FLEX THESE MUSCLES

The end of a long, chilly day, with two hands in the thick of it; one to help me, the other to help them, brought a huge sigh of relief. This new job, just a few months in, had given me the hours to ramp up my game. Not a computer geek by a long shot, but the one to do stuff the average person knows a whole lot of nothing about; vehicle maintenance.

Cars and trucks were always a thing growing up ‘in the sticks’. Us kids had to make do with whatever version we had of toys. Our uncles had more junk around their houses, and we were happy to make up our own ‘towns’ with stores and places to ride bikes. We had a blast! One day our dad came home with a crap can of a car that was a heap of junk from his dealership friend. It was a glory day to us as young teens when he let us drive it around the back field and into the woods. There was excitement all around when the hood was popped, and we saw firsthand how it all worked to get this beast cranked up. The interest never faded with me as I look back over the best times of life with all our bikes, and those random cars.

Today, I worked more shifts than anyone could imagine. And by that, I mean fixing car and truck shifts; three, four and some fives. These were on the steering wheel column or on the floor in badass Mustangs, Challengers, Camaros, and Chargers. It was over the top to see these beauty queens all at once. This chilly time of year hit everyone differently, but I knew that when each of these monsters hit the ground, their heat would blow everyone into t-shirt mode. Now, I was finishing a damn good pay day whistling to a Chris Stapleton tune and scrubbing the grease off my knuckles. I shut the water off and grabbed a towel just as the cuckoo clock struck 6pm. Done! Tools were packed up, the bay swept clean, and all was left for tomorrow and another heavy workday.

I had no clue for the reason in the recent surge of fancy car tune-ups, oil changes, tire rotates and other fixes, until my boss clued me in. There was an event soon to happen at the Motor Speedway in the next county; Muscles Pumped Up Road Event. Ticket sales were over the top as muscle cars were the top featured vehicles for anyone with interest in the past era of these eye candy vehicles. “Get ready for the traffic to hit the area.” The boss warned us to come prepared for anything and everything. As I got ready to head out, he wanted to make sure I was ready to take on more chaos. “Hey, you put in a good job today!” I was given a thumbs up and shrugged my shoulders as I walked out of the shop. The others were still bantering about the heavy cost of these vehicles, their pompous owners and what the drivers were paid to play the game. Whatever.

My ‘hot rod’ was a classic rusted 1980 Toyota Corolla hand-me-down from my uncle. I had to just get by with this thing as I was saving up for a new one, whatever that version would come to be. The door squeaked when I gave a heavy yank of the handle. I sat for a moment just contemplating life and an evening of nothing planned.

It was dark out with just a few stars, when I turned the Rolls on and shifted to leave the lot. Suddenly, I braked quickly as a person walking near me had dropped a huge bag of groceries and some of the items rolled underneath my car. I put it in neutral, pulled the emergency brake on, and jumped out.  “Oh, no!” It was a young lady whose items spewed all over the place. I grabbed a bag from my car and quickly began to help gather stuff and told her, “I gotcha. Okay?” She was so thankful that there were no other cars around and we got everything back together.

“I was just heading to my night job and had bought some groceries to bring back to my apartment just uptown.” She thanked me sincerely for the help. “What the heck did I trip on?” She belittled herself for the mess kicking herself down the street. I put up my hands and said, “You are fine. We all do things that aren’t perfect.” I pointed to myself, “Except me. I’m the exception!” I laughed at myself to break up the bleak moment. She saw the humor in me and laughed, too.

I offered to help her on the way to her job, but she just politely waved me off. “I’m in that office right over there.” She pointed to a small building far away that had one light on. “My co-worker and I are up to our eyeballs tonight with work.” She groaned and rolled her eyes. “Just another event to get through.” Smiling with a cheesy grin she walked across the street then turned and called out, “Hey, thank you! Maybe we’ll bump into each other again.” I answered, “No dumping food in the road this time!” We both laughed, then I got back in my car and drove past her as she went into the building.

A new day was here, and another muscle car overload was waiting for service. It was a lot to fix, but it was great to be part of this event. Our boss surprised each of us with a free ticket that was given by the organizers of the 5-day Muscles Pumped Up Road Event. We were all excited and psyched about going to such a unique show. I said straight up, “Hell ya! I’ll be there on the first day!”

We got through all the fixes needed for each vehicle that day and the next day after that down to the last and final one; it was a Shelby. And my absolute favorite of the all the cars worked on. We elbow bumped and congratulated all of us on the load of work that was tough but so much fun going down memory lane. We did have ‘50s music playing over and over just to go back to the past and be part of it in our own way.

The young lady I met in an odd way, would come to mind over the days. We seemed to click, and it felt real. Is she on her own and could we meet up this time for a coffee or drink? How ironic she worked right down the street and across from the car shop.

Today was the first day. Everywhere we went the event filled the air with a John Travolta vibe from the movie GREASE. We kept the music blaring just for the time. The traffic began through the town and well into the event in the next county. The news was breaking about who was driving these stellar vehicles. Crazy! Our day has become a regular car fix one for the average customer now that the flurry of muscle cars were pumped up and on to the show. I didn’t feel rushed to get to the first day with traffic being the factor. Suddenly, an unexpected face came through the window. The young lady from the other night was outside the shop talking to the boss. Why was she here? The boss knocked on the garage window to get my attention and motioned me to step outside. I tossed my tools in the bag and stepped out. I greeted the lady and said, “What’s up, Boss?” He smiled and said, “I take it you know this young lady.” I nodded. He paused and I felt something was going on. “Well, there’s a glitch in the matrix. I’ll let her explain it to you.” He stepped away to let her and I talk.

“Hi, again!” The young lady put her hand out and introduced herself. “My family runs the muscle car event, and we have a last-minute problem with a driver.” I was in shock but even more so when she offered an unbelievable opportunity. “I am aware of the years of your ability with cars from fixing to driving everything. Can you help and be the one to step up at the last minute?” The next words were timeless when she asked if I could be in the event and drive a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat V8.

There was no hesitation at all when I looked at the smile from my boss.

“YES! Let’s get this party started!”