and was only sniffling, but when she looked at the plate she looked as if she was going to cry again.
"That's Arlington's license plate! Where in the world did you get this?" Maddie asked, a look of shock on her face despite her holding back tears.
"That plate was found on me when I drove into the town of Clay, Texas. I had lived in Houston all my life, and I never knew who my parents were. All I knew was that I was left on the streets as a baby, and I didn't have a name or an identity." Big Thing paused. He smiled as he looked into the eyes of the cars he had been looking for his whole life.
"Joe. Maddie. I believe I'm your son," Big Thing said emotionally, tears now starting to well up in his eyes.
Joe and Maddie looked at Big Thing with shock. However, they too realized this car fit the description of their son so well; it was hard to deny.
"Arlington!" Maddie sobbed as she drove up and embraced her son. Big Thing embraced her back and she started crying. He couldn't hold it back any longer and started crying as well.
"Arlington, I can't believe you found us. This has to be the greatest day of my life! I never wanted nothin' more than to see you again," Joe choked up as he embraced Big Thing as well.
The three of them stood together, a broken family united as one. Big Thing couldn't agree more with Joe, that this was the happiest day of his life.
The truck boys were in shock, and couldn't have imagined Big Thing would find his long lost parents on their little trip. However, they couldn't have been happier for their friend, and they quietly watched on a reunion that was long overdue.
Once things began to calm down, a question had surfaced in Austin's mind.
"Excuse me, Joe and Maddie. I have a question for you guys. So, we know your first names and Big Thing's first name, but you never told us your last name, did you? Doesn't Arlington deserve to know his full name?" Austin asked.
Joe and Maddie looked at each other uncertainly.
"No, we haven't. We've been trying to keep our name secret for years, to protect ourselves from humiliation," Joe replied, lowering his hood.
"Arlington deserves to know after all these years," Austin repeated, and looked at them sternly. The couple looked at each other again, and knew Austin was right. They turned and looked at Big Thing. Joe took a deep breath before speaking.
"Son, your real name is Arlington Lee Johnaha," Joe addressed.
There was silence.