Trucked

Chapter 7: Hole one

I sat there for a few moments, just trying to digress what the problem might possibly be, and then I shook my head. There was an auto repair shop right next to me, I would leave them to it. They probably knew what they were doing, at least more than me.
I hoped that was so at least, I knew that people in this part of the country were more handy with things than people in places like California were. I shook my head, California was one of the worst places for me, especially with me being a hispanic... People always gave me rude gestures when I walked around there.
I began walking to the auto repair shop. I hoped that it was open, it should be at least, this was just a normal wednesday, I had never heard of any sort of religion closing things down on a Wednesday, I'd only heard of places closing down on Saturday's and Sundays.
Besides, I did not really see Kansas as a religious state. Maybe a satanic state, the thought came into my mind and I shook it off right away. There had been some really scary, and evil shit that I had seen in the past few days, I never wanted to come through this state ever again.
I would much rather just drive a few more hours and go through Oklahoma or something, that always seemed like a fairly nice state each time that I had drove through it. I shivered for a few moments, afraid of even walking near another person in Kansas.
I had to do it though, if I wanted to get out of here with my truck in tact, unfortunately I was in the dead middle spot of Kansas right now. I couldn't just start walking, that would take me days, and I would not be able to rest knowing what this state was like.
If I even dared doing something like that, I would get fired from my job, my manager had threatened me with it several times. I had told the owners of the little business, and they had told him about it, and he got insanely upset at me because he knew it was me that had gone to them.
I hated my job, the only thing I had going for me, was the fact that it payed well, I made over 60,000$ a year from the job... I did not have to buy a house, because it was always non stop driving to random parts around the country.
To be honest, I was happy with it as well, because I was alone, and I did not have anyone to distract me or to make me angry. I had anger management issues, my parents always took me to counseling. At least, while they were still together...
I enjoyed the life of just being a trucker, I know a lot of people made fun of me for being one in the games I played. If I was to be honest with myself, I enjoyed the life of just being alone. I manage to crack a little smile for the first time in quite some time.
I then shook my head, if I did not start getting my truck back up any time soon, then I could get in real trouble with my manager. It was his fault in the first place, all he had to do was give me a truck that worked properly. I knew that company had plenty of money for it, my truck was year out of date.
I began walking to the auto repair shop, half looking at the surroundings around me at the same time, expecting at any moment to see another little girl run up towards me with a knife. I shook my head however, I knew that it was just something people were trying to do to scare me.
It was just not that funny of a joke to me, I did not have to time for stuff like that. Especially if these kids had really messed with my engine. I would get in a fair amount of trouble for not doing my job, even though it was not my fault, I knew that my manager would not listen to me.
I closed my eyes for a few moments, trying to relax myself... It was a joke, not funny at all to me, there was no way a young little girl could just kill a grown man like that. I knew that the guy was checking his surroundings at all times, if in fact he was really that scared.
I normally had a good sense of humor, but it was just not funny to me at all. I then kept on walking to the auto repair shop. I squinted my eyes to try to see what the sign said... Luckily it did not say that it was closed down, just that it said, "20% discount on Wednesdays"
Today was a Wednesday, I suppose today was my lucky day... Sort of, depending on how you wanted to view it. Not very lucky in the fact that my truck had shut down in the first place. I was not the one paying for it, but I knew it would slow me down to get to my end destination.
I kept on walking towards the place, the place looked pretty out of shape, but I could tell that it was still open due to the fact that there were lights blinking on and off from inside the store. I began to walk a little faster, I did not want to be outside for that long.
Once I was over to the front door of the shop, I walked in. I looked around, there was no one at the front register, but it was clearly open. There were not very many things for me to chose from however. I did not even know what was wrong with the truck in the first place, I just hoped I could fix it with something that they had in business.
I walked over to the front register, and I noticed that there was a bell at the front. I thought about ringing it for a few moments, but then thought it best not to. So far, the people that I had met around here were not all too friendly.
I sat there for about 4 or 5 minutes and then finally one of the people that worked in the store began walking over to the front. I nodded to him, the guys head was a little bit down, it seemed as if he was not having a good day either.
It seemed like no one in Kansas ever had a good day, this was not really the type of state that I wanted to live in. He walked over to the front register and then he nodded back to me. The guy actually managed to crack a smile as well, thankfully not an evil one either.
"Sorry brother, there is a bell, you could have rung that..." He said to me. I looked at him, and then I shook my head at him, in which, I could tell it confused him quite a bit.
"Nah... The people I have met in this area haven't been very friendly to me, just didn't want to test me luck." I said to him, being open and honest, just like my mother always told me. My father told me to do the opposite, because a lot of people have evil intents and would use that against you.
I did not know who was right or wrong, I knew I had a couple people that had used my own words against me before. But most people that I tended to meet, while a lot of them could be a bit harsh to me, it did not seem that they had an evil state of mind.
That was one thing that I did not agree with on my dad on. That was a lot of the reason that we no longer talked, I suppose I understand why my mother divorced him now. This guy, how I judged him so far, he did not seem like the rest of the people I had met.
"Yeah, some shady shit going on around here, but you didn't hear it from me... But anyways, you don't look to be from around here, what do you need help with today?" He said to me. I nodded to him, happy that he had gotten straight to the point.
I had done enough talking for now, I just wanted to get my truck back to working again, and then just get out of here. This guy had just admitted to there being some shady stuff going on in here. I was not sure what he meant by that, I was also not sure if I wanted to ask.
"My truck is down, I'm not sure what is wrong with it, some kids were messing with my engine yesterday, so I have a feeling it might be something to do with that." I said to him. He looked at me for a few moments, taking in what I had just said to him, he then nodded to me.
He stroked his chin for a few moments and then he walked away from the register, and then he began going through some things in the back. I waited for a little while longer, the guy was cool, so I was not too upset on having to wait.
After a few more moments, he finally walked back to the front register, from whatever room he was just in, and who knows what he was doing in there. He walked back with some machine in his hand and then he nodded to me.
"Yeah, the kids around these parts can be a bit of some pricks, I am going to take my best guess on what it was, lets go ahead and go out there." He said to me. I looked at him, and then I nodded to him, I hope he wouldn't get upset at the fact that my truck was all the way down the road.
We walked out of the store and he began looking around the parking lot for a few moments. He was a little bit confused at where my truck might be at. He would not be able to see it from here anyways. I stopped him before he began to get too confused.
"My truck is further down the road, sorry, it went down before I could make it across." I said to him. He looked at me for a few moments, I bit surprised, this was probably the first time that something like this had happened to him, so I did not blame him for it at all.
He then nodded to me, and then began walking around for a little while longer, I was a bit confused as to what he was doing. But then he turned his head back towards me, and he nodded once again. The guy must be new to the job, he probably did not know what to do.
"Alright... No problem, I will just go and get my toe truck." He said to me. I looked at him for a few moments, as he then began walking to the back side of the store. But then I realized what he was talking about, and I stopped him just before he could walk too far away from me.
"No... It's a big truck, I am a truck driver, there's no need for a toe truck." I said to him. He looked at me a little bit surprised, but then he nodded. He probably realized now why he had not seen me around this area. He then began to walk back into the store, and then he pointed for me to follow him.
I walked back into the store with him, I was a bit confused. Was he about to tell me that he could not work on the truck if it was over there? If so, then I was in a lot of trouble, it was a good thing that I had 2 bars of service in this area for my phone.
"Alright, we can work with that, it might take quite some time, so you can go find something to do during that time, its going to take us some time to figure out what is wrong, and bring the parts we need over there." He said to me. I looked at him and then nodded.
I was a bit confused as to who he might be talking about when he said "us" but I suppose that I shouldn't be. I doubt that someone would be working in an auto repair shop on their own. I just looked at him at then nodded.
I was also a bit confused as to what he was talking about to do around this area, but then I remembered that I had seen a put put place on the map very close to the auto shop. I was not a big fan of put put, but I did need something to do for the time being.
He then nodded back to me and then went to the back of the shop, to go look for some things that he might need, at least that is what I would assume. I sat there for a few more moments for some odd reason, but then my mind came back to the present and I nodded to myself.
I then began to walk over to the front door of the auto shop, once I was over to it, I opened it and then I walked out of the shop. I looked around the area to spot where I was I was and where the put put place was, and then I nodded once I saw it.
It was about 300 feet to the right, I began slowly walking over to it, I did not really want to play put put. I was always terrible at putting, back in the day, when I used to go play golf, or disc golf with my father. This was completely different than both but I still was not a big fan of it.
Once I was over to the place, I spotted a few other cars, and 1 or 2 people playing on the course. I looked at the course, and then I nodded to myself. The people were alone with themselves, such as I... I felt a bit bad for them, but I should be more worried about myself right now.
I walked up to the front, and then opened the front door to the put put place. I looked around to see where the register was, and then I spotted it in the far left of the shop. I also spotted a drink machine, and I walked over to the drink machine first.
The price on it was 2$ and it did not have a card on it. I opened my wallet, a fair bit upset, but I suppose I should not be, I was lucky enough to not have to pay for whatever it was that was going on with my truck. I did not know how much it was going to cost me, I knew if the kids had ruined something in my engine, it could cost me up to nearly a thousand.
I picked up a 5 dollar bill, and I put it into the machine. I then pressed on the Dr. Pepper drink. It sat there for a few moments, not doing a single thing, even though I had heard that the machine had registered the fact that I had pressed on the Dr. Pepper.
I looked to see if it said it was empty, but the machine just went back to saying that the price was 2$. After a few more seconds of me sitting there in silence, and me starting to get fairly upset, the Dr. Pepper then began rolling down the machine.
I heard it land at the bottom, and then I picked it up, I smiled at it, and then looked at the expiration date on it. Luckily it had not gone bad quite yet. This place was definitely a lot busier than any of the other places in the area.
Maybe Kansas was not so bad, I had just gotten a bad early vibe. I then sat there for a little while longer, waiting for the quarters to spit out, but as I waited for nearly a minute, the machine seemed as if it was not working for me once again.
I sat there, starting to get a bit angry once again. But then I heard the guy at the register talk to me. He had clearly seen what had just happened to me.
"Damn bro, how much did you put in there, the coin machine doesn't work in there." He said to me. I turned my head to him, and I began to get even more upset, not at the guy. But he could tell that I was a fair bit angry and he moved back a little almost as if he thought that I was about to attack him.
I closed my eyes for a few moments, and tried my best to remain calm, just like my mother had always taught me to do. After a few more moments I opened my eyes and looked at the guy dead in his eyes. But I looked at him with a straight face.
"I put 5 in there, I guess I am just lucky to not put 10. Can you guys give me the 3 dollars back?" I asked the guy. He looked at me for a few moments, stroking his chin. Then he shook his head at me, I began to get a little bit upset once again.
I tried not to be, I did not blame him, I just wish I would have known that before, because I had 5 1$ bills in my wallet as well, I just felt like being a bit lazy and putting a 5$ bill in there instead. I suppose that was my mistake, at least the machine had given me the Dr. Pepper and I had not wasted 5$.
"Hey, sorry man... Here's what I'll do for you, if you are planning on playing a round, Ill give you the 10$ children's pass over the 15$ adult pass, if that makes you feel any better." He said to me. I looked at the guy for a few moments, and then I took in what he had said to me.
It made me get a little bit of a smile, as I nodded to him. That basically meant that I was going to have a free Dr. Pepper. I looked at the guy, and then nodded to him. He then began running up the price on the machine.
Maybe I had a bad first impression on what the people were like in this state, the last 2 people actually seemed to be pretty cool. This guy was a a younger teenager, but at least he understood why it made me get a bit upset. That was good business.
"Thank you... I appreciate that." I said to him. He looked at me for a few moments, and then he smiled back at me, he then nodded to me as well. I then opened my wallet, and I pulled out a 10$ bill. I knew that my manager would not pay for a game of put put.
He opened the register and then he began to put the 10$ bill that I handed to him. He then handed me the putter and a ball. He then began talking to me once again.
"Be careful, it can be a bit messy on hole one."