Chapter 7: Déjà Vu in the Best Way

Thundercloud Residence
Sabal, Florida

Half an hour following their breakfast with the Thundercloud family, Dawn and Ricky had decided to stick around and help Timothy Thundercloud and his father, Amos, with cleaning up the necessary dishes and straightening up the house a bit.

Dawn had finished vacuuming the living room and happened to glance over at an end table beside Amos' cherished recliner. Shutting off the vacuum, she happened to notice an assortment of framed family photos that looked like they went back at least 3 decades.

A candid photo of a tall and very beautiful dark-haired woman quickly caught her eye. This unknown lady looked to have been in her late 20's to early 30's at the time, and she was dressed in what looked like traditional Native American attire, with white and turquoise beads in her hair with matching earrings and what looked to be some sort of traditional garment. She sat in front of what looked like some sort of flea market booth, smiling widely and warmly for the camera.

"Who's this?" Dawn asked Timothy as he came into the living room.

Timothy took the photo from her, eyed it briefly, and grinned fondly. "That's my wife, Lydia" he replied as he set the photo back down in its place back on the end table. "Lydia Hastings Thundercloud," he continued, "We grew up together here on the reservation. She was my next-door neighbor, my first kiss at the age of fourteen, my date for both our junior and senior proms, my wife by age twenty, and later the mother of my beautiful twins."

The Miccosukee police sergeant then seemed to choke back tears for a moment, as if what he was about to tell Dawn was especially troubling for him. "She died of lung cancer in Two-Thousand-Twelve," he said remorsefully, "She was only forty-five. She never smoked a day in her life and the damn cancer still took her."

Dawn put a comforting hand on Timothy's shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Tim" she said, "I can't imagine how awful that must've been for both you and the twins."

"Thanks," Timothy replied as he sat down in his father's chair with Dawn sitting herself down directly in front of him. "It just happened so fast, you know?" he continued, "One minute she has this persistent cough that never seemed to go away, then she got wheezy and short of breath, and finally she's losing weight like crazy and is getting chemotherapy."

Dawn nodded before deciding to lighten the subject matter a little. "What did she do for work?" she asked.

Timothy smiled. "She tended bar at a place here in town called the Turquoise Mine since Rachel and Timmy were babies," he replied, "She was an excellent 'people person'. She could have the grumpiest old buck in the room rolling on the floor laughing within like half an hour."

Dawn giggled. "I certainly know the type," she said, "our dad and our brother Dicky are the same way."

This heartwarming exchange was abruptly interrupted when Amos entered the living room, dressed in his gray work coveralls and beige steel-toed work boots. "Hey Dad," Timothy greeted, "Headed to work?"

Amos nodded before looking at Dawn and smiling. "It was very nice meeting you, Dawn. I'm sure I'll see you again."

"Likewise, Amos" she kindly replied, "I'm sure my brother and I will be seeing you soon."

Amos nodded back and waved goodbye before heading out the door to head to the shop.

Timothy looked back at Dawn. "Look," he continued, "My point with telling you all this, Dawn, is to let you know that if you care for someone, it's completely okay for you to show it wholeheartedly."

Dawn tilted her head with softened befuddlement. "Why do you say that?" she curiously inquired.

Timothy chuckled in retort. "I know you have feelings for my son," he pointedly replied, "Despite having just met him and everything. It's okay. If he feels the same way about you, you two should give things a try."

Dawn sighed, comforted by the sergeant's tender words. "Thank you for that, Tim" she said, "I guess I just don't know how to go about it."

Timothy shrugged his shoulders in retort. "I think that's for you to figure out, kiddo" he replied, "But what I will tell you is that the shop closes at nine o' clock tonight. Hypothetically, if you were to show up at say, eight-thirty or so, it may not be such a bad idea."

Double Thundercloud Auto Body & Towing
Later That Night
8:25 PM

Dawn took the sergeant's advice to heart and showed up to Double Thundercloud Auto Body later that night, with Ricky staying behind to straighten things up back at the old fish camp. She had gone back there just beforehand and found a rather flattering red summer dress buried in the bottom of her suitcase.

She now pulled this flirtatious look together with a pair of red faux leather high-heeled sandals that she had found during a quick trip to Sabal's local secondhand clothing store earlier that afternoon and applied a shade of lipstick that seemed to compliment her intentionally seductive style of the evening.

Timmy Thundercloud, meanwhile, was in the process of installing a new albeit refurbished muffler onto a local resident's tattered brown 1990 Chrysler Town and Country minivan that was somewhat upraised on a hydraulic lift. The clacking sound of Dawn's sandals on the concrete floor alerted him to her presence. He lifted his welding helmet to get a good look at her, at which point he gave her a wide-mouthed grin.

"Well," Timmy said, "Hey Dawn. You're looking very nice tonight."

Dawn chuckled and gave him a charming smile in return. "Thank you," she replied, "You're not so bad looking yourself, sir."

Timmy took off his helmet and set it aside before looking down at his attire. "Heh," he said, "They're just dirty, shitty, oil-stained mechanic's coveralls." He clearly wasn't able to fully read this situation for whatever reason.

Dawn shrugged her shoulders as she walked over to him. "Hey," she said, "What can I say? I happen to like guys who work hard."

Timmy nodded as he brought down the hydraulic lift and the minivan upon it before taking off his work gloves, which he promptly set on the hood. "I appreciate that," he replied.

Dawn ran her hands across the edge of the hood. "I like cars," she said, "My ex-boyfriend Mack drove a green Nineteen-Sixty-Five Ford Mustang convertible."

An impressed Timmy nodded. "A classic ride," he said, "Very cool."

Dawn smiled with her back turned to Timmy for the moment, mentally realizing that it was time to make her move, even if it meant being a little too forward. "Yeah," she said, "I remember the night we graduated from high school earlier this month. He and I took full advantage of our last official night of high school."

Timmy raised an eyebrow as the two of them locked eyes. "How so?" he inquired.

Dawn carefully climbed onto the hood, making sure to straddle the front of the Town and Country with her legs parted.

"We had sex against the hood of the Mustang," she replied in a very alluring tone. "Hell," she continued with a fond grin, "We didn't even take our clothes off entirely. We just dropped our pants and underwear and held up the bottom halves of our graduation gowns while we did it."

Finally catching onto the attractive young lady's real intentions, Timmy came around the side of the minivan until he stood between Dawn's parted legs and the headlights. "That must've been fun," he said as he started stroking the bottom of her right leg seductively.

Now laying face up against the hood of the minivan, Dawn nodded. "So fun," she replied.

With that, Timmy grabbed a small remote control off of the work table behind him and pressed a button. The shop's roll-up metal door descended until it was completely closed.