A New Beginning

9

Kyle walked around the front of the garage and saw Dan coming out of the office. "I'm ready to go," Kyle said.

Dan nodded and said, "Okay, go to the office and punch in, then I need you to pull the transmission on the Plymouth. You can do that?”

"Sure," Kyle said. "And I can drop the new one in.”

"We'll have it this morning," Dan said.

"Look," Kyle said before Dan could turn and head for the garage, "I want to thank you for letting us use the room in the back, and for breakfast. My friends and I really appreciate it.”

Dan just looked at him and nodded. "You and your friends can stay there as long as everybody behaves them- selves and you don't wreck the place.”

Then, without another word, Dan turned and headed for the garage.

Kyle walked around to the office and found it occupied.

The girl behind the desk smiled and said, "Hi, my name is Dawn.”

For a second, Kyle was too surprised to respond. He had expected the office to be empty.

"You must be Kyle," she said, holding out her hand. Kyle shook it and smiled, "Nice to meet you, Dawn.”

Kyle shook it and smiled, "Nice to meet you, Dawn.”

It was nice to meet her. Kyle guessed she was about his age, maybe a little older. She was definitely pretty. She had shoulder-length blond hair that curled at the ends. She also had a nice smile.

And she smelled great.

Suddenly Kyle was keenly aware of how long it had been since he had last had a date.

"Here," she said, holding out a time card with his name printed out in a neat, female handwriting.

Definitely way too long, Kyle thought. And Buddha's Mid- dle Way teaches us to avoid extreme forms of self-denial.

Kyle decided that a week or two in Stonewall wouldn't be so bad after all.

Taking the time card, he ran it under the clock, which stamped it with the time. Then he put it on a rack on the wall, a rack that held a time card for Dawn and another for Gomer.

"Have you been working for Dan long?" Kyle asked.

Dawn shook her head and said, "No, and I'm just part time. I'm getting his office in order.”

She gestured to the computer on the desk in front of her and said, "I'm also trying to get Dan set up on the Internet. He rebuilds radios on old cars, but he's hopeless on the computer, and he needs a Web site.”

She tutted gently and said, "Sorry to say that I'm not much better.”

"Well, maybe I could help," Kyle said. Actually, he wasn't sure that he could. He was okay on the computer, but he didn't know much about Internet programming. Too late, though. He'd already offered. Maybe Liz could talk him through a few things. And it would help him get to know Dawn a little better.

"Can I help you?" a stern voice said behind Kyle.

Turning, he saw Gomer standing in the doorway.

"What?" Kyle said.

"What do you need, partner?" Gomer said. He looked bigger than Kyle had remembered from yesterday. Or was it just that Kyle was closer to him today?

In any case, there was no mistaking the menace in his voice.

"Is this guy bothering you, Dawn?" Gomer said.

"Just calm down, Gomer," Dawn said. "This is Kyle. He's working for Dan.”

Kyle mustered a friendly smile and said, "Hi, I'm Kyle. You-towed our van yesterday.”

Then Kyle could see that Gomer recognized him. How- ever, his sour expression didn't get any friendlier. Kyle held out his hand.

Gomer ignored him and spoke to Dawn. "I've got the tranny. Any tow calls?”

"No," Dawn said, "but Dan might need you to go to Pueblo for some parts. You can talk to him.”

Gomer shot Kyle a dirty look and headed out the door.

"Well…," Kyle said.

"Oh, don't mind Gomer," Dawn said.

"Is he your… are you two…?" Kyle asked.

Dawn shook her head and said, "No, but he acts like it sometimes.”

Then she smiled that smile at him. "I'm happy to say that I'm a free agent.”

"Okay, then," Kyle said. "I'd better get to work.”

"See you later, Kyle," Dawn said as he left the office.

Dan and Gomer were talking when Kyle came into the shop area.

"Kyle, grab the lift from out back and pull the transmis- sion out of the pickup," Dan said. "Gomer will give you a hand with it.”

Kyle headed across the shop floor to the back door. Out- side, he saw more junked cars and the Volkswagen van that Gomer had mentioned the day before. The van was in bad shape. One look told Kyle it would probably never run again. The back was smashed in pretty well, and it just wouldn't pay to do the extensive bodywork on a car that old.

It was also rusted out along the bottom.

The most remarkable thing about the van was the classic sixties hippie paint job: psychedelic colors swirling around large peace signs painted on the front and the drivers side. Clearly the work had been done by hand, but someone had done a pretty good job. The colors were faded and mixed with a good deal of rust, but Kyle found it easy to imagine how the van must have looked years ago.

What he couldn't imagine was Dan driving it, ever. Aside from the long hair in a ponytail, Dan looked like an average, slightly grouchy, middle-aged guy.

Kyle wanted to get to work, but he figured he had time for a quick check under the hood. It took him some doing to get the hood open, but he saw that the engine was pretty much intact. Then he saw the crack in the engine block. That was it; the engine would never start again. However, that didn't mean that the timing chain wouldn't still be good, but he would have to take the engine apart to be sure.

He would have to remember to talk to Dan about that later. Now he had work to do. The transmission lift was a platform on wheels that had two U-shaped cradles that held the front and the back of a transmission. Because transmissions were roughly cone shaped, one of the cradles was larger than the other.

Grabbing the lift, Kyle wheeled it around to the front of the garage, where Gomer waited by an old pickup that was marked johnny's garage. In the back of the pickup, Kyle could see the transmission. He lowered the tailgate on the truck and raised the lift into place using the crank on the side. Later he would lower it and use the lift to set the transmission into place under the car.

Leaning into the pickup, he said to Gomer, "Would you give me a hand with this?”

Gomer lit a cigarette and looked past Kyle down the road.

"Gomer?" Kyle said.

The older man didn't even look in his direction.

"Would you give me a hand with this, please?" Kyle said. When Gomer continued to ignore him, Kyle raised his voice and said, "Hey Gomer!”

Gomer finally looked his way and said coolly, "I figure that you are such a hot mechanic that you don't need help.”

Then Gomer took a drag off his cigarette and blew the smoke in Kyle's direction. "You got a problem with that?" His voice was even, but Kyle could hear the menace there just the same.

In his football days, Kyle would not have hesitated to meet that challenge, even though Gomer had a good six inches and thirty pounds on him. And he more than likely would have given Gomer a surprise. But that was before he had found out the truth about Max and the others, before he had found Buddha.

Kyle felt blood rushing to his face and forced himself to keep steady.

"What do you say, Mr. Mechanic?" Gomer said, throw- ing his cigarette down and holding his hands out.

Maybe it's time to put Buddha on hold, Kyle thought, clenching his own fists.

And he might have used them, too, but he remembered his friends. The last thing they all needed was the added attention that a fight would bring… even if Kyle won. Still, the urge to knock that smirk off Gomer's face was strong.

Kyle forced a smile of his own and said, "Sorry, maybe another time. I've got work to do.”

Kyle caught Gomer's disappointed expression out of the corner of his eye as he wrestled with the transmission. He slid it toward the tailgate and took a deep breath. Though one person could lift one by himself, moving a transmission was really a two-person job. One person risked dropping it.

In one heave, Kyle lifted it, swung it a few feet over, and then lowered it into the cradles. He was relieved when the clang of metal on metal told him it was in place. He half expected Gomer to make a move on him, and Kyle was relieved when the other man just stood there.

By the time he reached the garage door, he found him- self relaxing and smiling at how quickly Gomer had almost baited him. Buddha would not be pleased, Kyle- thought. And neither would Max.

Before he pushed the rig inside, Kyle couldn't resist giving Gomer a wave and saying, "You have a nice day now.”

Smiling at Gomer's stunned expression, Kyle pushed the transmission into the garage. He used the hydraulic lift to raise the car about two feet, then he got underneath to drop the old transmission. For a few minutes, everything melted away. He was doing something he knew he could do well. And he was the only one of the guys in their group who had found a job.

Plus, there was something Zen about auto repair. His first introduction to Buddhism had come from a copy of a book called Zen and the Art oj Motorcycle Maintenance that he had found at football camp.

At first, he thought it was a joke, but the book had turned about to be serious. He read it cover to cover, and Kyle had never been much of a reader. Then, he had gone to the library to get more books on Buddhism. The next thing he knew, he was trying to walk the Middle Path. It had been almost as big a change for him as learning the truth about the aliens in his town.

Now he found the work relaxing him. His almost- confrontation with Gomer was forgotten, as was the fact that less than forty-eight hours before he had left the only life he had ever known. His worries were replaced by the work his hands did, his mind both concentrating on the task and drifting. Kyle wasn't sure if that was a true Zen state, but it was good enough for him.

Maria was glad to get out of Bell's, even though the morning had not been too bad. She and Liz had quickly settled into their old patterns, and the time had passed quickly. On the other hand, they still had lunch and dinner to get through. In the past, she had sometimes pulled twelve-hour shifts at the Crashdown, but they were tough. She knew she would be dragging her feet for the last couple of hours. Sleeping in the van hadn't helped. She doubted she had gotten more than four hours of actual sleep, and she had woken up sore and aching.

Well, tonight might be better if the guy from the garage let them use the room with the shower. Sleeping on a floor would be better than sleeping sitting up in the van.

Passing through Main Street, Maria was struck by how empty the town looked. Then she caught sight of another missing-person flyer. This one was new… or at least it was one that she hadn't seen before.

The woman in this photo looked older than the other two, maybe in her early thirties. She was outdoors some- where and she was smiling broadly. Maria looked at the picture for a moment before she realized that she was walking the streets alone. Hadn't Bell warned them not to go outside unless they were together? Maria felt a chill run down her back and started walking quickly toward the garage, which was still more than two blocks away.

More than two deserted blocks, Maria realized. Then there were a couple of hundred yards of open field. Sud- denly Maria was overcome with the strong feeling that she was being watched. It was a crawling sensation on the back of her neck. She tried to dismiss it as her mind play- ing tricks on her. Maybe she was spooked by the missing- person posters, or the emptiness of the streets, but she couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching her.

Of course, she caught glimpses of people looking at her through windows, but those glances seemed mainly curious, benign. Still, she had the growing feeling that someone else was watching her, someone who meant her harm.

Maria picked up her pace.

By the time she reached the edge of the sidewalk, she was nearly trotting. When she reached the open field, she forgot about her pride and ran, barely keeping her grip on the plastic bags that held the takeout food.

The few seconds it took her to reach the garage seemed to stretch to minutes, but finally she was there. She slowed to a walk when she was a few yards away from the garage. Almost immediately, she began to relax. By the time she reached the garage office, she already felt silly for worry- ing. Nevertheless, she decided to have Michael walk her back to the diner.

Just as she was reaching for the door to the office, someone popped out from behind a pickup.

Maria jumped.

Then she saw it was a man, a large man. She almost screamed, and then she realized he looked familiar.

"Hey," he said, and she started again at the sound of his voice.

Then she realized who it was: Gomer, the guy who had towed their van. With an unpleasant grin on his face, he said, "You want to be careful, watch out for them aliens.”

Maria's stomach leaped. Did he know? How could he? "What?" she gasped.

"The aliens, the ones that take the women. Least, that's what they say. You shouldn't be out alone," he said.

Maria felt her stomach start to work its way back down from her chest. "I'll be careful," she said, pushing her way into the office. Inside, she saw a blond girl behind a desk. The girl looked up and gave her a tight smile. She also looked Maria over carefully.

"Hi," Maria said. "I'm looking for Kyle.”

Then the girl gave her a smile that Maria instantly didn't trust. "Oh, he's in the garage. Are you his girlfriend?”

Maria was taken aback for a moment by the directness of the question. "Um, I'm a friend of his. I brought his lunch," she said, holding up one of the bags. "Can I get in through there?" She pointed to the door in the rear of the office.

"You sure can," the girl said, through the same tight smile.

Maria headed for the door. "Okay then, bye," Maria said.

"Bye-bye," the girl trilled, and though Maria couldn't see her anymore, she was sure the girl was wearing the same smile as she said it.

She came out into the large garage, scanning it for Kyle. Seeing the owner, Maria walked right over to him and pulled a food container out of the bag she carried.

"Hi," she said, holding out the Styrofoam box. "Meat loaf with gravy, no mushrooms. Bell said it was your usual.”

He looked at her, confused for a moment.

"It's our way of saying thanks for the shower and oat- meal this morning," Maria said, handing him the food.

Then recognition bloomed on Dan's face, and then he did something Maria didn't expect: He smiled. "Thank you," he said.

"Is Kyle around?" she asked. The question was just out of her lips when Kyle appeared next to her.

"Hey," Kyle said.

"Lunchtime," Maria said.

"Why don't you take a break," Dan said, the ghost of the smile still on his lips.

Kyle came with her around back. They guys weren't in the van, so they tried the room in the back. Before they entered, they heard laughter from inside. Opening the door, they found Michael, Max, and Isabel sitting on the floor huddled around an ancient board game.

"You're going down," Michael said to Max.

Maria leaned down and saw which game it was: Chutes and Ladders.

Perfect, she thought.

At the three aliens looked up, Maria frowned and said, "I'm glad that while we mere mortals are busting our butts, you guys are making yourselves useful.”

Max and Michael started to get up.

"Maria…," Max started.

She shook her head. "It's okay. Somebody should be having fun today. Lunch is served," she said, handing out the food.

"Can you stay and eat with us?" Michael asked. "You can get into the game if you want," he added.

"I have time to eat," Maria said, sitting on the side of the bed. She had brought something for herself, anyway.

"Where's Liz?" Max asked.

"She's back at the diner, brooding. I think she's been spending too much time with you," she said.

Concern immediately ran over Max's features.

"She's fine," Maria said quickly. "You guys should come by for dinner at the end of the rush, six thirty or so.”

Then Maria took out her own food. She was glad to sit, and even gladder to not have to go back outside alone to face the aliens or whatever it was that had the whole town (and now her) spooked.

On the other hand, as Michael dug into his burger, she realized she had an alien of her own to protect her.

come on, Space Boy, you're walking me back," Maria said.

Michael fought an urge to snap back at her for giving him an order. "Okay," he said, standing up.

Maria shot him a look of surprise, and that made the effort of holding his tongue worth it.

"Ready to go?" he said, grinning at her.

He enjoyed the slightly confused look on her face as she got up off the floor. "Sure," she said.

He nodded to Max and the others, and then he and Maria were out the door and headed for town.

He noticed that she seemed nervous as they walked along the open field that separated the edge of Main Street from the garage. She looked over her shoulder at least five times as they crossed the short distance.

"You know, this is the first time we've been alone since we left," he said.

"What?" she said, clearly distracted.

"I said, this is the first time… ”

"Michael, there's something strange going on in this town," she said, as if he hadn't spoken.

"Right here, in fact," Michael said, not even trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice.

"Michael, I'm serious. Haven't you seen those missing- person posters in town? It's creepy.”

"Well, we're not going to be staying long," Michael said.

"I ran into Gomer, and he said something about aliens, like the girls were abducted by… ”

"Here we go," he said, shaking his head.

"I know it sounds stupid," she said.

"That's because it is stupid," he said, raising his voice. He was angry now… more at himself than at Maria. He hadn't wanted to fight with her. As they drove in the van and the miles sped by, Michael had found the earliest stir- rings of peace on the road. He had hoped that things would be different for him and Maria. As they drover far- ther away from Roswell and the pressure they had always been under, he had felt sure that things would be different. He would make them different.

But why did she have to drive him so crazy? "So you're saying I'm stupid?" she said.

By sheer force of will, he kept himself from saying any more.

"Then what…," she started, her own face scrunched and angry.

"Stop," he said, raising one hand. "Look, I'm sorry.”

That seemed to stop her cold. Michael saw that they were getting close to the diner. He didn't want to spend the few seconds they had fighting.

"What?" she said.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to suggest that you're stupid. I'm just saying that the only aliens you're going to find in this town are the ones you brought with you. We need to be careful, but we left all that stuff behind in Roswell. That was the point of this class trip," Michael said.

Maria looked at him, thankfully silent for a moment.

"We've all seen the signs," he continued. "There is something strange going on here, but it has nothing to do with us and nothing to do with aliens. My guess is that a bunch of girls got wise and escaped this hole-in-the-wall without leaving a forwarding address.”

Maria started to speak, but he raised his hand and she was silent.

"But if some psycho is kidnapping girls, I'll watch out for you. Just don't go outside alone, or… better yet… unless I'm there.”

He paused for a moment and said, "Okay? "Okay," she said, nodding.

They were approaching the diner door when he stopped her with a hand. "Don't worry," Michael said.

He smiled and said, "I don't want to fight with you.”

Then he did what he'd wanted to do since they left the garage… actually, since they left Roswell. Michael leaned down and kissed her.

Though surprised, Maria responded immediately.

A few seconds later, he felt her hands on his chest. Then she was pushing him away… gently at first, then with force.

"What?" he said.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Well, I thought it was self-explanatory," Michael said. "I guess not.”

"What are you thinking?" Maria said.

Michael raised his hands in frustration. "Well, I was thinking that I wanted to kiss you, but I've reconsidered," he said, feeling his face go flush as the hairs on the back of his neck began to stand up. With effort, he fought down the rising anger.

"Look, Michael, I'm just not ready for this. Too much has happened, and I just don't know what we are to each other anymore. I'm going to need some time here," she said, the challenge clear on her face and in her voice.

A voice inside his head screamed, I stayed on this planet far you! 1 blew my one chance to go back to the place I came from. For you! But Michael put his hands down and said, as calmly as he could, "Okay.”

She was silent for a moment, looking at him with a sur- prised expression. When she spoke, her voice was calm. "Look, I'm just not sure what I want right now.”

"There's a surprise," he muttered under his breath.

"What?" she said.

"Nothing, but understand this: I know exactly what I want, and I will wait if I have to," Michael said.

She looked at him with the same surprised expression. Well, he was surprised at himself. But he did know what he wanted, and he was determined to break the cycle of stupid arguments that had kept them apart too many times in the past.

"I'll wait," he said, then he pointed to the diner door.

"Maria, you'd better get back to work. We'll come by before your shift is up. Don't go outside until then.”

He took a moment to enjoy her stunned expression, then turned and headed back for the garage.

Kyle found Dan in the office.

"I just have to check the seals and add the fluid, then I'll be done with the transmission," he said. "What's next?”

"Points and plugs on the Impala. And check the brakes. They've been grinding. They'll need pads, but see if you can save the rotors. I have to stop in town. I'll be back in about an hour," Dan said.

Kyle nodded, "I'll be fine.”

"I'll keep an eye on him for you," Dawn said, flashing Kyle a smile.

Kyle could barely keep the goofy grin from his face. When did my luck start changing? he wondered.

He nodded to Dawn on his way out and said, "See you later.”

"You know it," she said.

As Kyle entered the garage, he was glad his back was to Dawn, because he lost the battle with his goofy grin, which spread itself wide across his face.

A few seconds later, he was back under the car, doing a quick inspection of the seals on the transmission. It took some effort for him to concentrate on his work, but he forced himself to do it.

"Hey, I want to talk to you," a voice said from above him.

It took Kyle a moment to place the voice. He was immediately annoyed at the interruption, because it ended the warm feeling that lingered from his encounter with Dawn.

"I'll be up in a few minutes," Kyle said. He would actually be less than that, but the last thing he wanted to do was to let Gomer think he would rush on his say-so.

"We'll talk now. You don't have to get up," Gomer said. "I just wanted you to know that Dawn is my girl.”

Kyle shook his head. This was ridiculous. "Funny, she didn't mention that," he replied.

"Well, I'm mentioning it," Gomer said.

His voice was tight, as if he was trying to intimidate Kyle. Well, Kyle was not going to be intimidated by this bad-tempered tow truck driver who worked at a shop in the middle of nowhere.

Nevertheless, Kyle was very conscious of the fact that while Gomer was standing on the shop floor, Kyle was flat on his back with less than a foot of clearance between himself and the car above him.

Kyle knew guys at the garage who didn't like to work under cars, either out of claustrophobia or a vague fear about the safety of the hydraulic lift that held the car off the ground. Though he had never had that problem himself, Kyle suddenly understood it. He considered sliding out from under the car, but he didn't want to give his nervousness away and give Gomer the satisfaction of thinking he had shaken Kyle up. Keeping his voice casual, Kyle said, "I think Dawn's big enough to decide what she wants for herself.”

Kyle heard Gomer make a sound like a grunt. When he spoke, he shouted, "You got a smart mouth. You want to watch that. We don't much like smart guys around here.”

"Then you must fit right in," Kyle shot back immedi- ately.

Gomer didn't reply, but Kyle heard footsteps and a click. Leaning his head up, he could see Gomer's legs were very close to where Kyle's legs were hanging out from beneath the car.

Suddenly Kyle didn't care whether or not Gomer thought he had gotten the better of him. Kyle didn't want to spend another second under this car with Gomer up there.

Since Kyle was lying on a wheeled cart, he could roll out in a second or less, if he rolled toward where Gomer was standing.

He couldn't go the other way, because the transmission lift and some other equipment were blocking his way. He could try to angle himself and roll out next to the lift. It would put the car between him and Gomer when he got clear, but that would take several extra seconds at least.

He decided to just face Gomer. Reaching up, he grabbed the underside of the car and pulled, moving the cart and himself toward Gomer.

Then something came down on his leg. It took Kyle a moment to process that fact that it was Gomer's foot.

Kyle's forward motion stopped.

"Where you going, smart guy," Gomer said.

Kyle felt his heart sink in his chest, but he was surprised by the strength in his voice when he said, "Let go, Gomer.”

Instead, Kyle felt more pressure on his right ankle.

"What's wrong smart guy? Scared?" Gomer said.

"This isn't funny," Kyle said.

Then Kyle heard a click and he immediately knew that Gomer had his hand on the lever that controlled the hydraulic lift's up-and-down motion.

"Yeah, I think it's pretty funny. You know, you should be careful under there. I don't think these things are safe. If something happened, you might hurt your smart mouth," Gomer said.

Then the car lurched down two inches in a sudden motion.

"Ahhhh!" Kyle said, forgetting completely about his dignity. Frantically, he tried to move in any direction, but Gomer kept up the pressure on his leg.

Kyle tried to calculate how much clearance he would have between this car and the floor if it dropped to the ground. How much damage would the car do to him? Would Max be able to fix it? He decided he didn't want to find out. "Wait. Let's talk about this," Kyle said.

"I don't want to talk to you, smart guy," Gomer said, then he laughed. The laugh was low and creepy. Kyle decided he didn't like it at all. Then Kyle heard another click.