Trucked

Chapter 8: Broken Fuel Line

I smiled, maybe this was good, if there was a good, he sure had a weird way of showing me what good was like. This entire day I had been worried that at any moment I was going to get attacked or killed. The truck going down, it sure was a weird day of bringing light to my day, but it sure as hell worked.
I smiled as I walked out of the back door of the mini golf course. I saw someone else on hole 7, but he looked a bit upset to see me there with him. I looked away and did not think about why that might be so, too deeply. I was just here to have fun, and play a game of mini golf.
It had been quite a long time since I had done this, I remember my parents used to take me out mini golfing at one of those old school arcade places about once a month or so... Those were the only good memories that I had with my parents together... After they quit that it all started to go downhill.
Maybe something like this, was what a family needed to keep themselves together. I shook my head trying not to think too deep on it. All that I knew, was that it sure as hell was working to keep myself together. Any thought besides those devilish thoughts in my head were better than that.
I then looked at the first hole, and noticed what the guy had meant by there was a bit of trouble on the course. I saw that the grass, so to say, was soaked in water... Which was weird because it did not seem humid at all here, I shook my head and then I tapped in towards the first hole.
The ball was going towards the hole, but just as it started getting closer, it stopped because of the water that was soaked into the soil. I cursed myself quietly, as I could still see the guy was still looking back at me from time to time, but it seemed like he had gotten over it.
He probably was going to play more than one round, and I was pretty sure that you had to pay an extra price for that when you came to places like these. I shook my head, and my thoughts went back to what had just happened to me.
That was ridiculous, the water was supposed to get the ball going not stop it. I shook my head and then slowly walked over to the ball that was sitting just an inch or so away from the hole.
I felt like flowing a ghast of air on it to try to get it to fall in, but I was not that much of a cheater, even if it was just a round by myself. I shook my head, still a bit upset at what had just happened. I then tapped the ball into the hole, I then looked at the other holes, this was going to be a fairly long round for me...

I walked up to the final hole, it was sort of like the first hole, except there were double ramps, one right after another. I looked at it for a few moments, thinking on how I wanted to get through this. Thinking back on how I had played the rest of the course so far.
I closed my eyes, hole 1 was the closest I had gotten to a hole in one, as a matter of fact, while I was a bit embarrassed to say it, it was also the only hole that I had gotten a 2 on. The last hole I had been on I had gotten a 6, I kept on missing easy puts, over and over.
I thought about the ramps for a few moments longer and then I nodded to myself. It was a trick, if you barely put it past the first ramp, there was no way you would make it past the 2nd on the 1st shot... If you hit it too hard the ball could roll over the edge.
I began to stroke my chin, thinking about how I was going to get through this, the hole said Par 2, so there had to be some sort of way to get a hole in one on this, surely right? As I thought about it more and more, I then came to the realization of what it was that it was about to have to do.
I was going to have to hit it at the perfect speed, to get over the 2nd ramp,  but then also bounce of the insanely small wall that was behind the hole and then bounce in and score. I closed my eyes for a few moments, thinking about it happening in my head, I then nodded to myself.
I opened my eyes and walked over to where I had left the ball on the tea pad. I then looked up one last time to gage how hard I needed to hit it... Fairly hard, but at the same time, not hard enough to easily plop over to small little wall behind the hole.
Then I hit it, I watched as it got over the 1st bump, but then as it got up to the 2nd, it looked like it was not going to make it, and I was damn sure the water on the soil was going to slow it down. I watched as it got to the top of the ramp, and it stopped directly at the top.
I was just about curse myself for the odds of it sticking to the very top of the ramp, but then I saw it begin to slowly fall down the hill. Right towards the hole, I ran closer to it, freaking out, as it then hit directly into the hole. I began to cheer quietly to myself, noticing there was a mother with her 2 daughters and her son with her.
I ran over to pick up the ball, but then I saw that it was one of the holes that when you landed in it, the ball went all the way back over to the front register of the store. I wondered if the other guy knew that, he probably got very upset at the hole, and then when he landed in he got even more upset that he couldn't pull his ball out.
I smiled and then began to jog up to the front register to give the guy my putting stick. I looked at a piece of paper a little bit closer, to see what it said. I then saw what it said and a part of me in my head got excited thinking about things like that, that had happened in the past.
"Hole in one on hole 9, and get a free kit kat..." I then shook my head, those were probably just for little kids, but a part of me could not forget those good old memories that I had with my parents. I smiled at it, and the guy at the front took the stick, a bit cautious, wondering why I was just smiling at him.
"Sorry, just thinking of good memories of the past... Thank you! I'll make sure to give you a 5 star review on google." I said to the guy. The guy looked at me for a few moments longer, and then he smiled back at me, and nodded as well.
He then looked up at the ceiling of his small little room, he was clearly thinking about something, though I did not have much of a clue of what it might be. I was just happy to see a smile off of another persons face... It had been quite a long time since I had seen that.
"Thanks man, that'll make my father happy! Glad you enjoyed it, and its all good, we all wish that we could go back in the past..." He said to me. I looked at him for a few moments, he was a young teen, but he talked as if he was a lot older than that.
The way that he treated others was also like that as well, he was a good kid with a good spirits, I was happy to meet the guy. I nodded back at the guy, and he smiled at me once and then walked back up to the front register, seeing that there was people up there waiting for him.
I began to walk out of the put put place, over to the gas station, to get a drink... But then I shook my head, although I was a bit thirsty after being in the hot sun of Kansas in the middle of July. I did not want the manager getting mad at the fact that I had used the same gas station twice.
I knew that my tank was running low on fuel... I saw that the guy was also standing by my truck, he was waiting for me, he looked a bit upset wondering why I had taken so long probably. I shook my head about it, it was a different guy than I had seen before.
The owner of that store if I had to guess. I began walking over to the guy, as he rolled his eyes as I drew closer to him. I had a bad feeling about this, just based off of the look that the guy was giving me, I had a feeling whatever it was, was going to cost a lot of money.
It was a damn good thing that it was not coming out of my pocket, it was not the first time that I had to go to an auto repair shop either. Hopefully that would get my manager to finally get a new truck for me, he was not even the one that was going to pay for it in the first place, but I guess he was good friends with the owner I suppose.
As a drew closer to the guy, I then nodded to him, for some reason he looked like a guy that was not very smart, but he was looking at me like he was smarter than me... I suppose it was like that everywhere in the country though, just about everyone thought they were smarter than you...
"So what's wrong with it?" I said to the guy. He looked at me for a few moments, and then he turned his head to the back side of the truck, were I put my gas in the get the truck to drive, and he nodded towards it, it came as a bit of a surprise to me...
"You didn't put diesel in kid... You've got a broken fuel line..."