Charlene shivers as she walks into the empty garage with a coffee cup in her hands. The old garage seemed so alone at times, without her father here to run it. She turns the lights and air on and goes about opening for business. She had one car due to go out this morning and was waiting on parts for the other one. She walks into the office and puts her lunch in the dorm room refrigerator in the office and sits down and listens to the messages on the answering machine. There were at least ten messages. Two of them were free to come back. She had told the owners that the parts they had used were going to break down after a while or that the car wasn’t worth saving. She gets their address out of her outbox and calls the company that did the tow work for her to bring the cars in.

Charlene leans back in her chair and sips her coffee and stares out the office window like her father used to do. Tears slide down her cheek as she thinks about him. He has been dead a year now and the pain still hurt. She missed her father a lot. He was her best friend and her strength.
He had been killed by a driver that hadn’t seen him helping an old woman along the side of the road. Her father had stopped to help the woman and had just finished tightening the lug nuts on the wheel he changed. When a truck driver texting on his cell phone, hit her father. The truck struck him and killed her father instantly.

She had been at school that day when she was informed about her father’s death. She was only fifteen and wouldn’t have her father to walk her down the aisle on her wedding day or see her children when they were born. He was all she had left right now. Her Uncle was over in
Afghanistan serving over there for the government. Her Aunt lived out in California and had four children of her own. Her mother had abandoned her father and her, when she was just six years old. She had run away with a younger guy. So her father had raised her all alone. The only thing she had left of him now was the house and the garage. She would always come home and help him after school and on the weekends, except Sunday. They would go to church and then out to eat at her favorite diner.

When he died, she had inherited the house and the garage. She had dropped out of school to run the garage and keep it going. She had four people depending on her and she wasn’t about to lose the garage or the people working for her. One of the other mechanics that knew her father had offered to buy the shop from her, but she couldn’t sell the shop. It was her father’s and she needed to keep it running for him. He had built this shop with his sweat and blood before she was even born.

She knew her shop foreman Henry would be coming in soon. He and her father had been best friends since high school and worked well together. He and his family had been there for her when her father had been killed. She knew her father wanted to make him a partner in the garage. She had waited till her father’s funeral had been over with and all her father’s accounts were paid up to date from his life insurance before she had her father’s lawyer draw the paperwork up to make Henry a partner. She was going to follow her father’s wish. She takes a sip of her coffee and closes her eyes. It was a good thing she knew how to work on cars. Otherwise, she would have to depend on her workers to keep the shop open.

Most of the girls at school already thought she was weird because she would rather be covered in grease and under the hood of a car than be wearing make-up and fashion label clothes. She either brought her clothes off the rack at a thrift store or someplace like Wal-Mart, Target, or Kmart. She didn’t go to places like The Gap, JCPenny, or any places like Macy’s and stores that cater to high school and college students. She cared more about practicality than popularity. She takes another sip of her coffee and wipes her eyes to clear away the tears. She turns her computer on and began to answer emails and to see if any of the cars her father put on the web for sale had been sold. Her father would go to car auctions and buy some cars cheaply and then bring them back to work and flip them.

He and Henry were famous for flipping cars. Sometimes when the shop was slow, the flipped cars paid the bills around the garage. The employees were always paid first, and then the people her father owed money to, and finally her father. Her father made less than his entire employee and she was going to continue that trend. She was going to make her pay, the beginners rate her father started all mechanics off at. She busies herself with office work.

“You’re just like your father, you know that Charlene?” Henry comes walking in with two boxes of glazed donuts.

“I’m my father’s daughter.” Charlene watches as Henry sets the boxes of donuts down on the desk.

Henry opens one of the boxes and turns it around for Charlene to take a few.

“Help yourself.” He smiles at her.

“Thanks.” Charlene reaches forward and grabs two donuts and places them on a napkin. She licks her fingers afterward.

“I have something for you, Henry.” Charlene opens the desk drawer that had her purse in it and pulls out the envelope inside. She closes the desk drawer and looks back up at Henry.

“My father wanted to do this before he died but didn’t get a chance to do it. So, I’m honoring my father’s wish.” She hands him the envelope. It had the law firm's address and name on it.

Henry accepts the envelope and opens it up. He pulls out his eyeglasses and starts reading them.

Charlene eats her donuts and drinks her coffee as she watches Henry read the paperwork she had the lawyer draw up.

He looks at her “are you sure about this, Charlene?”

“Yes sir. My father had told me he was going to make you a partner, the day before he died. He even asked me what I thought because he knew I loved the shop and wanted to take it over when I was old enough. However, I knew he hadn’t had a chance to tell you before he died, so I’m honoring his wish and I can’t think of anyone else that deserves it more. You and my father started this shop together and it is only fit that you become a full partner of it. So that you wouldn’t inherit any of my father’s debt, I paid off everyone with dad’s insurance money and told them to add you onto the accounts.” Charlene reaches for her coffee and takes a sip of it.

“Thank you. Have you decided what you are going to do?” Henry sits down at his desk and eats a donut.

“Yes. I’ve dropped out of school and I’m going to stay here and help run the garage. I know my father would want me to stay in school, but I can’t just go to school and leave everything on your shoulders, Henry. Plus, we don’t have enough money coming in to hire someone part-time to work and trained them to run the office or get parts we’re going to need. So, I’m going to do everything my father did and continue in his place. Since some of the contracts will need both of our signatures on them, it would be best if I am here so you don’t need to track me down.” Charlene raises her coffee cup and takes a sip of it.

Henry just shakes his head “You are your father’s daughter.”

“Yep, but you’re not going to like some of the changes dad had been talking about. One of them is Kevin. He thinks he has been stealing parts from some of our customer’s cars and the other cars in the back, without asking. Also, dad discovered some problems with the invoices of some of the part stores we get our supplies from. I looked over the files and discover Kevin has been buying things for other people’s cars under the garage name. He has also been charging them more money than we do and not paying for the parts he gets. So for now on all allowed parts and supplies need to be authorized by me or you with our signature on the work order, along with a P.O. number. Also, Jose has been doing well and dad thought it might be good to give him a raise. He also suggested that Jose might like that dark blue Ford Ranger in the back. He knows the mini-van he has is needed by his wife to take the children back and forth to school and soccer practice. Since Jose has been late twelve times this month, he figures it might be easier on Jose if he has a vehicle of his own. I’ve already made a check out to the garage and deposited it for the full amount you and dad had wanted for the truck to cover what you guys had in it. Dad was going to do the same thing.” Charlene leans back in her seat.

“I knew about the truck. We talked it over, so I agree with you on that. As for Kevin, stealing, I suspected it, but could never prove it. Are we going to keep Kevin on or let him go?” Henry would like to see the smart ass go.

“Right now we need him, but there’s this guy dad heard about from church that needs a job. He doesn’t have any experience working on cars, but dad said he use to work on boats and there’s not much difference between them. Plus, if he works out, we could replace Kevin with him and enter into the boat business. Also, dad was thinking we might want to ask Ralph and Terry if they want to rent out the other side of the building for their motorcycle shop. Dad said that they have been looking for a bigger place. Terry’s home garage is too small for them and it would be a good place for them to set up shop at. They could buy their supplies under our vendors if you agree.” Charlene had glanced at her father’s notes. He always wrote things down.

“The motorcycle shop sounds like a good idea. It would open up more opportunities for us. As for replacing Kevin, I would rather get rid of him now, but you are right we need him, and getting someone to replace him would cost us time. Do you have the name of that guy your father was talking about?” Henry takes another donut.

“Yes, It's Steven Wright and he lives over on White Dove rd.” Charlene writes the number down and hands it to Henry.
Henry takes it and tucks it into his shirt pocket.

“When I go to get the parts for the Volvo, I’ll stop by his place and see if he wants to start today. Are you going to talk with Terry and Ralph, since you know them better than I do?” Henry drinks some of his coffee.

“I can do that as soon as Jose shows up. I want to talk to him unless you do?” Charlene gives him a questionable look.

“You can. I’ll tell him it’s important. That still leaves Kevin.” Henry wouldn’t lose any sleep if he up and left.

“Oh! Don’t worry. I have a special job for him and I’m cutting his hours back. Remember Mr. Redstone and Mr. Jackowiak's cars? We’ll they are coming back in today with the same problem they had before because of the cheap crappy parts they bought from someone. I think they bought them from a chop shop. Put Kevin on their cars and charge them a little extra for having to redo the work a second time. If they make a big fuss about it, tell them it’s the new policy, and if they don’t like it, then their welcome to take their business somewhere else. Dad was getting tired of dealing with them. Also, let Jose train the new guy. He’s good and I think Jose would make a good second for the garage. That way you can relax and spend some time with your family.” Charlene sips her coffee.

“Trying to get rid of me so soon?” He knew Charlene’s father always made him take a vocation.

“Nope, I’m trying to keep this shop running with my father gone and I can’t do that if the one man who’s been like a second father to me gets himself beat up by his wife.” Charlene knew Henry’s wife. She had taught her what it meant to be a woman. Her dad didn’t know what to do when she had her first period and Henry’s wife came over and talked with her. She was the one person to whom she could talk too about female things.

“You’ve been hanging around my wife too much. Alright, I’ll go after we get some of these projects of your father’s going first. I’ll train Jose to run the shop while I’m gone.” Henry takes a sip of his coffee and just looks at Charlene.

They hear the sound of a loud car pulling up outside. Charlene moves the curtain aside to look outside and notices it was another car Kevin was brought to the shop to work on.

Kevin walks in and was surprised to see Charlene sitting at her father’s desk. He had figured Henry was going to be taking things over now. He knew he could pull the wool over Henry’s eyes by lying.

“Good morning everyone” He reaches forward and takes a donut out of the box.

He pours himself a cup of coffee and leans against the counter in the office.

“Henry, I was wondering if I could work on the car I drove this morning before I start any new projects.” Kevin takes a sip of his coffee.

“You better ask Charlene. She’s running the garage.” A smile appears on his face.

“You got to be kidding. She’s just a kid. You’re the shop foreman.” Kevin couldn’t believe Henry was saying Charlene was in charge.

“You’re right, I am the shop foreman, but she’s the owner of the business, which means she’s my boss like she is yours. So I would be more polite to her if you still want a job.” Henry loved this.

Kevin looks at Charlene “I can’t believe I’m going to be working for a teenager.”

Charlene just smiles “well you know what my father uses to say, don’t you? You better believe it. As for working on the car, you drove in, I don’t think that’s going to be possible today. You are scheduled to work on Mr. Redstone and Mr. Jackowiak's cars when they get here. If you want to work on that car you drove this morning, it will be on your own time, not mine. Also, any parts you need to get for that car will be paid for in advance when you order them. Since that is your side business and not mine. Also, any parts or supplies we order for any of the cars we are working on need mine and Henry’s signature on the purchase order and a PO number will be needed from now on.”

“What? How are we going to get your signature if you’re in school?” Kevin wasn’t liking this. This was going to cut into his side business.

“I can do this because I’m the owner. Also, I won’t be in school, I’ll be working right here with you guys at the garage. If any business you bring to the garage isn’t our business, then you’ll be responsible for all costs of the job. The supplies here are strictly for the shop to use in our customer cars and for your personal cars like my father used to do. I’ll also have the new work schedule out by this afternoon before we close up.” Charlene wanted to see if the guy Henry was going to talk to was going to take the job.

“What, now our day off is going to change?” Kevin didn’t like the new rules being put in place.

“Not only the days off but hours as well. Things are starting to slow down and I need to trim back on some hours. You’re the low man on the totem pole, so I’m cutting your hours back by two days a week. You’ll still get twenty-four hours a week, but you’ll have Thursday, Friday, and Saturday off. Isn’t that right Henry?” Charlene looks over towards Henry.

“That sounds about right. Mondays are our busiest days. Tuesday and Wednesday are just as busy. Saturday, we don’t do much, except finish up on jobs we didn’t do on Friday. So those three days will be fine. I think this week might be a good time to start the new changes.” Henry looks up at Kevin.

He could tell Kevin was getting angry from the way he was clenching his jaw.

Kevin looks over toward Charlene. There was anger in his eyes and he couldn’t believe how much she was going to hurt his money and business-wise.

The donut he had eaten tasted like sandpaper in his mouth now. How could this teeny-bopper come in and ruin his life like this?

He’ll get even with her, one way or another. He turns and leaves the office and heads out to change into his work clothes.

“I think he’s mad at you.” Henry looks over towards Charlene.

“You think? He brought this on himself. If he didn’t go behind your back and my father’s back and do the things he did, I wouldn’t have to do this. Anyway, don’t you have a shop to open?” Charlene looks at him.

“Hey! I thought we were partners?” He gives Charlene his best hurt look.

“We are, but I run the office and you run the garage. I know how much you hate the paperwork. If you want me to, I’ll let you do the paperwork.” Charlene starts getting out of her chair.

“No, I hate paperwork.” He stands up and grabs two more donuts out of the box and more coffee.

He starts heading to the door. He stops and looks at Charlene “Are you going to be okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Send Jose to me when he comes in please.” Charlene turns her attention to the paperwork.

“Alright, boss lady.” Henry just smiles and walks out of the office.

Charlene returns the smile and goes back to the paperwork. She signs for the tow bill for the two cars when they come in and starts adding PO numbers to the current invoices. Jose shows up thirty minutes late for work and asks him why? She sits quietly and listens to his explanation and then sends him to the back of the garage to bring around the ranger. She gets the dealer tag out of its storage place and goes outside with Jose.

She hands him the tag and gets in the truck on the passenger side. She has him drive the truck through a car wash to clean it and ask him some questions while they drive over to see Terry and Ralph.

They spend a good hour or so talking. She gives Jose some money to go and fill the truck up and heads inside to continue her conversion with Ralph and Terry. Jose heads to the gas station to fill the truck up and get himself some breakfast and a soda. By the time he comes back, Charlene is outside waiting on him. They talk some more by the time they get back to the shop. Just as Charlene was getting out of the truck, she tells Jose that it is his, if he wants it.

Jose stops and just looks at her.

“Henry and my father thought you could use a second vehicle Jose. So they wanted you to have the truck if you would like it.”

“Yes ma’am. I would like it very much. Thank you.” Jose couldn’t believe it.

“You’re welcome. Oh, by the way, Henry wants to see you about something as well. Also, I don’t want you to be late from now on.” Charlene gives him a stern look.

“I promise ma’am.” He smiles at her.

“Bring me the tag back when you get your own plates, Jose. If you need an advance, let me know, okay?” Charlene starts walking towards the door.

“I will ma’am, thank you.” Jose looks at the truck and couldn’t believe it. He could help his wife out a lot.

He heads inside the garage to track down Henry.

Charlene heads inside and over to her computer to send her lawyer a request for the required paperwork she’ll need to rent out the other side of the garage. Ralph and Terry had agreed to her offer and had asked if she would be willing to handle the accounts and paperwork. Terry wasn’t good at doing all the paperwork. In return, they would make her a third partner in the business, if she handles all the clerical stuff and the books.
She’ll have to tell Henry later. She watches as Henry escorts Jose to the office. They come walking in.

“So I take it, that you told Jose?” Charlene looks at Henry.

“You said you were.” Henry looks back at Charlene.

“I agree to tell him about the truck. The other matter is in your department.” Charlene had a smile on her face.
Henry just stares at Charlene.

Charlene notices Jose was confused about something.

“Fine, I’ll tell him.” Henry turns around to face Jose.

“Jose, me, and Charlene have spoken it over and we think you’ll make a good second in charge when either she or me are not around. It comes with a pay raise as well. Do you want the responsibility?” Henry looks at Jose.

“Yes! It would be an honor to be your second.” Jose looks at both his bosses.

“Now you see why I said, no more lateness. You’re to fill in when Henry isn’t here in the mornings or if I’m running late as well. So starting Wednesday you’re going to come in early and Henry is going to show you what needs to be done to open the shop and close the shop up. I’ll add you to be an authorized person to shut down the alarm system.