Memory Lane

The summer sun was high in the horizon. The neighbourhood was filled with the voices of chattering children playing in the streets, and the sound of neighbours greeting each other as they tended to their lawns. Down Maple Lane, fifteen houses in on the left-hand side, stood the grey-brick house. Inside lived the mechanic, Michael Harper. He was the owner of a local mechanic shop three blocks away. He was always out of his house, fixing something or creating something exotic. But not this day. 

This day, Michael sat in his chair by his window with his broken leg propped up on a stool and his crutches leaning against the wall. In his right hand was a book about the evolution of modern-day mechanics. He had a plate with two roast beef sandwiches on his lap. Michael had been so engrossed in his book that he didn’t hear his neighbour, Riley Jacobs, ring the doorbell. 

Riley waited at the door for a minute before walking away. Michael saw her shadow pass by and put his book on the table next to him. He grabbed his crutch and tapped on the window. She turned and waved. She started to say something, but all Michael heard was just the muffled sound of her voice. Michael put his plate on top of his book and stretched to open the window.

“Hey, sorry, can you repeat that?” Michael asked as he sat back.

“Mr. Harper, is it?” Riley asked.

“Yeah, Michael Harper.” Michael nodded.

“I got your mail by accident the other day. I left it in your mailbox at the front door for you.” Riley said.

“Thanks.” Michael grinned sheepishly.

Riley nodded.  “I haven’t really seen you since we moved in, and that was several years ago! I feel so rude.”

“Oh,” Michael waved his hand in front of his face, “it’s on me! I’m always at work. Hey, what’s your profession?”

“I’m a teacher at the elementary school around the corner.” Riley replied.

Michael raised his eyebrows. “Elementary teacher? That takes a lot of guts.”

“It’s not for the weak of heart.” Riley chuckled. 

“Where’re your kids and stuff?” Michael asked. “They’re usually runnin’ around the whole neighbourhood makin’ some sort of racket or trouble just like the next kid.”

“They’re at a day camp.” Riley explained. “What happened to your leg?”

“Aw, it’s nothin’ really. I just got hit by a car.” Michael said. “I’d just finished fixing this guy’s car, a new driver, I think, and then, he didn’t realize he was in reverse and ran me over. It’s quite amusing, actually.”

Riley smiled. “That’s one way to pay you.”

“Yeah, but I like cash or credit much better.” Michael snickered. “I don’t exactly enjoy being paralyzed for several weeks and away from my job.”

“You love your job, don’t you?” Riley asked.

“Oh, yeah.” Michael nodded vigorously. “Mechanics’ve always been my dream. I love every bit of it. I love just the feeling of fixing something. I even dabble a bit in inventing.”

Riley raised her eyebrows. “Oh, my, inventing? That’s one crazy business.”

“I suppose.” Michael shrugged. “When I was little, me and my twin sister’d pull these massive pranks on our older sister. I’d put the robot together, and she’d program it to do insane stuff. Once, we even made a robot to start singing the national anthem at five in the morning when our sister was asleep. Our parents were away for the week, and she was looking after us. We pulled a crazy prank every morning.”

Riley laughed heartily.  “Your sister must’ve been so fed up with you two! What did she do?”

“Well,” Michael smiled, “every morning, we’d pull a prank to wake her up. Then, she’d throw her hands up in the air and yell at us. Then, we’d laugh and leave the room. Do you know what she did then? Go back to sleep!”

Michael and Riley both laughed hard. 

“You and your twin sound like you two were a pain when you were younger.”

“Oh, I’m sure you got into some mischief, yourself. It’s always the teachers the get into some wild trouble when they’re younger.”

“I did, but I always had a plan to get my little brother in trouble. For example, I’d take all of the cookies and lead it back to him. He got into so much trouble for things he didn’t do.”

“Subtle and evil. We would’ve gotten along as wicked little pranksters. We could’ve both been headaches to our teachers.”

“Well, I was actually good in school. I was a teacher’s pet. Just a pain at home. I was the student body president in high school. Twice, actually. I was always pointing out the kids who were doing something wrong, and everyone hated me for that.”

“Oh, the goody-two-shoes that had a wicked little soul. Sounds very devious. You would make a great villain in some fiction story.”

“Hm, I think I’m supposed to be flattered by that.”

Michael laughed. 

“So, what were you like in school?”

“Oh, I was a sharp student that was also a sharp pain in every teacher’s posterior. And athletic. I was always breaking something by practicing for lacrosse or basketball with my sister.”

“Which one?”

“My twin.”

“You and she did a lot together, didn’t you?”

“Oh, you bet! Me and her, we had good times. Yep. We were a lot alike. Mainly because we always teamed up on our sister, so that gave us a reason to hang out. Then, we kind of became like each other with our own unique Harper twist.”

“She sounds like a fun person to be around.”

“Oh, definitely. Smart, funny, and knows how to have a good time. She’s currently a data analyst in Vancouver.”

“That’s relatively far from home. Do you see her often?”

“Eh, not too much. Just for like Christmas and stuff. She likes her work and dives deep into it.”

“Just like you, huh?”

“Yeah.  But we never let our work get in the way of a little one-on-one in basketball.”

“Did you play in school?”

“You bet. I was the two-time captain on the lacrosse and basketball teams and was a part of the robotics’ club. I was a busy kid. Always doing something every day of the week. And I still had time to visit my uncle’s mechanic shop.”

“Did your uncle encourage you to pursue your career?”

“Yep, my uncle Ted really inspired me.”

“He owned the mechanic shop?”

“Oh, yeah, Teddy’s Ready Mechanic Shop. Catchy, huh?”

“Teddy’s Ready Mechanic Shop? Your uncle, you say?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Captain of the lacrosse and basketball teams? Twice?”

“What’s wrong, Riley?”

“Nothing, nothing is wrong.”

“What kind of stuff were you into in school?”

“Academic related things mainly. I volunteered at the library often because I spent so much time there. They called me, ‘Surd the Nerd.’”

“Surd?”

“Yeah, that’s my maiden name.”

“Wait, Riley Surd the Nerd? Two-time student body president? Say, you didn’t happen to go to Jaywood High, did you?”

“Yeah. Are you…?”

“Mickey Harper.”

“Mickey Harper?” Riley laughed. “As in the same Mickey that used to live five houses down from me growing up?”

Michael laughed. “You’re the Riley that would always spy with me and Sam on the neighbourhood when we were like what? Eight? Always getting into trouble but slipping her way out of it! Wow.”

“After all these years!” Riley exclaimed. 

“What a small world, ain’t it?” Michael chuckled.

“Smaller than you think,” agreed Riley.