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We all groaned. Don asked "Do you have triple A?"
"Yeah, I'll call for a tow truck" Natalie said, and she did. The truck delayed. I grew impatient as I didn't have pen and paper to work on equations with. I had already snooped the contents of the back seat. She had a few books, her medical bag, and some clothes she had gotten for herself as well as dad.
"Call them again!" I told Natalie impatiently.
"I will in five minutes. The truck could be close by." she said. "Let's listen to some music. Do you guys like the Stones? I've got an album of theirs in here."
"yeah" Don said.
"I went to a few of their concerts" she said.
"Maybe you can go with Dad the next time they have one in L.A" I suggested. The fact that she liked the Stones really highlighted the age thing to me, and just why this relationship was so wrong. Plus, I was annoyed about having to spend my Saturday with her. Waiting in the car didn't help.
While she ignored the comment, Don's dirty look reflected in the rearview mirror.
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There were times that I wanted to put duct tape over my brother's mouth. This was one of them. Thankfully, the tow truck arrived just then.
We were taken to a mechanic that Natalie used. As Charlie and I got sodas from a vending machine, she called Dad. We heard her side of the conversation.
"Babe...could you come pick us up?...the car stalled on our way to Santa Barbara...yes I know that the car is old and you think I should've bought a new one..." . She, after a bit gave him the address to the mechanic. In a way, I was kinda relieved that things went the way they did. Charlie seemed to be as well. He looked to be in a better mood.
Soon, Dad arrived. He gave us a brief hello, and Natalie got an affectionate greeting.
"What did the mechanic say?" he asked.
"He says it's the transmission" Natalie told him.
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"Why don't you drop me off at Nat's and you three can borrow my car" I suggested.
"Okay..." Don said.
"Tomorrow, we are going car shopping!" I turned to Natalie, who just rolled her eyes at me. She needed a more reliable car! What if she had been stranded, alone after dark? Thank God the boys were there when it happened.
I personally talked to the mechanic, to make sure that he wasn't gonna try anything to rip Nat off. Then, she and the boys dropped me off at her place. As they left the driveway, I hoped that the trip would go well.
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Damn it! I should have known that the reprieve was too good to be true! I knew that, though his face didn't show it, Don felt the same way.
Natalie insisted on driving, which was fine with Don and me. We were quickly on our way again.
"You guys wanna listen to anything in particular?" she asked, having brought a case full of CDs from her car.
"No, anything you play is fine" Don said. He sat at the front. We rode in the car in silence, except for the music. After a long while, all we saw were dry mountains, or large expanses of farmland. I went through equations related to my cognitive theory in my head. Eventually, we arrived.
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"I know this great seafood place!" I told them as we entered Santa Barbara. "We can have a nice lunch then decide from there what to do next.
They both agreed. Soon we arrived. Appetizing smells wafted in the air, and made my mouth water the moment we entered. The place had a nautical theme, and its decor resembled the inside of a wooden ship. There were life savers on the walls, as well as fake fishing nets, with the occasional plastic fish. The tables and chairs were of simple wood, without any painting or decor. Thankfully, a server seated us a few minutes after we arrived.
"Nice place" Don remarked. Then added when he saw a waiter pass through with a laden tray "Food looks good"
"Order whatever you want!" I said "I'm paying!"
"Let's us pay." Don countered.
"No!" I insisted.
"Look, you drove. Let us return the favor" Don argued.
"I agree!" Charlie piped up as we were served water.
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I offered for me and Charlie to pay for lunch as a gesture of goodwill. We needed as much of it as we could get from her, especially with my brother's stupid remark. Good thing she didn't catch him snooping through her medical bag and other stuff.
"How about this. You pay for lunch, I pay for dinner later on?" She suggested.
"Okay" I agreed. Charlie nodded.
A server gave us menus that had a picture of an anchor at the front. Food was kinda pricey, and I kinda rethought my offer to pay for the food, even if Charlie was paying half.
"I'm getting the shrimp scampi!" Natalie said after a bit. "You guys should try the First Mate's special. Alan loved it!"
We soon ordered our food and the server left. Then, Natalie excused herself, probably to go to the ladies room.
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"She has good taste in food, at least "Don commented after a minute or so, and then added."If only she had a taste for men her age..."
I chuckled, and Natalie came back at that moment.
"What's so funny?" she asked.
"Inside joke" Don said with a smile and wave of his hand.
"Uh...okay" She raised her eyebrows and sat down.
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Charlie excused himself to go to the men's room, so it was just me and Natalie.
"So..uh...what are we doing after lunch?" I asked.
"It's up to you guys" she replied.
"You seem to know the city better than we do" I told her.
"I want you guys to enjoy yourselves" she said. "That's why I want you to pick."
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As soon as I returned from the men's room, Natalie asked me what I wanted to do.
"I heard Santa Barbara has good biking trails" I said, figuring that if we were gonna be stuck with her, I might as well do something I liked. Besides, she did ask. Don gave me a discreet, bothered look. "We could rent some bikes."
"Yeah. Let's do that" she nodded. "I think I saw a rental place near here."
Soon, our food came. I had ordered a dish called the 'Captain's Favorite'. It tasted awful! The so called cook had decided to pour a pound of pepper, as well as a ton of garlic and paprika on the Salmon. I tried to eat as much as I could to be polite, but it was hard. Could Natalie have chosen a worse place to eat?
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I could tell that my brother was not enjoying his food. It came from years of watching him reject the healthy food mom would make 'for his own good'. Thankfully, my food was pretty good. I wasn't crazy about biking though, especially with Charlie. He can do it for hours at a time. Me? I got saddle sores after an hour. Plus, I had wanted to do what Natalie preferred. We needed for her to give Dad a good report.
"How are you guys enjoying your food?" she asked.
"Great!" Charlie lied.
"I'm loving it!" I said truthfully.
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After lunch, we reposed for a while. Then, we found a bike rental place near a beach, bike trail. Each of us paid for our own bikes.
Soon, we were on our way. The sight of women in skimpy clothing made for good consolation. Apparently, Charlie felt the same way, though after a while, he charged ahead of us. He seemed to be in his own little world.
The sea air was cool, and felt good. Natalie was pretty good at the bike. Sometime later, she suddenly stopped her bike.
"Charlie!" I yelled "STOP!"
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As Don went after Charlie, I got off my bike. A man, with blue eyes and gray hair sat next to hisitalian greyhoundwho didn't seem to want to get up. I had heard him say, "Come on boy! What's wrong?"
"Hi! I'm a vet." I introduced myself. "I noticed that your dog didn't want to get up." This worried me. Something could be wrong.
"Nah! He's fine, just lazy" he told me.
"This could be from an underlying condition. Would you allow me to check him? I've got my medical bag in the car, and I won't charge you"
"Okay" he smiled.
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By the time I had finished catching up to Charlie, and dragging him back to where Natalie stopped, she was busy at work checking on the dog of a man in his late forties early fifties. At first, I was suspicious of her stop, but then realized that her total attention was on the animal. She did a through checkup, and asked the owner several questions. Then, she prescribed something for the dog. When Natalie was satisfied that she had done all she could for the dog we continued to ride our bikes.
After some time, we let Natalie ride ahead, and Charlie asked suspiciously. Do you think that 'checkup' was legit?"
"Yeah it was" I told him. "She focused on the dog"
"That's good to know" he told me and we caught up with her.
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I believed Don when he told me that Natalie didn't just use the checkup as an excuse to check the guy out.
Half an hour later, we returned the bikes, and Natalie took us to some shopping area. Don and I were bored.
"Why don't you get something for Amita?" Don suggested.
I got her a framed photograph of some beach of the area. Natalie got a souvenir mug and shirt for Dad at some other store. Then, she insisted on stopping at some candy shop so that she could buy taffy.
"I'm addicted to this stuff!" she joked. I decided to get gummy worms, and a lot of M & Ms in different colors, figuring I could use the latter to teach probability. I carefully choose and counted them.
"Come on Buddy!" Don told me impatiently after a while. "Natalie is waiting! Need help?"
"No!" I brushed him off, trying to keep count.
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Finally, Charlie finished and went to pay for the candy. Unfortunately, my nagging wasn't enough to get him to hurry up.
We walked some more, and it was time for dinner. Then, we were on our way home.
"That was a pretty good day, wasn't it guys?" Natalie asked as we walked to the car. I insisted on loading the stuff, with Charlie's help, of course.
As we did that, we noticed a small mysterious box in the trunk.
"What's in it?" Charlie wondered.
"It's none of our business! Come on!" I scolded him.
Charlie grabbed and opened it anyway.
TBC