|4|


"You the guy who keeps a watch on her?"

Lowering the Caddi up on the lift, he stepped clear of the frame blocking his view—sunlight outside made it hard to see the man after looking up into a lightbulb lit chassis for oil leaks…He was pointing to the road.

"She and I don't really have anything to do with each other, but yeah, I keep an eye on the lady…Who are you."

"I'm a friend, some folks at the bar down that way told me to talk to you first before I go find her."

He stepped out from the shade of the lift, his overalls a faded blue….The man he faced now on the street was taken aback some by his height.

"How do you think you know her," he had a wrench still in his grip, which passed from one gold hand into the other. The man seemed to understand that he was facing more than just a "somebody" she might happen to use for her car….if she had one.

"The Great War was the last time I saw her," the man said, running a squinting glance back down the road towards where her house lay, "…We were war buddies….Had her for a friend back then—an officer before that…" His squint came back to the shade of the shop and relaxed some, "….You mind if I go knock on her door?"

"Tell me your name," he made no gesture to use it, but the wrench had an idle threat about its being held in the big fist. "She doesn't know you, I won't let you waste her time."

The man was unable to reason him into letting him take that walk to the house, so left him an ID to pass onto Shepard. The green eyes were bent to the data on the ID card as the man spoke to him, "…I'm going to be at that bar down the street here…Maybe you're a decent guy and you'll let her see that….Otherwise I'll be back for it in the morning."

"She'll see you if you're still around at seven," he said, handing the man back his ID…He had to look up some to meet the eyes under the hooded brow. "But I'll let her know you're there first…Give her some warning."

The man accepted this and returned his ID into a faded wallet. White hairs peppered his black crop over his temples, and he not only looked like he shared the same stare as Shepard had, he carried himself with the same sureness about him as she did.

Closing the bay door and locking up, he turned the sign on the door to "Closed" and took a walk down the graveled road to 89 Cherry Crater Street. He was carrying the key to her house, an apprehension in his stare at the white boards in need of paint, and he was half looking forward to saying something to her finally….It would be the first time he'd speak to her, not having shared any conversation even when she'd given him the key to the house and paid for it by leaving money on the countertop at his shop. Hat bill shadowing his eyes, he turned down the lane to the porch and within minutes was standing at the bottom of the stairs, then one by one, he climbed onto the stoop with his knuckles to his nose, readied himself, breathed in, and out as he rang the doorbell. He knocked when no one answered after the second ring. Two more sets of patient knocks…Sighing, he checked the lane, walked around back, and not seeing her in the yard where a chair and a raised patio were situated with a Walmart firepit, he returned to the front stoop and inserted the key to the lock….Turned, and went inside after a long drawnout pause.