Chapter 6 - Fixing the car.
Ok, sorry this took so long to come but I had a death in the family and had to drive across 4 provinces to go to the funeral (. And then I got a new computer and had to retrieve all my stories and files. Also, due to the boringness of parts of what had to be done to her car I very much abriviated it. Also, the kind of paint job she does in the next chapter would take weeks but again in the interest of keeping the story going she paints it in one night. I didn't want to try to find 6 weeks of stuff for her to do while she paints it cause she needs to have her car ready for the story to get to the really good stuff. So enjoy, leave a review. Peace.
Kat found her in the kitchen. She was always baking. She and Kat had a great relationship because it was hard to not like someone who was always nice and baking for you and Mama credited kitten for getting her 'darling boy' to leave the gang. But Stacy didn't want his mama to be known to his enemies so he had refused her offer of a place for all of them to stay when they left the gang. But mama knew that times were hard and she was the only reason they ate while none of them had work. She would send food or have them over for dinner once a week or so. Stacy was the only one who's parents were still around. He had grown up in the 'hood and by the time his mom and dad had gotten up out of it Stacy had been firmly entrenched in the gang life. His mama had cried and cried that he was gonna get himself killed. She was so grateful to Kitten for being the cause of his move away from crime.
And mama knew that kitten needed mothering too. Poor little scrap of a girl hadn't had a mother since she was 14. So mama mothered her just as much as she mothered Stacy.
"Mama that smells so good. Whatchya bakin' today?"
"I'm making you some of that blueberry crisp you all like so much child. You can take it home to those poor starvin' men you live with. Pride cometh before the fall child, you know, you all should come live here with me and be safe and fed. I hate the thoughts of you all liven in that horrid place." Mama shook her head and put the crisp in the oven. Kat decided to tell her she didn't need to worry anymore. "And you eat some of this soup before you go work on that car o'yours too. Lord knows when you ate last."
"Well Mama. I got a job. A real one in an auto parts store. And Sean got a real job at a garage. So in no time we'll be movin' to a better place. And I finally got the money to finish my car. All the parts are in the garage and I'm getting' a start at it as soon as I say hi to you. And have a bowl of soup." Kat was pulled into mama's embrace.
"Praise the good Lord. Thank you Jesus. My prayers have done been answered. I prayed that you and the boys would find a way to leave that retched place and now you have. God bless you Kitten, it's all cause of you that those boys got their lives together. Before you came along I just knew my Stacy would end up shot or in jail. Now they all have something to look forward to."
Kat was embarrassed the woman was giving her that much credit. "Well Mama I love the guys. They are how my blood brothers should have been. And family looks out for family. Since the guys are my only family I want us to do better too. And Mama you looking out for us all the time is a big deal too. Don't think I don't know how thick you laid it on Stacy about how worried you were." Mama blushed. Kat winked at Mrs. Kelly. "You know where to find me Mama, I'll be under my car." She laughed and headed back out to the garage.
The phone rang and mama answered it. It was Stacy, looking for Kitten. Mama glanced at the clock. It had gone to 11pm already. The time had flown. She hadn't heard a peep from Kitten since she went to the garage. She told her son that Kitten was working on her car and Mama would put her in a cab home since it was so late. Stacy laughed and talked to his mother for a while about how much better things looked. Then Kale had to talk to Mama. They had all sort of adopted her as their team mother. She was such a sweet lady. She promised that she would go tell Kitten it was time to head home before she wore herself out. Mama hung up the phone and went to the garage.
"Kitten, where are you child?"
"Under the car Mama, what is it?"
"Stacy and Kale say it's time to head home Kitten. Time to stop for the night. I'll give you cab money but it's time for you to head home. It's 11pm already."
"Man, it's that late already? Just one second." She rolled out from under the car. "'Member how it wouldn't even start when I brought it here? Well, I wanna fire him up for a second and see how he runs. If he runs. I got enough done tonight that it should run now." She'd had to take down the whole engine, and she finally had it all back together and assembled.
Mama nodded and Kat slid into her car and turned the key. The car came to life with a roar. "Woowhoo!" Kat yelled and Mama clapped.
"You did it child. That car was a mess when you brought it here and if it wasn't this dull grey color you wouldn't know it had been damaged."
"That's primer. I just have to paint it now. I have it all planned how it'll look too. I guess I should get home before Sean sends a search party."
"Yes, we'll go call the cab, you can take the blueberry crisp home with you too."
"Mama, you're too good to me, you know that?"
Mama just shook her head and headed into the house with the very sore Kat under her arm. That had been a lot of work. They called the cab and Kat went home. She let herself in the house and called out. Three hello's came out of the living room. She went into the room. "Hey guys, Stacy, your mom send blueberry crisp."
"Oh I love that woman." Sean said and got up. They all went into the kitchen and had some of the desert. She told them the car was almost done mechanically. It had taken her all night but it was almost done. Just the paint left to do and then it was just about ready for the road. Kale picked her up and swung her around.
"Way to go Kitten. We'll be watching you kick ass at races in no time." She laughed down at him.
"I hope so. I can't wait to have a car again. I miss just ripen around the city. And then we can move to a better place, mama will be happy then, and I can take the car home at night so that I can have it during the day for work." She wouldn't dare take a car home here. I would be gone by morning. Even if the people around didn't want to fuck with the Tigers, if no one saw it get stolen then Conner wouldn't have anyone to go after for it anyway. Kat yawned sleepily.
"Go to bed Kitten. You're tired out." Stacy told her and then when she seemed like she was going to protest he picked her up and put her in her bed. She laughed and then changed for bed. She was asleep in seconds. The three guys looked down at her sleeping.
"It's worth it isn't it guys?" Kale asked.
"Hell Yeah." Was Sean's answer. " She's my sun."
"I know what you mean." Stacy knew the girl had given them a reason to live. They all shared a look and went to bed.
Kat got up and went to work again the next day. She was chatting with Brian at the counter because it wasn't busy at all that day. Sean walked in the store.
"Sean, what are you doing here? Is everything ok?" She didn't know why Sean would be in this part of town. He didn't look upset though. She just couldn't think of any other reason for him to be here at the store.
"Everythin's super."
She looked at Brian, who had a very curious look on his face. She figured she better introduce them. "Brian this is Sean, he's been like a brother to me since I moved to California. Sean this is Brian, the guy that gave me this job."
They shook hands. Brian said hello and then Sean looked back at Kat. "Kitten can you come outside wit me for a sec?"
She looked a Brian who told her to go ahead. He was still smiling over hearing the big man call her Kitten. It suited her. She could tell Brian found it funny and she stuck her tongue out at him. He laughed out loud at that. She followed Sean out of the store. Sean pointed at a green car. "Well what'dya think of my new ride?"
"That's your car Sean?" He nodded with a smile. "How'd you get that? That has to be what, a 95? Supra."
"You're good Kitten. That's what it is. A dude came in with it, saying it was running like shit, which it is by the way, and wanted to know why and how much to fix it. It's only running on 4 cylinders."
"So it needs to be striped and rebuilt then?" She asked and he nodded. Kat made a face, she knew what a pain in the ass that process was, having just completed it.
"So when we told him how much it would cost to do that and the time involved the guy wasn't interested and asked if I wanted it for 1000. I said of course and got the money off Kale for now. So when your car is all done, you and I can start to build this one. Now we have both our rides for races. Stacy is a half decent racer too and he can run this when it's done." She squealed and jumped on Sean. He caught her and spun her around before setting her down.
"Did this all really happen over night Bro? Seems too good to be true." Sean laughed and nodded. "Shit, I better get back to work. See you tonight?"
"Sure Kitten, see you then." Sean took off in his half crippled supra, but at least it ran and it was cheap for that car. Even in the rough shape it was in it was worth 5 times what Sean paid for it. She headed back into the store.
"So, Kitten, how did you get that name?" Brian had to know.
"You gonna give me a hard time over this? I'm as tough as I look, no matter what nicknames I have."
"I'm not gonna give you a hard time, I just wanna know."
"Well when I came here from New York I some how ended up in South Central with no idea where I was. I got lucky that Sean and Kale and Stacy were the first guys to find me. They took me in and gave me a place to stay. At the time they were leaders in the gang, the Tigers. You heard of them?" Brian nodded. "And the fact that they were in a gang didn't bother me then. I was only 15 and I had just run away from my idiot brothers and drove right across the country on my own with no license and next to no money in a car I stole from my older brother that he stole from someone else. Sean jokes that I was all hair and attitude. And I never let people call me Katharine, only Kat. Sean says that I'm not a grown Kat yet, I'm still just a Kitten. And the name stuck. I don't mind. And the guys would leave me with Conner while they did gang stuff. Then they got to thinking that they wouldn't come back to me someday if they stayed gang bangen. So they got Conner to let them out. But since Sean and Conner are brothers we still tight with the gang, but we're not criminals any more."
"That guy that was just here is Sean Black?"
"Yeah, how'd you know his name like that?"
"I was a cop remember. I know who Conner and Sean Black are, and I sure know about the Tigers. You were a Tiger?"
"Sorta. I was more like their pet or mascot. But they took good care of me. They're all good men, they just do bad things." Kat was fiercely protective of the guys. She gave Brian a look that dared him to say anything about the guys.
"I got ya. My team is sorta the same."
"S'all good Brian. So I just gotta paint the car and it's ready."
"So I get to see it soon?"
"Any day now. You know why Sean came here?" Brain shook his head. "He picked up a 95 supra for 1000 bucks. It needs a complete strip and rebuild but still."
"Wow, shit. I drive a 95 supra for Dom. It's a 2 JZ though."
"I don't know if Sean's is or not. I guess I'll find out when I'm up to my elbows in it."
"My buddy Dom has a performance garage. You should let us do the rebuild."
"Thanks but Sean's a mechanic and I like working on cars."
Some customers came in and the rest of the evening was a blur. She headed back to Mama's when she was off to finish her engine and start the paint process. The rest of the mechanical stuff took an hour. She'd have to get Sean to go over the electronics like the fuel management system and the NOS system. She got the thing all masked off and sanded and ready for paint. Then she painted the first base coat on. The car was going to be nighthawk black. She got that coat on and dry then she put the second coat of color on. She let that set awhile, then she sanded and then did a third coat. Then she did the clear. She went to talk to Mama while that set up further. Then she went to do the decals. She had planned them all out and designed them herself. They weren't really decals this time around. She was quite the artist and she had been practicing with the airbrush. She was going to airbrush the car herself then clear coat it again.
Ok, sorry this took so long to come but I had a death in the family and had to drive across 4 provinces to go to the funeral (. And then I got a new computer and had to retrieve all my stories and files. Also, due to the boringness of parts of what had to be done to her car I very much abriviated it. Also, the kind of paint job she does in the next chapter would take weeks but again in the interest of keeping the story going she paints it in one night. I didn't want to try to find 6 weeks of stuff for her to do while she paints it cause she needs to have her car ready for the story to get to the really good stuff. So enjoy, leave a review. Peace.
Kat found her in the kitchen. She was always baking. She and Kat had a great relationship because it was hard to not like someone who was always nice and baking for you and Mama credited kitten for getting her 'darling boy' to leave the gang. But Stacy didn't want his mama to be known to his enemies so he had refused her offer of a place for all of them to stay when they left the gang. But mama knew that times were hard and she was the only reason they ate while none of them had work. She would send food or have them over for dinner once a week or so. Stacy was the only one who's parents were still around. He had grown up in the 'hood and by the time his mom and dad had gotten up out of it Stacy had been firmly entrenched in the gang life. His mama had cried and cried that he was gonna get himself killed. She was so grateful to Kitten for being the cause of his move away from crime.
And mama knew that kitten needed mothering too. Poor little scrap of a girl hadn't had a mother since she was 14. So mama mothered her just as much as she mothered Stacy.
"Mama that smells so good. Whatchya bakin' today?"
"I'm making you some of that blueberry crisp you all like so much child. You can take it home to those poor starvin' men you live with. Pride cometh before the fall child, you know, you all should come live here with me and be safe and fed. I hate the thoughts of you all liven in that horrid place." Mama shook her head and put the crisp in the oven. Kat decided to tell her she didn't need to worry anymore. "And you eat some of this soup before you go work on that car o'yours too. Lord knows when you ate last."
"Well Mama. I got a job. A real one in an auto parts store. And Sean got a real job at a garage. So in no time we'll be movin' to a better place. And I finally got the money to finish my car. All the parts are in the garage and I'm getting' a start at it as soon as I say hi to you. And have a bowl of soup." Kat was pulled into mama's embrace.
"Praise the good Lord. Thank you Jesus. My prayers have done been answered. I prayed that you and the boys would find a way to leave that retched place and now you have. God bless you Kitten, it's all cause of you that those boys got their lives together. Before you came along I just knew my Stacy would end up shot or in jail. Now they all have something to look forward to."
Kat was embarrassed the woman was giving her that much credit. "Well Mama I love the guys. They are how my blood brothers should have been. And family looks out for family. Since the guys are my only family I want us to do better too. And Mama you looking out for us all the time is a big deal too. Don't think I don't know how thick you laid it on Stacy about how worried you were." Mama blushed. Kat winked at Mrs. Kelly. "You know where to find me Mama, I'll be under my car." She laughed and headed back out to the garage.
The phone rang and mama answered it. It was Stacy, looking for Kitten. Mama glanced at the clock. It had gone to 11pm already. The time had flown. She hadn't heard a peep from Kitten since she went to the garage. She told her son that Kitten was working on her car and Mama would put her in a cab home since it was so late. Stacy laughed and talked to his mother for a while about how much better things looked. Then Kale had to talk to Mama. They had all sort of adopted her as their team mother. She was such a sweet lady. She promised that she would go tell Kitten it was time to head home before she wore herself out. Mama hung up the phone and went to the garage.
"Kitten, where are you child?"
"Under the car Mama, what is it?"
"Stacy and Kale say it's time to head home Kitten. Time to stop for the night. I'll give you cab money but it's time for you to head home. It's 11pm already."
"Man, it's that late already? Just one second." She rolled out from under the car. "'Member how it wouldn't even start when I brought it here? Well, I wanna fire him up for a second and see how he runs. If he runs. I got enough done tonight that it should run now." She'd had to take down the whole engine, and she finally had it all back together and assembled.
Mama nodded and Kat slid into her car and turned the key. The car came to life with a roar. "Woowhoo!" Kat yelled and Mama clapped.
"You did it child. That car was a mess when you brought it here and if it wasn't this dull grey color you wouldn't know it had been damaged."
"That's primer. I just have to paint it now. I have it all planned how it'll look too. I guess I should get home before Sean sends a search party."
"Yes, we'll go call the cab, you can take the blueberry crisp home with you too."
"Mama, you're too good to me, you know that?"
Mama just shook her head and headed into the house with the very sore Kat under her arm. That had been a lot of work. They called the cab and Kat went home. She let herself in the house and called out. Three hello's came out of the living room. She went into the room. "Hey guys, Stacy, your mom send blueberry crisp."
"Oh I love that woman." Sean said and got up. They all went into the kitchen and had some of the desert. She told them the car was almost done mechanically. It had taken her all night but it was almost done. Just the paint left to do and then it was just about ready for the road. Kale picked her up and swung her around.
"Way to go Kitten. We'll be watching you kick ass at races in no time." She laughed down at him.
"I hope so. I can't wait to have a car again. I miss just ripen around the city. And then we can move to a better place, mama will be happy then, and I can take the car home at night so that I can have it during the day for work." She wouldn't dare take a car home here. I would be gone by morning. Even if the people around didn't want to fuck with the Tigers, if no one saw it get stolen then Conner wouldn't have anyone to go after for it anyway. Kat yawned sleepily.
"Go to bed Kitten. You're tired out." Stacy told her and then when she seemed like she was going to protest he picked her up and put her in her bed. She laughed and then changed for bed. She was asleep in seconds. The three guys looked down at her sleeping.
"It's worth it isn't it guys?" Kale asked.
"Hell Yeah." Was Sean's answer. " She's my sun."
"I know what you mean." Stacy knew the girl had given them a reason to live. They all shared a look and went to bed.
Kat got up and went to work again the next day. She was chatting with Brian at the counter because it wasn't busy at all that day. Sean walked in the store.
"Sean, what are you doing here? Is everything ok?" She didn't know why Sean would be in this part of town. He didn't look upset though. She just couldn't think of any other reason for him to be here at the store.
"Everythin's super."
She looked at Brian, who had a very curious look on his face. She figured she better introduce them. "Brian this is Sean, he's been like a brother to me since I moved to California. Sean this is Brian, the guy that gave me this job."
They shook hands. Brian said hello and then Sean looked back at Kat. "Kitten can you come outside wit me for a sec?"
She looked a Brian who told her to go ahead. He was still smiling over hearing the big man call her Kitten. It suited her. She could tell Brian found it funny and she stuck her tongue out at him. He laughed out loud at that. She followed Sean out of the store. Sean pointed at a green car. "Well what'dya think of my new ride?"
"That's your car Sean?" He nodded with a smile. "How'd you get that? That has to be what, a 95? Supra."
"You're good Kitten. That's what it is. A dude came in with it, saying it was running like shit, which it is by the way, and wanted to know why and how much to fix it. It's only running on 4 cylinders."
"So it needs to be striped and rebuilt then?" She asked and he nodded. Kat made a face, she knew what a pain in the ass that process was, having just completed it.
"So when we told him how much it would cost to do that and the time involved the guy wasn't interested and asked if I wanted it for 1000. I said of course and got the money off Kale for now. So when your car is all done, you and I can start to build this one. Now we have both our rides for races. Stacy is a half decent racer too and he can run this when it's done." She squealed and jumped on Sean. He caught her and spun her around before setting her down.
"Did this all really happen over night Bro? Seems too good to be true." Sean laughed and nodded. "Shit, I better get back to work. See you tonight?"
"Sure Kitten, see you then." Sean took off in his half crippled supra, but at least it ran and it was cheap for that car. Even in the rough shape it was in it was worth 5 times what Sean paid for it. She headed back into the store.
"So, Kitten, how did you get that name?" Brian had to know.
"You gonna give me a hard time over this? I'm as tough as I look, no matter what nicknames I have."
"I'm not gonna give you a hard time, I just wanna know."
"Well when I came here from New York I some how ended up in South Central with no idea where I was. I got lucky that Sean and Kale and Stacy were the first guys to find me. They took me in and gave me a place to stay. At the time they were leaders in the gang, the Tigers. You heard of them?" Brian nodded. "And the fact that they were in a gang didn't bother me then. I was only 15 and I had just run away from my idiot brothers and drove right across the country on my own with no license and next to no money in a car I stole from my older brother that he stole from someone else. Sean jokes that I was all hair and attitude. And I never let people call me Katharine, only Kat. Sean says that I'm not a grown Kat yet, I'm still just a Kitten. And the name stuck. I don't mind. And the guys would leave me with Conner while they did gang stuff. Then they got to thinking that they wouldn't come back to me someday if they stayed gang bangen. So they got Conner to let them out. But since Sean and Conner are brothers we still tight with the gang, but we're not criminals any more."
"That guy that was just here is Sean Black?"
"Yeah, how'd you know his name like that?"
"I was a cop remember. I know who Conner and Sean Black are, and I sure know about the Tigers. You were a Tiger?"
"Sorta. I was more like their pet or mascot. But they took good care of me. They're all good men, they just do bad things." Kat was fiercely protective of the guys. She gave Brian a look that dared him to say anything about the guys.
"I got ya. My team is sorta the same."
"S'all good Brian. So I just gotta paint the car and it's ready."
"So I get to see it soon?"
"Any day now. You know why Sean came here?" Brain shook his head. "He picked up a 95 supra for 1000 bucks. It needs a complete strip and rebuild but still."
"Wow, shit. I drive a 95 supra for Dom. It's a 2 JZ though."
"I don't know if Sean's is or not. I guess I'll find out when I'm up to my elbows in it."
"My buddy Dom has a performance garage. You should let us do the rebuild."
"Thanks but Sean's a mechanic and I like working on cars."
Some customers came in and the rest of the evening was a blur. She headed back to Mama's when she was off to finish her engine and start the paint process. The rest of the mechanical stuff took an hour. She'd have to get Sean to go over the electronics like the fuel management system and the NOS system. She got the thing all masked off and sanded and ready for paint. Then she painted the first base coat on. The car was going to be nighthawk black. She got that coat on and dry then she put the second coat of color on. She let that set awhile, then she sanded and then did a third coat. Then she did the clear. She went to talk to Mama while that set up further. Then she went to do the decals. She had planned them all out and designed them herself. They weren't really decals this time around. She was quite the artist and she had been practicing with the airbrush. She was going to airbrush the car herself then clear coat it again.