I didn't sleep much that night and I know I was a bear the next day. Al tried to talk to me a couple times in the morning but after the second time I bit his head off he quit trying. I took the 'Vette out just before breaking for lunch and that improved my mood a lot. I guess Al could tell I was feeling a little better 'cause he put a hand on my shoulder as I was getting out of that wonderful car and offered to buy me a burger for lunch. We walked the half block to the corner and into the little diner. Al waited until I was partway through my food and coke before he spoke and I suspect he was waiting for me to take a big bite out of that burger so my mouth would be full and I'd have to listen at least for a while.

"Son," he began and I'll tell you if anyone else, my own father included, had ever called me that, I would have slugged him but from Al, it made me feel almost proud. "I know Emma talked to you and she probably gave you some good advice and you should follow whatever she said."

He paused as he often did while talking. I think he sometimes fancied himself some great oracle that people would come to and hang on his every word. If you got past how much he loved hearing himself talk, he actually had some good stuff to say. I stayed quiet right then because I knew he wasn't done and he wasn't mad at me and he might have something useful to say.

"I just want you to consider something. I know you are always on edge because people have a tendency to judge you without knowing anything about you besides that pompadour hair and that leather jacket. That's not fair or right for them to do but you assuming what that girl might have been thinking about you based on what she was wearing or driving or where she lives, well that ain't no better."

I didn't want to hear it but I knew it was the truth and I told him so.

"I realized that last night while I was busy not sleeping," I said, "Emma said to apologize and as much as I hate it, I owe her one. I don't know if she'll accept it. I'm not sure I would if I was her."

Al smiled. I understood later that he was waiting for some girl to come along and get me out of my determination to stay single.

"You won't know unless you give her a chance," he said, "She doesn't accept your apology and you're no worse off than you are now. She does accept and maybe I don't get a wrench thrown at me for saying 'good morning'."

I smiled at him. I hadn't actually thrown the wrench but he was probably thinking I was going to. We stood and Al tossed a few dollars on the table to cover our meals and a tip for Dottie, our waitress. We then walked back to the garage and I got to work on the car. Any apology I offered was going to fly a whole lot better if she could get her car back. It wasn't a big fix and if she came to us because she was afraid of being gouged anywhere else, I don't even think the worst in our trade would have gouged her for that. But then again, I didn't know any mechanics in Bloomfield Hills so maybe they would have.

I heard her come in. Well, I heard someone come in and the others had just gotten in from school so I figured the timing was right that she'd be getting there. I was surprised none of the others hung around to bug at me or even said anything before she got there. Lou did give me a sad sort of smile when she and Kid walked through on the way to Al's office. It was a smile that said I could talk if I needed it and she'd listen. Lou was a pretty good listener.

Anyway, I heard the door open and I knew it had to be her. I was finishing the invoice for her and I kept my head down working on it like some kids might work on a test at school; like I should've worked on the tests at school. I might have said I was playing it cool if anyone had asked but in reality, I was scared out of my mind.

"What's the prognosis?" she asked and it was all I could do not to jump at the sudden sound and then to not cringe at the cold tone of her voice. I had really hurt her bad; what a heel.

"She's going to make a full recovery," I said, trying to sound like this was a normal conversation with a normal customer. I looked up at her and I can't even to this day describe the look on her face. She was fighting to smile but she looked like she might break apart and cry at any moment or at least just crumble into a million pieces. I can't tell you how bad I wanted to take her into my arms and try to hold her together but I was pretty sure I gave up that right the day before.

"Look, Joanie," I said hoping I was still allowed to speak to her so informal. "I know it's some nerve asking this and I've no right to ask it at all. I know I was a jerk and I don't expect your forgiveness but I want to apologize and I hope you'll accept it. I really am sorry how I talked to you. I knew how horrible my words were when I said them. I'm sorry."

There, it was out. I'm pretty sure I was holding my breath and I watched as her face sort of screwed around and I was afraid for a second that she'd start crying for real this time but then the smile spread wide and it wasn't hiding quite as much hurt as before.

"Apology accepted," she said, "I might even forgive you in time."

She paused and I didn't know quite what to say exactly 'cause I was pretty sure there was more to her words but I wasn't sure what exactly. She looked over the invoice and handed over the money for the repair. I tried to give the keys to her but she pushed them back in my hand.

"I accepted the apology even though you were frightfully mean to me," she began and I have to admit I wasn't following what that had to do with her not taking her keys back and blowing out of there as fast as she could. "So I figure you owe me one," she continued, "And I figure to collect on that right now."

I must've looked some kind of fool just standing there open-mouthed with her keys in my hand but she didn't laugh at me like some girls might when they were being hard to follow on purpose and had reduced some poor schmuck to a blithering idiot.

"It's near to closing time for you and I don't see a back up of people who want to leave their cars here all weekend so it looks like you are free. Do you live far?"

All that time I'd been waiting for her to laugh at me but it was me that busted up at that. She sort of scowled at me.

"I live upstairs," I said and she laughed too.

"I guess it won't take you too long to go home and get cleaned up then," she replied.

"It won't but what am I getting cleaned up for?" I asked her.

"Wouldn't you just like to know?" she asked and two things occurred to me at once. One was that she had me and the other was that she knew she had me.

"I think I'll just sit a bit and talk to your friends while you get ready," she said and if I looked half as unsure as I felt then it explained her next comment. "Don't worry, it's hardly formal what I've got planned."

I went up the stairs in a jumble of thoughts. On the one hand I was over the moon that she had accepted my apology but on the other hand she still looked hurt and like she didn't quite trust me like she had the day before in the car before I turned into a creep. And back to that first hand, I still held the keys to that cherry red 'Vette and they felt damned nice in my hand but on the other hand again, she was sitting and talking with the guys and Lou and God only knew what they'd tell her about me. And I didn't like not knowing her plans but at the same time I was excited at the chance to earn her trust back, to maybe get another one of those flirty glances she was throwing around the day before.

I washed up and put on a clean change of clothes. There was no need to go off with a pretty girl like that in the same set I'd been sweating in all day. I went down the stairs and heard her laughing almost immediately. I could only imagine the stories those guys were telling about me. I walked up slowly and more than a little scared and just listened for a while. I heard Kid's voice doing the talking.

"So then Jimmy says to Lou, 'What you getting all mad for? Them girls aren't any better than you. In fact, you're the one with a boyfriend. I say you get even with 'em.' And the two of them proceed to make a few alterations under the hood of Linda's car-nothing damaging of course but enough to cause her some embarrassment."

I was relieved for sure. It might not have been right to try for revenge against Linda and Cathy but they were mean girls and needed taking down a peg or two and it made Lou feel a lot better. There's plenty I done that I'm ashamed of but of all the stories Kid could've told, that was one of the most harmless and the way he told it, Joanie was laughing more at the fate of Linda and Cathy than at me. I came off looking kind of sweet. I went into Al's office and it took a second for Joanie to notice me there. When she did she seemed to brighten which was saying something since she was laughing to begin with.

"Well, there you are! Are you ready then?" she asked.

"As I'm going to get without knowing where I'm going," I said and the nerves I was feeling probably made that sound a little cold and I saw the hurt try to creep back onto her face before she pushed it away.

I opened the door of the 'Vette for her and then got into the driver's seat.

"You have to tell me which way to drive," I said.

"No I don't," she said, "It doesn't matter. We aren't going anywhere specific. Just drive."

So I did. I love the city and with the days getting warmer, it was even nicer to get out and just cruise around and look at how beautiful it really was. I know folks don't think of Detroit as a pretty city and it's not near as nice as it used to be or at least as I remember it, but it was my home and the only place I knew. All the buildings, the old Hudson's store, Tiger Stadium, the Old Red Barn which was what we called the Olympia, those were like old friends to me. They gave me a peace that let me know I was home, that I had a home. I won't ever lie so much to say that Detroit was perfect or without problems. The race demonstrations, some peaceful and some not so much, had been going on since sometime in the '40's I guess and when the unions were forming, things got real ugly around the D. But no city gets to be all peaceful all the time, even the small towns. They can put on all the Norman Rockwell looking founder's day picnics they want and I'll tell you they have just as many people angry and about to boil over as Detroit or Chicago. There's just less people so folks don't know so much. Now, everyone seems to see the problems are in the suburbs and rural areas as much as the inner city what with the school shootings and all that. But it's always been that way. I laugh when I see people try to blame the video games or the rap music. The worst school disaster to date is still what happened in a sleepy little farming community outside of our capital of Lansing in 1927. Now I can guarantee that there wasn't no video games or violent TV shows in Bath, Michigan at that time and they probably didn't even have the heathen jazz culture that some other places did-though it is just a couple miles from where Al Capone had his summer home so maybe they did-but still 58 people died in those bombings and most of 'em was kids. Some people are just rotten and some are messed up and some are plumb crazy and it don't matter where or when they live or what they watch or listen to, bad stuff is just going to happen.

It does make me sad sometimes to drive around Detroit now. It's a shell of what it used to be and, as pretty as that new park is, ain't no place ever going to be as fine for watching a baseball game as The Corner. That's what we called Tiger Stadium on account of Ernie Harwell. He always would say stuff like 'It's a beautiful night for baseball at the corner of Michigan and Trumble.' Eventually it was just shortened down. Now we got Comerica Park and I know some folks try to get cute and call it CoPa, it just ain't the same. There's just no respect for history anymore. It was hard enough to see the Olympia close down and eventually get tore down but the Joe is a right fine hockey barn and it feels good to go in there and know that Gordie and the rest of the 'Production Line' skated there and then were followed by Stevie Y and that bunch. Now they want to build a new barn yet. Guess Cobo needs more space or something. Hard to keep up and sometimes it don't feel much like progress 'cause progress is supposed to go forward and it feels a lot like we're going backward.

But that night, I had no idea all these changes were coming. I just knew that the air smelled of spring and the sun was starting to get a little heavy in the sky and I was in my city where things seemed about as right as they could be. Joanie turned on the radio and I heard Paul Anka singing to his girl and telling her to put her head on his shoulder. I nearly jumped when Joanie rested her own head on my shoulder. I wasn't sure if I could keep the car on the road with her sweet, clean smell so close. We had been nearly silent as we drove. I was afraid of putting my foot in my mouth again but I kept glancing to her and she was relaxing like I was earning her trust back so quiet seemed the way to continue until she spoke.

"So why does Billy call you 'Wild Bill'?"

Well, there was no getting around it anymore. I could try to dodge the question but she'd look at me with those hurt eyes again and I knew I'd cave so I just answered her.

"I guess wild was a pretty good description of me for a while," I said, "I broke every rule I could find just for the sake of breaking them. Billy said I acted like some wild west outlaw and gave me a name he thought sounded like some gunfighter's handle."

She wrapped a hand around my arm and nestled tighter into my shoulder.

"So you are a bad boy," she said but like she was teasing me and still didn't believe I was bad.

"Yeah, I was anyway," I agreed.

"Oh, I see," she said laughing, "You're all reformed now, huh?"

"I ought to be after the time I spent in reform school," I joked back, "That's all they teach there is reforming."

I'm not normally that quick to joke around with someone like that. They guys had known me for years and we'd kid around but when I first meet people, I don't kid. I just don't. And even if I did, the years of getting sent to juvie over misunderstandings would have cured me of it. I don't deny that I did some stuff I shouldn't have but I didn't do near to all they said I did. Hell, I'm not even smart enough to think of some of that stuff. But if she was going to trust me with her car and her smiles and her head on my shoulder, I guess I could trust her a little too. I realized she had stopped laughing and I wondered if I said something wrong. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything about reform school. It's one thing to go to the principal or even detention but reform school did mean that you'd done something illegal. Maybe she wasn't all cool with that.

"I really am sorry," she said, "I never meant to imply that you were a bad person. I don't think that."

"Yeah," I said, "I figured that out and I don't think you're some stuck up snob either. Just 'cause other people judge sometimes don't mean everyone does. I should've known you were too nice to assume stuff like that."

"I'm sure a lot of people make those assumptions though, don't they?"

"Yeah, they do," I said.

"I won't ask what you do for fun," she said and although it was meant as a joke, there was still a sad something in her voice that said she felt really bad at how things had gone between us. "But what do you do at the end of the week like this? Do you hang out with your friends or what?"

"I'll show you," I said and I steered her car back toward the garage. Once there I walked around and opened her door for her and led her up the stairs. She lagged a bit behind on the stairs and I turned and realized what she must have been thinking.

"I'm not taking you to my place," I explained, "Please, just follow me."

She did and I think she felt bad about jumping to that conclusion but I didn't take offense. It wasn't 'cause I was a hood that she thought that, it was 'cause I'm a guy. I led her to the stairs on the second floor but did nod toward my door as we passed it.

"I live in there," I said kind of embarrassed. I don't think I had reason to be but I was all the same. The next flight of stairs put us up to the roof. It wasn't real high but it was high enough to not be street level and to make a man feel just a little freer. I turned to see Joanie smiling at me.

"Why James," she said, "You're just a romantic at heart, aren't you?"

I pulled over a lawn chair that I had brought up for nights just like this one and offered it to her.

"Can I get you something?" I asked, "A beer or a pop?"

"I could go for a beer," she answered and I left her to go and get it from my place.

I took a moment at my fridge to just contemplate what was happening. I didn't really know the first thing about her and she knew little more about me but there she was on the roof waiting for me to get back to her. I hustled back up the stairs to find her still sitting where I'd left her with her legs stretched out in front of her and her head tipped back feeling the soft breeze that was there. She heard me and sat back up smiling.

I grabbed the other lawn chair that was up there and moved it next to her and handed one of the bottles of Stroh's to her before sitting down. We didn't talk much for a while, just sat and watched the sky turn every shade of every possible color while the sun sank below the horizon.

Okay, lots of references that you might or might not get and I don't know how much they matter. Um...Ernie Harwell was the long-time announcer for the Tigers and sadly passed away recently. It was nearly an official day of mourning here in MI. I know I cried so hard. The Joe is Joe Louis Arena where the Red Wings play now but I think this is the last year on the lease so as early as next season there may be a new arena or "barn" as hockey fans often affectionately call their arenas. The Production Line was a nickname for an offensive line that played for the Wings consisting of Gordie Howe, Sid Abel and at first Ted Lindsey and later Alex Devecchio. Stevie Y was a long time captain for the team and played his whole career for the Wings. Stroh's was THE brewery in Detroit and nearly every Michigander I knew (my dad included) drank almost nothing but Stroh's until the company closed (I think that was the '80's). I guess if there's anything else that I mentioned that didn't make sense, you can all feel free to ask me because I'd be more than happy to explain anything. I, too, love Detroit and I think it gets an unfairly bad rap so I would love for everyone to see the good and beauty that there is in Detroit and later in the story I'll feature some of the rest of the state too.-J