"Did ANYONE think to grab their phone before we crawled out into this storm?" Carly snapped
"Shut up….There's a light." Sam snapped back
"Are we gonna start singing again?" I laughed.
"No… there's a light up there. A house or something."
We stepped up onto the ancient, cracked concrete porch. I stepped out from the warmth provided by my friends and the blanket, approached the door, and knocked. After a few minutes of loud rustling from the other side, the door opened a few inches. A voice emanated from the small opening. "Hello?"
"We were wondering if you might help us. You see, our car broke down a few miles up the road. Do you have a phone we might use?" I inquired.
"You're wet."
Sam stepped forward agitated "Yes." She gestured behind her into the darkness. "It's raining."
"I think you'd all better come inside." The door opened a bit more, revealing an emaciated man. "Walk this way." He turned and hobbled down the hall.
We followed the man into the back of his house, while I tried to keep from laughing at Sam's attempts to 'walk this way' by impersonating our host's gait. Griffin was humming the Aerosmith tune and had a firm grip on Carly hand. Our host turned back to us once we were gathered in his small kitchen.
"Have a seat." He seemed much healthier in the harsh light of his kitchen. His kitchen on the other hand, did not. The chair he pulled out form under the table looked like it would fall apart if he let go of, so we remained standing.
"It won't bite. Neither'll I. Names Rick. Give me five minutes and I can do you one better than a phone. I may not look like much, but I am a hell of a mechanic. I'll get my truck and we can get your car in my garage and out of the rain. Save you some time and money."
Griffin stepped forward, offering his hand "Whatever you can do is awesome by me. How much am I gonna owe you?"
"We'll just have to see what the problem is, and anything I gotta order from out of town'll cost you a bit, but if you're as picky as I am and that being not very, this oughta' be cheap and fast for both of us."
"Like a night with your mom." Sam punched me lightly on the arm, a smile spreading across her face.