Lyle is yelling from the couch in the other room-"JAKE!" Doc is yelling from the phone thats laying on the carpet "JAKE!" Lyle walks in the room with a puzzled look on his face "dude you look like your gonna hurl bro?" Jake reached down and grasped his mobile phone and pressed END. "What's up dude?" ... "What did old man Jones say?" ... "Are you fired?" "Ha-ha!"-Lyle says, as he hands a freshly packed bong to his roommate. Jumping up from his two minute stare out of the window, he says to Lyle "We gotta go to the shop man, Doc said the place caught fire last night, burnt the whole place down ... and my Dime ... he said my truck was ... my truck ...dude,he said the fucking building fell on my truck!" Lyle hands the lighter to him in disbelief-"first things first bro, smoke that! ... Let me find my keys and then we're out. Word?" Not the kind of guy to let his anger show, he gritted his teeth; pondering the fact that it felt like all this was happening to him at the same time?
Just 8 weeks ago his girl friend Morgan, screamed at him in the parking lot at "cruise night" accusing him of staring at some mexican girl. (The truth is, He saw that girl, but he was actually staring at a 1972 Chevy Luv on 20's that was new to the scene, and he could hear the trucks V8 engine swap from where he was standing! ... It just so happened, the girl in question was also leaning in the engine bay.) After the parking lot dispute, Morgan stormed off with her friend Rebecca. Now Rebecca was a Cunt with a capitol "C". She liked to refer to Lyle as "Grease-Monkey" and any time she came over,would always paint Jake out to be a some sort of "Gear head" that only cared about his truck?
When he came home from "cruise-night" Jake's girlfriend and Rebecca were already at the house. He parked Doc's shop truck that he was driving at the time, along the curb. Rebecca's car was in his normal parking spot. As he was walking up the drive way, he could see Rebecca's rat dog's snout yapping through the four inch gap in the window [left for it to breathe] on the new Volvo's passenger side. As he passed by the mutt, he took notice that the little dog's nails were scratching the tint at the base of the window.
When he walked in the front door he could see Rebecca in the kitchen smoking a cigarette. She was glaring at him with an evil looking grin on her face. "Did you know your dog is scratching the tint all up on your car Rebecca!" he said, taking off his hat and slowly pointing to the "NO SMOKING!" sign that Lyle gave him for his birthday years ago. It was mounted and blinking by the hall entrance.
Everyone knew that Lyle had ripped it off the Denny's wall by the bathroom when he was hammered a few years back. Lyle was drinking all Day and all night. (*Remember Lyle doesn't drink, he's a stoner.) It was the very first year of the"Slam-n-Jam"truck show! He was so drunk that he doesn't remember what he said or did. We were all there to watch him pretend he was "the monkey from Speed Racer" and pull the NO SMOKING sign off the wall. Wires and all!
"Fuck your stupid sign Jake!" "You smoke!" "Your stupid!" said Rebecca , knocking her cigarette ash off into a Styrofoam drinking cup with an inch of water in it. "Yes, But I smoke outside!" "Don't I Rebecca?" Thats why you cant find the ash tray ... its outside!" When he walked into the bedroom and found Morgan drunk, packing her belongings in garbage bags, he started to say he was sorry, but then he thought about how he wasn't even looking at "that girl" and how mad she got over nothing, making a big scene. He turned and, walked out to the garage and slept on his shop couch. He had had enough of her jealousy and drama for one night and figured she would sleep it off at Rebecca's. She would be back in the morning.
Jake woke up the next day and went into the kitchen. There was a note on the counter that said,
"You know why I left ... so, fuck off! ... P.S. I took the bong and your weed too, asshole!" He looked over and noticed that the coffee machine was gone and so was Morgan! He dealt with Morgan moving out and was getting over it the best he could. He was working longer hours with Doc and spending more time with Lyle and the boys and lending his fabrication skills to his club. But now THIS!
On top of everything, it was the day before "Slam-n-Jam" weekend! He had already pre-paid the forty dollar entry-fee for his truck, paid for a camp spot with electric. And was planning on showing his work to all the guys at the merch booths as well, to get their "feedback"on his work. He even posted a thread on the truck forum saying he was going to "unveil his project" at the show!
Then of course, there is that asshole "Mike Flanagan". He is always on the Truck forum acting like his daddy's shop [Flanagan Motorsports] is the coolest thing that our town has ever seen. He was certain that he was going to read something about his "burned truck and loss of job" on some thread that Mike Flanagan had started.
Mikes Dad, "Charlie Flanagan" was an old acquaintance of Old man-Doc Jones. The story was told like this ... that years back when Doc and Charlie were just boys in grade school, they both were in love with the same girl. A girl named "Loraine Robinson". One day after school, Charlie challenged Doc to a bike race! The winner would get to ask Loraine to be his girlfriend! The race was to the end of the big field and back. Some of Doc's closest drinking buddies who tell the story, say it was "a close race." But Doc will tell you straight! "I lost that race ... bad! My foot slipped off the pedals ...twice! I remember some kids were laughing at me too, ha-ha ... and Charlie beat me fare and square!" But the silver lining of the story is the best part ...
The next day at school, Charlie Flanagan, feeling like the confident winner, walked up to Loraine and asked her to be his "girlfriend". She replied saying,"I'm sorry Charlie I cant be your girlfriend." "Sherman Jones asked me yesterday before your race!" Moments later, little Sherman Jones walked up to Charlie Flanagan and said, "You weren't that fast now were you Charlie?" It seemed that bicycle racing wasn't Doc's main focus, he "had game" too! Doc and Loraine remained a couple all through high school and eventually got married. The day that Doc's baby girl was to be born, There was a complication during labor. The doctor that was supposed to deliver his child, was petrified when he realized he was going to have to tell Sherman that his wife and child, had both died in child birth. After that day, Doc was never really the same.
"All right, I found my keys broham, lets bounce!" Said Lyle, as he was re-entering Jake's room. Jake stood up, not wanting to face the fact that he was about to be driven to the punch-line of one of the worst days of his life so far. When they got about two blocks away they could smell the smoke and still see a faint trail of it going up to the heavens. "Geez, how the hell did that happen Jake?" ... "Do you think we left anything on when we left last night?" Lyle asks, reaching for his one hitter. "Dude, you fuckin smoke too much Lyle!" "Put that shit away while you're driving!" ... "And no, I don't think we left anything on that could have caught something on fire that could have collapsed the whole fucking building."
Now,Lyle is a "low rider" ... in ALL sense of the words. From his pants,to his gas gauge. And of course, his mini trucks ride height! They were about to turn the corner and pull in where the shop's drive way is. And the pavement's incline to Doc's shop was a bit taller then Lyle's B2000 liked, So Lyle reached over and grabbed the AVS switch box to air up his pebble pusher. As the air quickly filled the front bags of the truck, they turned in and started down the short drive way. They saw Doc talking with a Fireman and in the background they saw what was left of Karly's Kustoms and Jake's demolished S-10. It was just as Doc had said. He hung his head in sorrow. The AVS logo on Lyle's switch box reminded Jake of the day he called their office and spoke with the "sales guy". The guy on the phone seemed like Jake's "speed"and in his conversation about their trucks, he discovered that AVS was going to have a booth at Slam-n-Jam this year. He said they were looking forward to seeing Jake's S-10. He thought of having to tell his story, instead of showing his truck to the guys at the booth.
When Jake saw that their was literally nothing he could salvage from his newly burnt truck, he walked out by the shade tree and yelled at the top of his lungs. (!@#$%*#@) He did what most people do in a situation like this. First, comes the rush of confusion... Then, an explosion of uncontrolled emotions. Tears, Fists and Laughter... After that, depression. And finally, asking God "why would you do this to me?"
Lighting a cigarette, He glanced across the road and saw Mike Flanagan sitting in his 2010 Toyota Tundra, tucking massive 28 inch wheels, as it sat on its rockers. It had "Flanagan motorsports"pinstriped on the hood. He had reversed in a stall and was watching the town drama from a far. When Mike noticed Jake starring at him, he lifted his arm out of the window as to say hello. But Jake knew he was really laughing behind that tint! Mike was an arrogant asshole. He was a few years older than Jake. In High school, When Jake was a Freshmen, Mike was a Senior.
Back then it seemed that Mike was into what ever was cool or trendy at the time. What ever it was, Daddy paid for it! When the movie "The Fast And The Furious" came out, Mikes father bought him a right hand drive Nissan 240, straight from Japan! It's motor had already been swapped out for a new modded-out SR20det by some Japenese Super Tuners over seas. Mike had the car three weeks. He thought he was a big time drifter and spun the car off the road and smacked a wall and destroyed the body on one side. After that, he was bored with it. With the car totaled, he sold it on Ebay for $500.00 with no reserve! It sold for $510.00? That engine alone was worth $10,000! His dad replaced it with a new Chevy Silverado with an 8 inch lift and 35's... the suspension lift and tires were a "add-on"package from the dealer! Jake thinking back, now wondered why Mike's dad, owning a place that caters to Hot Rods and restored Classics, wouldn't just lift the truck at their shop?
