Lightning Strickes

Lightning Strikes

“Extreme heat advisory is in effect until 9pm this evening here in the Valley of the Sun. Whenever possible stay indoors. The elderly and those with breathing difficulties should avoid going outdoors if possible. Stay tuned to this station for more advisories.”

Gravel crunched under the tires of Freddy Jansen’s tow truck as he pulled up to the office of King’s Auto Parts Yard. He shifted the truck’s transmission into park, took his cell phone out of the front pocket of his work overalls, and dismissed the heat alert. The past twenty-four hours were like a dream swirling around in his mind: the storm, the girl, and those big brown eyes that betrayed her outward confidence. He tried to clear his head and concentrate on business. Hopefully, he would find a new hood for Miranda’s van out on his buddy Alonso’s auto parts yard. 

King’s Auto Parts and Pull Auto Parts Station started here in the front yard of the little stucco house that now served as the office. Alonso Sr. was stationed nearby in his Army Air Corps days, and after the war ended he thought he would rather face the heat in the desert than go back to Queens and shovel snow in the winter. After marrying a local girl they began growing a business and a family; both from the tiny stucco home. After the birth of the fourth child – all girld – Mrs. King, who was known to have a fiery temper at times, demanded her husband build a larger home on the back part of the property beneath the shade of the cottonwood trees that grew by the creek. When her husband suggested waiting another year she took the shotgun from behind the counter, walked out front to the WWII staff car that sat beside the drive up to the property emblazoned with the word KINGS and shot it full of holes stopping to reload twice. She then calmly brought the gun back inside handing it to her husband and announcing “Thought I saw a rattlesnake.” The next day a crew began digging the foundation for the new house. Six months after moving into the new home Alonso Jr. was born. Both Kings were extremely happy. 

  Freddy ducked in through the front door of the business, quickly closing the door to keep the cool air in. Alonso sat behind the counter, a computer screen flickering in front of him although he seemed oblivious to the rows of auto part listings displayed. A wisp of thick blonde hair had fallen across his forehead just above deepset, blue eyes. One hand propped under his chin, fingers lightly tapping on his cheekbone.

“Hey, ‘Lonso, you awake there, buddy?” Freddy teased. 

“Oh, hey, Freddy,” he answered in a dazed voice as he stood to greet his long-time friend. At six feet tall he should have been taller than Freddy, but the dropped floor behind the counter made the two men appear the same height. “Sorry, I didn’t hear you come in,” he replied.

“Yeah, I can see that,” he said while following Alonso’s gaze out the big front window to the tall saguaro by the fence. 

“My mother planted that cactus there when she moved into this little house with my father in 1948. It was just a pup then, maybe a foot tall. Now look at how tall it stands. Cactus wrens build nests in its arms, Gila woodpeckers drill holes in the body to raise families out of the sun, and its flowers provide food for the birds and insects from all around. People think the desert is a dry, dead place but even here in the hot summer days there is beauty and life,” he pronounced boldly.

Freddy walked over to the counter to stand in front of his friend. They had known each other since college days at NAU. He had been best man at his wedding, a godfather to his son, and a shoulder to lean on when his wife was killed in a car wreck 6 years earlier. He had seen Alonso in many moods, but this one was new. “And why are you waxing poetic on this hot, hellish day in the desert?” he asked.

“I’m in love,” he said innocuously as if he’d just said, “It’s hot today.” Then he said it louder and more firmly, “Freddy, my friend, I’m in love!”

“That’s great!” Freddy answered reaching over the counter to give his pal a slap on the shoulder. “When can I meet her?”

“Don’t know,” Alonso answered matter-of-factly. 

Freddy stared at his friend trying to understand what was going on with him. “Suppose you back up to the beginning and bring me up to the “don’t know” part a little better informed.”

Taking a big sip of his iced coffee Alonso began his tale. “You remember when I had you watch the shop for me back in April so I could go to Texas for the eclipse?”

“Sure, I do, but you weren’t gone long enough to meet a girl and fall in love. You were only gone 3 days,” Freddy answered.

“Yeah, well, I was, and I did. I just didn’t know it at the time,” Alonso sighed. “My original plan was to run out the 10 to Kerrville, sleep in the back of my truck, and then be right in the path of totality the next day for the big show. Then hop back on the10 and head back home. My plan was working well up till about the time I got to Van Horn when a geocaching buddy of mine messaged me to see if I could take over hosting his eclipse event in Llano,” his voice less dreamy now as he recalled the details of the trip.

Freddy was not a geocacher, nor did he understand why anyone would be, but he was becoming interested in the idea that geocaching could lead to finding love. “Go on,” he prodded

“So of course I shifted gears and made a left turn at the Junction exit and headed up to the thriving metropolis of Llano, TX – population somewhere around 3,000 but on the eclipse weekend swelling to more than twice that. I found the spot and started talking to folks milling around at ground zero until I had about 20 geocachers there from all over the country. One couple had even brought a pop-up shade tent to share. Most brought chairs and blankets as well as coolers. Since I was playing host until my buddy got there, I tried to talk with everyone, but when I walked up to this one brunette and introduced myself as Nroadz, my caching name, she gave me a strange look.

“That’s a unique name,” she said while giving me a look like I had spoken to her in a foreign language, Alonso recalled.

Freddy understood that feeling. When Alonso started talking about his geocaching adventures with his buddies it was a bit like a foreign language to him too. But that hobby and those friends kept him sane after Lisa died, so he put up with it. “And let me guess. You looked into her eyes, then she looked into yours, and bam it was love!”

“No, nothing like that,” Alonso replied, “I told her that we were a geocaching group but that she was welcome to enjoy the eclipse with us. Then I explained a bit about geocaching and invited her to hike to an actual geocache about a quarter mile away with a group of us. She signed the cache; we talked some more on the way back. By then Quarke was there to take over host duties so I found a place for my quilt and stretched out to watch the big show. The weathermen had predicted clouds, but they were wrong. It was a perfect day. While I was helping take the tent down later, I had a chance to give her my email address in case she wanted to know more about caching.”

By now, Freddy knew it wasn’t going to be a simple story. “So, you meet a hot girl and instead of getting her name and phone number or getting hers, you tell her your name is Nroadz and you give her your email address? Buddy, you need a good wingman. You’ve been out of the game too long.”

“Maybe I have been out of the game, as you say. I just wasn’t thinking about her in that way at the time,” Alonso patiently answered. “A week later she emailed and said she was going to be in Flagstaff in a few weeks and asked how to find geocaches in the area. I told her I was going to be there on the 27^th with a group doing a CITO. I explained how geocachers would meet at a trailhead and as we hike the trail looking for caches, we carry bags to pick up litter along the way. She said that sounded fine, and I gave her the coordinates for the trailhead. Then I told her how to sign up and get her account to get credit for her finds. She said OK and that was that until the 27^th. That day, my friend, that day my world turned upside down,” a wistfully smiling Alonso added.

Freddy smiled too. He hadn’t seen his buddy look so happy in a very long time –just about 6 years. “And then? She was there? She said she really just used the geocaching as an excuse to meet you again, and the two of you spent hours walking in the woods and planning your future together? Am I right?” Freddy jokingly asked 

“We spent a couple of hours on the trail finding caches and talking about birds,” Alonso answered.

“Birds?” Freddy asked trying to keep a straight face.

“Yeah, birds. It’s pretty interesting actually. Samantha, Sam to her friends, works for Fish and Wildlife traveling around the country doing ornithological studies,” Alonso explained. “You know there’s a lot we can learn about what’s happening in our environment by paying attention to birds’ habits and the changes in them,” he added.

Freddy let out a deep sigh. He could see this was going to take a while, but what the heck. It’s too hot to be outside, he thought. “Did the bird lady get around to talking about bees along the way?”

Alonso gave his friend a smart look. “No, but she did stumble over a log trying to watch some bird up in a pine tree. And that’s when it happened,” he announced with great enthusiasm.

“What happened?” Freddy asked his curiosity now aroused.

“Lightning, my friend,” Alonso said softly, and Freddy noticed that dreamy look on his face again. “I reached out to help her and when our hands touched…. I can’t explain it any other way. It was like this strong electrical current surging up my arm and through my body. Man, it was not like anything I can explain because nothing like that has ever happened to me. I looked at her to see if she felt the same, but she was looking away at another bird and saying something about nests and elevations. I figured it was just my imagination, so I played it cool for the rest of the hike. When we got back to the trailhead she left with a girlfriend before I could say goodbye. I figured that was that until I got her email that night.” 

Alonso put his phone on the counter in front of Freddy and opened his email page where Freddy could read, “Sorry I had to run off after the hike. Had to get my gf back to her car so she could get home. Enjoyed the hike and the caching. Hope my bird talk wasn’t too much. BTW I had the strangest feeling when you helped me up over that log on the trail. Do you know what I mean? Hope I don’t sound too bold, but I would like to talk with you about that. I would like to talk with you about a lot of things I think.”

Freddy looked up at Alonso behind the counter. He was standing there with the biggest grin on his face.

“Frankly, I was stunned. As you said, my friend, it has been a long time. I wasn’t sure what to say or exactly what to do. I just responded with my phone number. And I waited.”

“Waited? You waited by the phone like a teenage girl with a crush on the star quarterback?” Freddy was finding it hard to hold his tongue. On the one hand, he wanted to give him a hard time for not taking control of the situation. The girl was obviously interested. On the other hand, he had to remember that in the 6 years since Lisa died there had been no one. Alonso was still in love with the love of his life. He got that. But even she wouldn’t want him to live his life alone. He’s a good guy and he certainly deserves to be happy, but it’s starting to look like he will need some help. “You know I’m here for you if you need a little help getting up your courage.”

Alonso grinned and taking his phone back he switched over to the texting app. “She called the next night from Socorro, New Mexico. We talked for 3 hours. The next day we started texting as well as calling,” he explained and turned the phone to Freddy again scrolling through what seemed like endless pages of texts, all of it scrolling by too quickly to read.

Freddy winced a bit when he asked, “So where does she live? I mean you meet her in Texas, you see her in Flagstaff, she calls you from New Mexico. Does this woman actually have a home somewhere? Hopefully here in Arizona which would simplify matters a lot.”

“I told you; she works for Fish and Wildlife. She travels around to refuges all across the country in a motorhome. She lives on the road, I guess you could say,” he answered. “This week she’s in Port Aransas, Texas checking out the Whooping Crane population.”

Freddy tapped his fingers on the counter trying to decide how to say what he was thinking. He decided on the direct approach. “My friend, you need to go to her. Fly, drive, Hell, take a train if you have to! But you need to go to her. Don’t let this chance at love, at real happiness, slip away from you. You need to look her in the eye and reach for her hand and feel that lightning again.”

Freddy was really excited for his friend now and he could see the excitement playing into this friend’s eyes. “She said she was heading to Wheeler Refuge in Alabama tomorrow and had a week to travel so she might route through New Orleans.”

“Perfect,” Freddy almost yelled. Call her, or text her, or whatever you want to do, but tell her you’ll meet her in New Orleans. Get on the phone. Get yourself a plane ticket.” Taking out his own phone Freddy tapped his texting app. “My cousin Micki has an Air BNB in the French Quarter. I’ll reserve it for you.” He was smiling almost as big as Alonso as he typed. 

Alonso hit send on the text to Sam then looked up at Freddy. “Hey, did you come over to pick up those parts for the 2016 Ford Transit Connect?” 

Freddy shook his head,”Yeah, almost forgot what I came in for,” as he continued to type.

“Sorry, Buddy, can’t get the breather regulator. At least not in Phoenix. I’ll look at some out of state suppliers tomorrow. Make that when I get back from New Orleans,” Alonso answered with a grin.

“Not a problem,” Freddy answered as he read the reply from his cousin. Just then the computer on Alonso’s desk shrieked.

SEVERE HEAT WARNING ISSUED FOR ALL OF PINAL COUNTY. EXPECTED HIGHS OF 110 DEGREES OR MORE WITH A POSSIBILITY OF AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS. INDIVIDUALS WITH BREATHING ISSUES ARE WARNED TO REMAIN INDOORS.