Parole (Hypernaturals 7)

Bristol Fashion

"I can't believe I get my car stolen and I have to pay hundreds of damn dollars to get it back." Helen complained.

We all are in the Police impound yard, and watching the Impound employee moving wrecked cars around to get to Helen's Hyundai, parked up against a fence. One night, and it is already buried.

The car was found abandoned, driven up off the road and up onto the esplanade between two roads down by Lady Bird Lake. It was out of fuel, and Tommy had no money to fill it so he left it. We never got around to talking to him about things like cars needing gas, or any other thing. He could drive, but we did all his shopping for food and stuff, so we sort of figured he might say 'I need gas'.

He never did, we never thought to look. When it stopped, he walked away from it. Keys in the ignition.

Now we have Helen's car back. Morgan being an ex-Cop and familiar with the process and the legalize around it flipped through the yard paperwork as we waited for the car to be brought forward.

"Nothing we did not already know. I am glad they told us about the fuel." Morgan reported, folding the papers. The yard guy already looked at documents to be sure we could take the car.

Jessica had a 2.5 gallon gas can in each gloved hand.

The machine the impound lot employee was using to re-arrange cars had forks he could wrap under the front tires. He dragged the car out into the center of the yard.

"Could you leave that up like that for a moment please?" Morgan yelled, and the guy nodded.

The yard is muddy as hell, so Morgan carefully got down and looked up under the front end. Jessica popped the gas cap and started adding fuel.

"Well, I hope this thing drives." Morgan said. "Front spoiler shattered. Looked like the rims are slightly bent. I bet the alignment is gone. The driver's side control arm is slightly bent. We may have to tow it back to the house to fix it."

"Or drive it to the dealer and let them fix with it." Helen snapped. "You two have better things to do than fix my stupid little car."

Helen is not a big fan of automobiles.

"Jessica and I can fix anything that is wrong with this car, Helen. No problem. Why we have that lovely garage." Morgan said.

"Exactly, Helen." Jessica agreed, starting on the second can of petrol.

Morgan stood up and made lowering motions. "Thank you!" Morgan shouted over the motor of the machine. He nodded and dropped the car.

Morgan next opened the hood and seemed to be looking deep down in the compartment past the engine. Jessica came and looked in next to her.

"Struts look OK." Morgan told Jessica. "At least, there is no obvious deflection in the top of the towers."

Jessica nodded and peered in deeply. "Most of the linkages I can see look OK"

"It's probably drivable. Not pleasant, but we should be able to get it to the house. It will scrub off some tread, but we need to replace the tires anyway. Incipient belt separation on both front tires. I never liked this brand anyway." Morgan told her.

"Agreed, but getting Helen to buy good tires is like pulling teeth." Jessica told her.

"Or we could take it to the dealer." Helen said again, louder.

Jessica and Morgan ignored her.

"Let's fire it up." Jessica said and got in. It took surprisingly little cranking to get the motor going.

Morgan and Jessica listened. "OK: Let's see if she'll drive." Jessica said.

"They are going to ignore me utterly, aren't they?" Helen asked me.

"Yep." I agreed. "You are trying to take away their fun. Look at the dark side: while they are fixing your car, I can chase you around the house naked."

"With just the Crew and Rachel to watch." Helen complained.

"Nothing they haven't seen before." I said.

"That is true, although I think that perhaps Denise would dive in with a bowl of Guacamole given half a chance." Helen told me.

"Probably. She did seem quite keen on that topic." I said.

Morgan got into the passenger seat, and Jessica adjusted the drivers' side so it was correct for her, not Tommy. They started rolling along the grass to the gate. Jessica tossed me the keys as they drove by where Helen and I were standing.

"Come on. The girls have a new toy. Let's go to the wine bar you like ..." I suggested.

"You don't think we should follow them home? Make sure they make it?" Helen asked.

"We can if you want. However, I do not think Morgan AND Jessica would have driven off in it without saying a word to US if they were concerned. Up to you. A chance for some you and I time."

I watched them pull away through the gate, then through the front of the car yard, then out onto the street. Not even a glance back at us standing there. "I am not sure we exist in their world at the moment." I concluded.

Helen watched her hated car drive away. "Fuck. Now I have to keep the damn thing."

"It will be Ship-Shape and Bristol fashion when they are done though." I told her as we started walking out of the enclosed yard back to where we parked the Honda.

"Do you even know what that means?" Helen asked.

"I always assumed it meant it was in good shape, and that the fashions of Bristol were being observed somehow." I told her.

"Port of Bristol. Had very low tides before they built a lock system to solve that, and ships would often go aground, and tip. Shipmasters had to be sure that everything was secured, or it would all go canting about." Helen explained.

"So Bristol fashion means 'tied down' then. Interesting." I said.

I started the car. "Where to?"

"The Driskill, downtown. Lovely bar. I have some Claremont tucked back there. They have local craft beer as well. Nice rooms." Helen replied.

"I see. We going home tonight?" I asked.

"Maybe." Helen said with a very noncommittal shrug.

"Tell me more about Bristol then." I said, setting course.

"It was built before I was born, in the 13th century..." Helen started.

One thing I love about being married to Helen is learning about history from someone that was actually there and saw it.