If Cars Could Think 11

Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

"Why, exactly, am I doing this?" Reeve asked.

"Because you work here," Ruben replied, slowing to a halt beside the brick apartments that towered over the main offices. Reeve's been even more annoying lately, Ruben thought, or maybe it's just because now I know about what he was saying to Kendra.

"I just can't help but feel like I'm taking a roll backwards in a sense—as if my training wasn't prolonged enough. Robert said I had to follow you. It's like I'm back in training again."

Ruben shifted his wheels slowly on the pavement as his driver hopped out and started walking inside. "I wouldn't call it training, Reeve. Supervision, maybe."

"Supervision for what?" he snorted. "Because I drank on a weekend, and said something stupid, which I'll gladly apologize for?"

Ruben bounced his springs, preferring to appear neutral about the issue. "I'm just following Robert's orders." But Kendra is Casey's sister, and Reeve made her uncomfortable with the weird comments he made. So, obviously, I've already picked a side. I'm sure Reeve sees that himself.

"Hmph," Reeve grunted. "This is gonna be fun. Do you know Robert has me cleaning out the dog cages for a whole month? Probably every day? And on top of that, I'm not getting that little vacation with everybody else in spring."

"Sounds like you're just complaining now." Ruben kept his gaze focused on the bricks in front of him, trying to appear just as calm as he was. I don't hate Reeve, but I definitely don't agree with him.

"You know I'm just a screw-up, right? Not to shift the blame—I get I did some messed up stuff." He paused as a loud truck rolled by; perhaps lost in thought, or waiting for the noise to die down. "My mother's dead, and I can't blame every inconvenience in my life on that, but sometimes, I want to."

Ruben twitched his side mirrors, feeling a pit open up inside of him. Everyone knows his mother died. But we're all too scared to mention it. "Believe me, I have a lot of pity for you, Reeve," he said. "I don't know what I'd do if something happened to my mother, even as an adult. And I never had a father growing up, but that doesn't affect the way I treat Casey." Maybe, sometimes, it does. Like when I didn't want to have that baby. But, we worked through that.

"Did your father die?" Reeve's headlights flickered for a moment, and Ruben thought maybe he saw longing in them.

Does he want my father to be dead? So he can relate to me? He's good as dead, anyways. "He's not dead," Ruben explained. "I don't think so, anyways. I just never met him. He was never actually with my mom. My existence wasn't intentional—you could say I was the unfortunate mistake of a one night stand."

Reeve's headlights dulled, and his suspension tensed up. "Did your mom ever tell your dad... that she had you?"

"I think so, because he left her money for me. And she used it to get me into government school, which is the only reason I'm here."

"Then you get to see the foolish young trucks like me, getting in here without any government training." He sighed. "It probably makes you feel almost worthless, and cheated. I don't think I deserve to be here, either, but that's Robert's fault, not mine. Everyone here is going to hate me now anyways, because they all know I was a jerk to Kendra. What ever happened to forgiveness?"

"They'll come around," Ruben promised. "You'll be all right."

Reeve glanced him over for a moment, almost as if wondering whether those words had any weight to them, coming from someone like Ruben. I'm only a year older than him, and my wise words might feel almost phony to him. But, I'm only telling him what I've come to find is the truth, during my time here with this fleet. They always forgive. We're a family.