Open Arms Chapter 4
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“My folks may be able to help get your car back.”
“I’d like to hope so,” I replied, for as much as I wanted to go and tell my parents about the theft of my car I did not want to tell them, pending any disaster that would occur from allowing the car to be stolen.
“Don’t worry too much about it. It’s just a car.”
“Yeah, I know, but it’s like your freedom gets cut away from you and you can’t do the things you want to.”
“I know the feeling,” Andy mused as we drove a little bit out of town to a field with grass and rocks.
Wendy sat in the back seat with a mischievous grin. Andy apparently noticed.
“Don’t you say a word to Mama or Papa.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Wendy replied.
“Like I said, siblings.”
We drove up to an enormous two-story house with a large garage attached to the side. The grass was well-manicured with bushes flanking a pathway up to a large front porch that included a swing.
“You got a maid?” I asked.
“That’s Wendy’s afterschool job.”
Wendy stuck her tongue our as Andy opened the driver’s side door and stepped out. She handed my backpack over the seat to me and then threw Andy’s over the seat and out the door.
Andy shook his head and picked up the backpack.
I got out of the car and looked around even further. The house looked relatively new. I could only think his family must be wealthy, but he didn’t want others to know as maybe they would think different of him. I admit, I couldn’t think anything different of him because I didn’t even really know him.
Wendy opened the front door, turned to face us and smiled.
“Don’t!” Andy demanded.
“Mama! This is Andy’s friend Greg, and his car was stolen by some guys and is now being held by some guy at a junkyard!”
“Wendy!” Andy shouted as Wendy took her cue to run up the stairs.
Andy’s mother took a long look at me, like she was looking into my soul. “Hello, Greg.”
“Hello.”
“You may call me Mrs. Joel or ma’am.”
“Yes ma’am,” I replied as I took a small gulp.
“So, a stolen car?” Mrs. Joel asked as she looked at Andy.
“Yeah, but I don’t think it’s their fault they weren't raised right.”
Mrs. Joel nodded.
“And they took it to a junkyard.”
“Used car dealer,” I added.
“Same thing,” Andy replied as Mrs. Joel nodded again.
I looked around the large living room which had art on the walls along with shelves of books.
“We’ll talk with your father once he gets in.”
“I’ll take Greg on a tour of the house.” Andy turned to me, “sound good?”
“Sure, I replied as we made our way to the stairs.
I climbed up with my brain soaking in everything: the light browns on tans on the walls with slight accents of colors from potted plants, picture frames, and a small chandelier above the top landing. The upstairs turned and overlooked the living room, revealing a few other rooms that were out of my view earlier: an elaborate kitchen, a dining room with a table that was longer than two of my cars, and what looked like a study, or at least that’s what I assumed at the time.
“In here,” Andy said as we reached a door and he opened it to a large, but sparse room. There was a bed in the corner with a red comforter and matching pillowcases, a bookcase and a desk. In the other corner there was a large door that may have led to a closet or a bathroom.
“Take a seat,” Andy said as he pulled an elaborate chair out from the even more elaborate desk. I went ahead and sat down as Andy stepped a few feet away.
“So, when your dad comes home we can solve the mystery of how we’re going to get my car back?”
“Yep,” Andy stated as walked to the large door. “Be right back.”
And with that, he closed the door.
I looked around the room again, now noticing the bed had changed to a white comforter and white pillowcases.
“That wasn’t like that before,” I whispered to myself.
I was perplexed by Andy’s words ‘a mystery you’ve been wondering about’. Nothing came to mind except my car and now the bed. I looked back to the door Andy went through to see it had changed again. “I must be dreaming. Someone hit me,” I said to myself.
“Hey, Andy. There’s another mystery I want to ask you about.”
“Shoot.”
“There was this girl earlier today in the lunchroom. She has the same last name as you, I thought maybe she was your sister.”
“Only have one sister, thank God,” came the reply from behind the door.
“She put Mick down a few pegs,” I said as I walked to to the bedroom door and tried to think back to how she looked. I couldn’t see her face in my mind’s eye. I could see everything about her except a clear image of her face. “Do you want to help me find her?” I asked as the door opened behind me.
I turned to see the girl from school.
“Anna?”
“Yes.”
I didn’t feel uneasy or had the urge to run out of that room and the house in shock.
Her face reappeared in my memory of Anna giving Mick an ego-bruising. Here she was, in front of me and in a room with a closed door.
“So, not Andy?” I asked as I stepped towards her.
“That’s a tale in of itself,” she said as she stepped forward and took my hands.
“I’d like to hear it.”
“Well, I--”
The door swung open, and Wendy took a step in. “Papa and Mama want to talk to you,” she said in a sing-song voice. “I think you’re in trouble.”
“You’re fixin’ to be the one in trouble, Wendy!”
“Anna Renee Joel!” A booming voice filled the house.
“Your dad?” I asked, trying to not sound like I was terrified.
“I think he’ll like you,” Anna replied with a smile
Open Arms Chapter 5
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I followed Anna to the end of the hallway where she abruptly stopped and looked down the stairs.
“Papa,” she said as I caught up with her and caught the eye of her dad. He was a young-ish looking man with bright red hair and a mustache that looked like it could take Charles Bronson down a peg or two,
“Anna,” he replied with a stoic look on his face that at once broke into a wide smile and turned to me. “And you must be Gregory?”
“Yes sir.”
“Come on down, the both of you. It seems we have a bit to ponder.”
Anna took my hand, and we walked down the steps then turned into the living room. The room had once again changed. Bathed in bright shades of red with more bookshelves and paintings on the wall. There was one painting that caught my eye. It was a picture of him in front of an old airplane.
“So, Wendy has informed us—”
“Of too much, too little,” Anna commented.
“Wendy has informed us your car has been stolen from you.”
Mr. Joel stepped to the side as Anna led us to a black leather couch. I did not recall seeing it earlier. I tried to hold my astonishment back, lest I ask a question that would make me question my sanity.
“Yeah, by a guy named Mick.”
Mr. Joel sighed as I said Mick’s name.
“Such an offensive name…but it appears he matches the dour meaning of that word.”
“His real name is Mike.”
Mr. Joel and looked to Mrs. Joel. “Are you up for a quick jaunt to town, my dear?”
Mrs. Joel smiled and nodded as Mr. Joel walked to the door. She joined him along with Wendy.
“I love getting to meet the local folk.”
Anna hoisted me back up; our hands never separated after walking down the stairs.
It was now our turn to the walk to the door.
“Mom’s car is a little loud compared to mine.”
We walked onto the porch and Anna closed the door. I turned to the driveway to see a black car, straight out of a Dick Tracy comic, sitting before us.
“You may want to hold your ears,” Anna whispered.
I slowly cupped my hands over my hands as Mr. Joel turned the key and the car started with a rumble and a roar before lowering to a quieter decibel.
I climbed into the back, sitting between Wendy and Anna.
Anna closed the door as Mr. Joel revved the engine and shifted into reverse.
The car backed onto the road and came to a calm stop. Then, Mr. Joel floored the accelerator, and we were driving down the road faster than I had ever driven. It almost felt we were going to take off at any second. The end of the street approached and Mr. Joel showed no intention of slowing down.
I gripped Anna’s hand tighter as I envisioned us either t-boning another car or driving into the house that sat on the other side of the road.
I closed my eyes and thought about all the thing I was never going to get to do: Live to see Mick go to jail on a plethora of charges; asking Anna to Prom; marrying Anna and building a house somewhere in the northwest. I opened my eyes and realized we were now on the main road. Either
I had fainted or something else happened. Anna only smiled.
We arrived at the auto yard with the gate closed, a rusty “closed” sign barely hanging onto the meta and a large lock on an ever-larger chian.
My heart sunk a little bit as I couldn’t see my car. I had to wonder if the owner had made it his personal mission to crush it shortly after we left earlier.
Mr. Joel stepped out of the car and turned to Mrs. Joel.
“I’ll see if the proprietor is able to come out and speak to us.”
Mrs. Joel as her husband walked to the gate and called out. “Good evening, sir? May we speak to you please?”
The owner, all three hundred or so pounds of himself, slowly walked up to the fence and spat out some brown liquid.
“Closed, Can’t you read the sign?”
“There is no sign, my good sir,” Mr. Joel said.
I looked to where the sign was and it was gone.
“You see the closed fence? It means we’re closed!”
“So, if this fence was indeed, open, then your business would be so, likewise?”
“Do you have a hearing problem?” The man barked as he spat out another mouthful of brown-tinted spit.
“No, sir. I am simply listening to your terms.”
“Gates closed. Go away!” The lot owner yelled as he turned and sauntered off.
Mr. Joel walked to the middle of the gate. “Then you must be opened,”
Mr. Joel pushed the gate open, causing Mr. Copenhagen to turn around, a surprised look on his face.
Mr. Joel walked past the gates and stopped a few few shy of the startled man.
“We’re looking for a small car from Germany. Perhaps, you have one.”
“Yeah…yeah, I have one.”
“Young Mr. Robison!” Anna’s dad called.
Anna dragged me into the lot, and we stood next to her father,
“Yes sir?”
“Do you see your car?”
I looked around the lot, my thoughts once again on the negative side as the car was most likely in little pieces.
“There it is,” Anna pointed.
I ran to the car but then remembered the key didn’t work earlier.
“It’s unlocked,” Anna noted from the other side.
We climbed in and I took a deep breath as I placed the key into the ignition, pushed down on the clutch, then the brake, and prayed the engine would start.
The starter whined for a few seconds before the engine rumbled and roared to life; louder than ever before.