Tearing Down Walls
"Fuck, Fuck, and more fuck," Daryl grunted and groaned as he got out of bed the next morning. His body was screaming obscenities at him. He groaned some more as he thought about putting in eight hours as a mechanic at the car dealership and then coming home to work on a house until midnight. Then get up tomorrow morning and do it all over again. I don't have to do this. I can quit. Let Frosty find someone else. Like one of those drifters that stand at the edge of highways with those signs "Work for food." Course they generally look like their sign should say, "Take me home and I'll rape, rob, and kill you".
He threw on his work clothes. Blue work pants and a lighter blue work shirt with "Daryl" written on it. Which was totally stupid because all the assholes in the shop already knew his name. He grabbed some cold pizza for breakfast and that container of chili that Carol had given him yesterday and headed toward work. Daryl liked this job well enough, the pay was decent and the dealership was a ten minute commute from his house. He had started there doing oil changes and gradually moved up to more challenging work with better pay.
Daryl punched in and limped toward his station passing Shane Walsh and Billy Bob Carter who were both car salesmen who came slumming at the garage every once in a while. They were wearing khaki pants and form fitting polo shirts with their names embroidered on it, the uniform of the salesmen for the car dealership. Like the assholes on the football team in high school wearing their jerseys to school so everyone would know that they were on the team. That's where high school athletes go to die… to be used car salesmen.
Shane liked to entertain the working class in the garage with tales of his sexual exploits. Like I give a flying fuck who you fuck, you fuckboy. Shane also like to come down her and pick on the mechanics. Once a bully, always a bully.
"Hey, Daryl. Saw you yesterday. Loading your truck with some drywall and insulation. Had the little woman right by your side. Seems our Daryl has found him a mature woman. Got more gray hair than my momma." Shane raised his voice so there wasn't a chance that anyone in the shop didn't hear him. Oh, the smell of asshole in the morning. Says one more thing about Carol and he might have some blood on that pretty shirt. His or mine, don't matter whose.
Daryl kept on going. Dickwads like Shane wanted a reaction. Wanted you to throw the first punch and then they would plead that they were only joking and you would kicked out of school or lose your job. Merle always handled these assholes better than Daryl. Merle could turn it back on them with his sharp tongue. Daryl would just lose his temper and throw punches. And how did that work for you, Daryl?
The other guys were just waiting to see what he would do. Doing nothing wasn't the way they rode in this 'hood. All the guys in the garage would razz each other all day long, but they never slammed each other's woman. Carol sure as hell wasn't his woman, but Shane Walsh needed to shut his fucking mouth before Daryl shut it with a fist. Think, Daryl. Think like Merle.
Daryl took a deep breath and turned around, "You say something to me, Shane?"
Shane rubbed his curly hair and rocked back slightly on his feet, "Just saying that your new girlfriend is what most people would call mature. Myself I like 'em young and nubile. I guess you like them with little more miles on them. Might want to trade her in for a newer model. All I'm saying." Women aren't cars, asshole.
Daryl smiled friendly like to Shane. "Now some men do like their women young and stupid. Too stupid to know that when you are giving all your best, it ain't very good. Can't get away with that shit with a mature woman. They expect more. Demand more. So if you don't mind I'd like to get my tired worn out ass a cup of coffee. Late night last night. All I'm saying." Daryl had a slight swagger in his step as he made his way toward the coffee pot as the other mechanics gave a few crude remarks and cat calls. I just called you out, Shane.
Oscar the garage foreman met him at the coffee pot. "Good on you, Daryl. Time somebody handed that shit back to that asshole. So can you work today or did your woman wear you out completely?"
My ass is grass and she is the lawnmower but I can work today." No one wants to hear I am renovating a house. No fun in that.
Oscar laughed, "Drywall is a bitch. You got a lifter?"
Daryl nodded, "Yeah. You do renovations?" Is there a secret brotherhood of men in renovation hell and I am being recruited. Is the lifter the deal breaker? No lifter and you don't get in the club?
Oscar made a face, "We're redoing our bathroom. Two weeks ago we loved each other and now we are either on the edge of divorce or spousal homicide. Could go either way."
Daryl thought about Carol endlessly measuring the same damn piece of drywall over and over and going over her endless lists. "I feel your pain."
Oscar patted him on the back and Daryl was too tired to flinch away from being touched. Ah, our secret handshake is just a pat on the back. I think I am in. Do we have a club shirt? Will it have my name on it?
He was feeling almost cheerful by the end of the day. He was now the most popular guy in the shop because he had shut Shane down at least temporarily. They razzed him about not being able to satisfy "his old lady" and offered to help him out, but it was just rough humor. Garage monkeys like to throw shit around the cage. Just try not to let it land on you.
Daryl noticed that Carol's van was in her driveway and that Axel's paneled truck was parked behind hers. I'll just go over and see my old lady and see if I can scare the hell out of Axel. Carol would slice me up with her utility knife if she knew that I called her my old lady.
He didn't bother to knock. The door was slightly ajar and he walked on in. Carol was standing in the living room talking to Axel and she gave him a warmer look than usual. Well, the usual is about as cold as a dead Eskimo's ass.
"Daryl, would you mind going with Axel down to the basement?" Carol was wearing a white blouse with a blue cardigan. Must have just came in from work and hasn't had time to change out of her work clothes. He could smell something good to eat and Daryl knew that he wasn't quitting the team today. I might as well have a sign, "Work for food".
"Of course not. You just run on upstairs and get changed. Where's Sophia?" Daryl hadn't seen on her the way in. Yeah, Big Daddy's home, Axel. Get your skeevy ass in gear and stop looking at Carol's tits. Those girls are never coming to a playground near you.
"Finishing homework. I'll just be a minute." Carol flew upstairs and Daryl followed Axel to the basement. The basement was basically empty but it was obvious that Carol the relentless pursuer of dust and disorder didn't come here often. The washer and dryer were off to the side and there was a sink there.
Axel got right to work and Daryl hung around awhile and then went upstairs to find Carol in cargo pants and an old t shirt mixing joint compound. She began bossing him around again. Woman thought her way was the only way to do things. They were in the midst of another heated debate when Axel appeared in the kitchen doorway. "The breaker box is in and it'll carry all you the juice that you'll ever need. Just call me when you want me to check out some wiring." He left right after that. Two assholes down, isn't there a plumber on the way. Betcha he hits on Carol.
The kitchen had its first coat of joint compound applied quickly. Carol had made dinner in the crockpot and the three of them ate in the living room. Chicken and rice and vegetables. I think my tongue just had an orgasm. I can't lose this job. The money is for shit but the food is so good. I think I just moaned a little. Better stop that shit. Carol's gonna think I am some sort of perv."
Sophia volunteered to do the dishes. She and her mother packed all the dirty dishes and the crockpot into a plastic tub and Daryl carried it downstairs. He deposited the container, "You call me when you need it carried up." It felt odd leaving her down here and he lingered a second.
Sophia smiled at him, "Mom can't handle being in the basement for very long. Claustrophobic. She can sprint down and put the clothes in the washer and then leave, but it takes too long to do the dishes." That's why she didn't go in the basement with Axel. Well, one of the reasons.
Carol was talking on the phone when he came upstairs, "I'm glad to hear that Eric is out of surgery and that you can take him home tonight. I'll call tomorrow and I'll come over tomorrow to check on him."
Daryl began to wander around the house. It didn't look all that bad to him, but Carol seemed to have some vision on how it should look. She found him later, "Can you help me cover the floor in the kitchen?"
They covered the floor with a plastic corrugated sheet. "We will keep this on until we finish everything but the floors." They fastened the sheets in place. They put more joint compound on, but it needed to dry some more before they could begin sanding.
"We should do the dining room next. We could take the wall board down and you could do the wiring. The rest of the dry wall and insulation is coming tomorrow. We take all the walls down on this floor and you finish the wiring. Axel can check it all at one time and then we can start the drywall.
"Do you think we could get the dining room walls down this evening?" She didn't seem as sure of herself all at once. She's missing Eric.
"Yeah, we can get it and maybe another room down. Just take it slow and careful. We'll bag up the drywall. Mash it up so it doesn't take up as much space. I just bought some heavy duty trash bags. I hate cheap garbage bags." Together they covered the dining room with the plastic corrugated sheets.
"Let's measure for the cabinets. I'm buying them at a cabinet wholesale place and I want to make sure that they are right." They measured every space about ten times and even marked where counters and appliances went on the floor. Woman is making me crazy. She's being all needy 'cause Eric isn't her to tell she is doing good.
Daryl went downstairs to carry up the dishes and when he came back he found Carol with the plumber, Cesar Martinez. Sophia followed him up the stairs. Carol and Martinez were in the living room chatting like old friends. Does she know him?
Martinez wasn't skeevy like Axel but he seemed to be suffering from the same "I'm going to hit on Carol when I'm here." Daryl looked but he could find no trace of a wedding ring. Probably doesn't wear one. Tells his wife that it gets in his way when he is working on plumbing.
Daryl dropped the dishes on the table in the downstairs bedroom that seemed to serving as a kitchen. It made a fairly loud sound and Carol and Martinez both jumped. Sophia laughed.
Carol gave him a puzzled look and he tried to look surprised, "Sorry".
Martinez shook his hand politely and they both gave each other that look, the "Are you fucking her or do you just want to fuck her?" Daryl didn't even know why he did that. Just some male thing. Marking his territory even when it wasn't his territory.
Martinez and Carol walked to the kitchen and Daryl used a hammer to tap out where the studs were in the dining room. They waltzed toward the downstairs bathroom and on up to the upstairs bathroom.
Daryl began to pry the old plaster board off the dining room walls. Carol and Martinez came back downstairs. Daryl volunteered to accompany the plumber downstairs. Martinez walked around the basement looking at the pipes and making notes on his clipboard.
"Can you put a washer and dryer upstairs?"
Martinez looked puzzled, "Where?"
"There is a big closet in the upstairs hall way. Can you put one in there?" Maybe he was sounding a little bossy.
"I'll go back upstairs and look. You keeping this one down here?"
"We would want the water lines down here anyway. "
They went back up to the top floor and looked at the closet. Carol and Sophia were taking down the plasterboard in small neat chunks and putting it in the trash bags. They were wearing goggles and gloves. Job safety is our first concern.
Martinez went to the main floor and measured some more. "I'll ask her where she wants the washer and dryer."
Carol and Martinez wandered away together. Sophia wanted to help and Daryl handed her a trash bag, "Let's tear up some walls, Sissy."
Sophia grinned at that, "Got your back, Bubby".
Daryl was tying off their first three bags of mashed up plasterboard when Carol came back. One by one he carried them to out to the area where the back porch used to be. He went over to his house and got more trash bags.
The three of them fell into a rhythm of working. He and Carol would take the plaster and Sophia would put it in the bag. He would carry the bag out while Carol kept on working. Carol made him wear safety goggles and gloves. She sent Sophia upstairs before it got late.
"Thank you for asking about an upstairs laundry area. Sophia tell you that I'm claustrophobic?" Carol handed him a bottle of water. She sounded a little defensive.
"Yeah, I'm scared of clowns and house fires." Fuck, why did I tell her that I'm afraid of house fires? She don't need to know about what happened to Mom. Don't need her pity.
Carol leveled her Allseeing Blue Eyes at him and said nothing for a bit, "Who isn't afraid of clowns? I think the whole clown phenomenon is a conspiracy from the drug industry. Terrorize children when they're young and they'll be hooked on antianxiety meds for life."
He had to laugh at that, "That's why America has a drug problem. It's the damn clowns."
They both laughed and Carol seemed to cheer up a bit. At least she went back to ruthlessly taking down plaster.
They cleared the walls in the dining room, the living room and the downstairs bedroom before they stopped. Carol looked at the bare walls. "We've officially destroyed this house in two days and you've got so much dust in your hair that you are as gray as I am."
He carried the leftover chicken and rice home. Lunch tomorrow. Daryl laughed at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. He did have gray hair. It looked better on Carol than on him.
I can't quit until we get the downstairs walls back up. And all the wiring and the plumbing is finished. I am so fucked.
AN
Shane Walsh was always a little dismissive of Daryl.
Axel did try to hit on Carol in the show but Martinez never met her. Daryl and Martinez were competitive though.
I tried to come up with a believable nickname Daryl would give Sophia. I settled on "Sissy" because it sounds like something that Daryl would call her. She fires back with "Bubby" but Carol will shut that down quick.
Doesn't everybody hate clowns?
I like writing a lighter story but there will be some more serious chapters ahead.
I appreciate your reviews.