"Won't start," the man said.
"Have you opened it up yet?" Kyle asked "Nope," the man replied.
"Well, I saw that two pistons were out, plus the timing chain, and the starter," Kyle said.
The man's expression changed slightly, and for a moment he looked at Kyle with a flicker of respect. The man approached the van and said, "Guess it's pretty well busted.”
"Can you fix it?" Kyle asked.
"Yep," the man said. "But parts will be a problem." The man circled the van, looking at it with mild inter- est now.
"Gomer said you had a junked VW van. Maybe we could work something out," Kyle said.
"Maybe we could," the man said. Then he shifted his attention to the boys and said, "Before we get into a long discussion here tell me if you have the money for this.”
Looking down, Kyle realized they were a mess after driving through the night and walking for two hours. He didn't blame the man for asking. The three of them didn't look like they had the money for lunch much less for expensive repairs on a classic car.
And, more importantly, they actually didn't have the money. Kyle realized that they should have concocted a better story. Of course, they had expected to have money from Max's gold. Now, they were broke, and Kyle didn't want to admit it, but he didn't see that he had much choice. "See, that's the thing…," Kyle said. "We don't have the money right now. But… ”
The man was already turning away from them and heading back to the car he had been working on.
"Wait," Kyle said, following him as the man leaned down under the open hood to look at the engine.
"Look, come back when you've got some money," the man said, not looking up.
"Well, I was wondering if you needed any help around here," Kyle said. "I worked in… " Kyle caught himself. He had almost said Roswell.
"Down south," he said finally.
"Don't need any help," the man said.
"Look, you're backed up, and you're here by yourself," Kyle said.
The man shook his head and was about to speak when Kyle added, "And you'll be here all night if you think replacing that fuel pump will make a difference.”
Kyle pointed to the old fuel pump on the ground next to the car the man was working on. The new one he no doubt intended to put in was sitting right next to it.
"What?" the man said.
"Your problem is with the fuel line," Kyle said.
The man looked at him with surprise. Kyle hoped he had not offended him. He also hoped he was right.
Ducking his head into the engine compartment, the man reached down for a moment and pulled his hand back up. Kyle could see that his fingers were wet with gas.
The man looked up at him in genuine surprise and said, "Long crack in the fuel line, like you said. How did you know that?”
"In these big, old eight-cylinder Chevys more often than not it's an old fuel line that's the trouble. Look, I really know what I'm doing," Kyle said.
The man stood up and studied Kyle for a moment. "We don't get a lot of strangers here, and they make people in Stonewall nervous," he said.
"Why?" Kyle asked.
The man shrugged and said, "There's been some trouble." He didn't elaborate, and Kyle decided not to push it.
"Be here at seven tomorrow morning. If you know what you're doing, I'll give you a chance. Seven bucks an hour.”
"Seven?" Kyle said, unable to keep the surprise out of his voice. He had made almost twice that at home.
"This isn't down south, son, in case you haven't noticed. Anyway, you look like you need a job, and I don't need the help that badly," the man said.
"Okay, okay," Kyle said. Then an idea struck him, and he pointed back at Max and said, "My friend here knows bodywork. He's, um, got great hands, if you need that kind of thing.”
Kyle turned to get Max's attention, but it wasn't neces- sary. Max kept his face neutral and nodded, going along with whatever Kyle was doing.
The man waved him off and said, "Let's see if you can hold a wrench first, then we'll see about your friend.”
Kyle held out his hand and said, "I'm Kyle, by the way.”
The man hesitated and then finally shook Kyle's hand. "Dan.”
"I'll see you at seven, Dan," Kyle said.
Dan didn't respond. He simply turned and went back to work on the car.
As Kyle and his friends stepped back outside, Max said, "Nice work.”
Michael added, "Yeah, one of us has a job.”
Kyle couldn't help but smile, then he said, "True, but at seven dollars an hour, it will take me a couple of months to pay for the repairs.”
"Michael and I will find something, and maybe the girls will too," Max said. Then he added, "You do realize that I've never done bodywork in my life.”
"Yes, but you can reorganize matter at the molecular level," Kyle said! "I'm sure your powers will work fine when it comes to banging out dents.”
Kyle realized as he spoke that he had done something that Max and Michael hadn't been able to do with their remarkable powers. He had done something that would help himself and his friends.
On the way back into town, Kyle found that he could barely keep the smile from his face.
7
You're kidding," Maria said finally. "Anything but that.”
"We've tried everywhere else," Liz said.
"Despite appearances, this town does not seem to be a powerhouse of opportunity," Isabel said. "Take it from me, the new relief person at the Laundromat.”
Before Maria could respond, Liz said, "Come on," and reached for the door of the diner. She stopped for a moment when she saw Jimmy's flyer about his missing sis- ter. They had seen three more missing notices at other places in town, all for young women.
A moment later, they were inside again. Jimmy was clearing a table and looked up immediately and met Liz's eyes. She saw the question on his face, but she had no answers for him.
I wish I knew where she was, Liz thought as she gave Jimmy a thin smile.
Inside, it was dinnertime, and Liz was surprised to see the place was two thirds full. The same woman was there, running from table to table. There was another waitress, also in street clothes, who was helping her. By the way she carried herself, Liz could tell that she had little or no wait- ressing experience.
She was fumbling around, clearly overwhelmed… both women were.
"They're in the weeds," Maria said, shaking her head in sympathy.
"Yeah," Liz said. That was the term they used for com- pletely drowning at their waitressing stations. There was no cure for it. You just had to struggle through until things got sorted out and business slowed down.
As Isabel found a table, Liz and Maria waited at the counter and caught the women in charge as she headed for the kitchen.
"Excuse me," Liz said. The woman turned to her and said in a short voice, "Yes?”
Liz spoke quickly and said, "We saw the 'Help Wanted' sign and we're looking for work.”
The woman looked them over quickly. Liz saw a flash of recognition in her eyes and realized that she remem- bered them from earlier. "You have experience?" she said.
"Yes," Maria and Liz said together.
"Tons," Liz added.
Without thinking, the woman said, "If you're here at six thirty tomorrow, you're hired.”
Then she was gone.
"We have jobs," Liz said, immediately feeling relief.
"Is that the good news or the bad news?" Maria asked, frowning. The two girls joined Isabel at the table just as Max, Michael, and Kyle arrived in the diner. Max smiled at Liz as the boys crowded into the booth.
"How did you guys do?" Liz asked.
"Well, the garage won't start on the van until we have some money, but Kyle got a job there," Max replied.