With You, Or Without You

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

                The whole house smelled like bacon and eggs.  I got out of the bed, put a pair of jeans on and a long sleeve shirt.  Placed my cap on my head and opened the curtains.  Made sure to make the bed before I made my way downstairs to the kitchen.  The smell, smelled amazing being in the room where it was cooking.

                "Good morning Miss Ally," I smiled and leaned on the island in the middle of the room.  Her back was faced to me, still cooking over the gas stove.  

                 "Morning Wyatt.  How'd you sleep?" she turned around with a plate piled with eggs and bacon.  "Well go sit at the table, you're not thinking about standing and eating- are you?" she gave me this look that sent shivers up my spine.

                  I shook my head and took a seat at the dinning room table. "That's what I thought," she put the plate in front of me.  I took a big bite of eggs and ended up being slapped so hard in the back of the head I spit the food back onto my plate.

                 "I know you look like a dog who hasn't been feed in a week, and you're stomach probably feels that way as well.  But in my house, we say grace before each meal.  Together." she fixed her plate and sat down next to me.  I held onto her extended hand and closed my eyes like she had ordered.

                 "Bless O Lord," I opened one eye to watch her speak, "this food for thy use and us thy loving service; and keep us ever mindful of the needs of others," I quickly shut my eye before she could see me and joined her in the last word, "Amen."

                   She gave my hand a light squeeze before letting go.  We started to eat- finally.  I felt like a starved dog by how fast I was eating compared to her.  I, as causally as I could, slowed my pace down.  

                   We talked a lot about the town and things going on in the world.  There's no mechanic in town anymore, Earl had died last year and hadn't passed the business on to anybody, since then people have had to bring their cars to other towns, which was difficult and expensive.  Earl had also worked on tractors and anything with an engine or a pair of wheels.  Shops out of town won't help the people of Winona with anything but cars.  People are having to fix them themselves or go out and buy a new one.  I had told her all about how I can fix those things, easy.  Later today, now we're going down to the town hall to get me a job as the town mechanic.  I have no clue how I went from only knowing one person in a town with a residence fewer than one thousand people, to being the one and only mechanic to a thousand people.

                  I went upstairs to brush my teeth and fix my hair before going to meet the mayor.  Miss Ally cleaned up breakfast.  She said he was a relaxed guy, and if I'm as good as I say I am at being a mechanic I shouldn't worry.  But this would be my second step in settling down, and it is a big deal to me.  It's  all kind of, well it is sudden.  I don't exactly look like a guy you hand out job applications to either.  I look like a mess.  Dress in black everyday like I'm trying to be the next Johnny Cash.  Look like a bum with black hair shielding my face everywhere.  I spit the toothpaste into the sink and rinsed it out.  Wiped my mouth and headed down stairs.  

                When I walked downstairs, Miss Ally was nowhere in sight.  I called for her a few times, just to get silence as an answer.  I swear I jumped my full height into the air, but I did find out where Miss Ally was.  When I looked out the livingroom's windows, Miss Ally was sitting in the drivers seat of her 1966 vintage ford F100 truck, laying heavy on the horn.  I ran out and jumped in the passengers seat before she broke her whole arm pushing on the horn.  She laughed at me and pulled out of the driveway.  She sure doesn't act like the little, old, sweet lady she makes herself look like.  We drove down the road, very loudly.  Wasn't the truck that was loud, was Miss Ally.  Lady's not shy at all, when she turned the radio on, she sang right along to every word.  She even turned it down a few times, claiming she couldn't hear herself.  Found that hard to believe, I bet every cow in this cow town heard her singing.