A New Beginning

by Kevin Ryan

  Michael was no Buddhist. The man didn't reply. Seeing

  that he wasn't getting anywhere with small talk, Kyle

  decided to get to business. "Gomer towed our van," Kyle

  said, gesturing to the van in the second repair bay.

  "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 o
r 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.

  Liz saw the pride on Kyle's face and understood it.

  "What about you two?" Maria asked.

  Michael shook his head. "Nothing. I came close, at the

  Laundromat, but a tall girl with brown hair beat me to the

  coveted relief-attendant job," he said as he shot Isabel a look.

  "It's okay, Maria and I will be working here tomorrow,"

  Liz said. "We'll be out of here before we know it. How

  much will the repairs cost, Kyle?"

  "If we were paying for them, could be as much as a

  thousand," Kyle said.

  There were sharp intakes of breath around the table.

  Kyle lifted his hand and said, "But I'm hoping that the

  boss will let me do the work after hours, so then it would

  just be the parts—just a few hundred."

  "Even so, it could be weeks before we earn that here ...

  after we pay for food and somewhere to sleep," Max said.

  "Did you guys find a place?" Liz said.

  Max nodded. "There's a motel just outside of town. A

  room is forty dollars a night," he said.

  "Just about everything we have," Maria said.

  Liz quickly did the math in her head. "It would leave us

  with less than three dollars," she said. She shook her head.

  "We're not doing it. We'll sleep in the van tonight."

  "What?" Maria said.

  "If we spend the money on a room, you guys will have

  nothing to eat. And we'll have nothing tomorrow," Liz said.

  "We'll be okay," Max said. "We can get a room."

  Michael looked over at Max in surprise.

  * * *

  * * *

  "No," Liz said, before Michael could respond.

  "Tell you what, Max," Liz said. "Let's put it to a vote."

  "Out of the question," Max said.

  "If you remember, you made it clear that you don't want

  to make all the decisions," Liz said, smiling. She turned to

  the group. "All in favor of getting the boys some food."

  Liz put her hand up, followed by Isabel, then Michael,

  Kyle, and finally Maria.

  "That's the problem with democracy: Not everybody

  gets what they want," Liz said. Waving over the waitress,

  Liz watched the guys order. After the boys had finished, Liz

  realized she was tired. By the look of them, so was the rest

  of the group. Checking her watch, she saw it was almost six

  thirty. "We can't hang around here all night," Liz said.

  "Yeah, we'll see enough of this place tomorrow," Maria

  said.

  "We should head back to the van," Max said. He turned

  to Kyle and asked, "Do you think it's safe? I didn't notice

  when they close."

  "Five thirty," Kyle said. "If the sign was right. We

  should be okay."

  The group moved down the street, still attracting the

  interest of the few people who were on the street. There

  were very few people, Liz noticed, even for a sleepy little

  town. And no one seemed to be sitting outside anywhere—

  either on a porch or in front of a store. Instead, everyone

  she saw was either coming or going. No one was staying

  still or even lingering outside. Thus, they were able to

  make their way down Main Street without attracting too

  much attention.

  "There," Kyle said, pointing to a large barn just past the

  * * *

  Laundromat. When they got closer, Liz could see the

  JOHNNY'S GARAGE sign. Fortunately, the place looked empty

  and locked up.

  "I don't think anyone's here," Kyle said.

  "Good," Max said.

  The group made its way to the far side of the barn,

  where their van was parked among a bunch of old cars that

  didn't look like they had been running anytime recently.

  And it doesn't look like they will be going anywhere any time

  soon, Liz thought.

  Unfortunately, their van seemed to fit right in among

  them.

  Max tried the door, which was locked; in fact, all the

  doors were locked.

  "Dan has the only key," Kyle said.

  "No problem," Max said as he placed his hand over the

  lock on the driver's side door. There was a click from

  inside, and Max opened the door.

  "Alien-powers unleashed," Max said flatly, though Liz

  could hear the hint of humor in his voice.

  Less than a minute later, the group was all in their seats.

  It was just starting to get dark out, but already Liz felt

  like she had sandpaper on her eyelids. She hadn't had much

  sleep in the last two days, but even so, she knew she had

  had more than Max, who hadn't slept at all the night before.

  Looking outside, Max said, "We should be warm enough."

  He was right. It was still in the seventies outside, and

  was comfortable in the van. If they would be sleeping in

  the van a lot in the coming months, Liz made a note to

  remember that they should not wander into cold climates

  as they got closer to the fall.

  * * *

  Liz heard a smacking sound, then Michael said, "Ow."

  That made Liz smile. If Maria and Michael hadn't fig-

  ured out their relationship yet, they would have plenty of

  time on this trip.

  As her eyes closed, she felt Max's lips on hers.

  "Good night Liz," he said.

  "Night, Max," Liz said, smiling. She opened her eyes for

  a moment to see Max watching her. Then she stopped

  fighting it.

  At the end of the first day of her new life, Liz Parker fell

  into a deep and dreamless sleep.

  Max woke instantly to the sound of a flashlight tapping

  near his hea
d.

  Before he even remembered where he was, he lifted his

  right hand in defense. Then his eyes met the eyes of the

  man who owned the garage.

  His name is Dan, Max's brain supplied.

  Forcing himself to relax, Max lowered his hand and

  then opened the window on his door.

  "Camping out?" Dan said, his face unreadable.

  "I hope it's okay," Max said.

  Dan glanced inside the van and took in the other five

  teenagers who were slowly waking up.

  He shrugged and said, "There's a motel up the street."

  "We know," Max said, "But..."

  Dan waved off the explanation, and then he studied the

  group. For a moment, something passed over his face.

  Then he was unreadable again and said, "Kyle, am I going

  to see you in forty-five minutes?"

  "Yes sir," Kyle said.

  * * *

  Then Dan was turning away, heading back to the barn.

  Max got out to stretch his legs. As soon as he was on the

  ground, Dan turned around and, pointing to what looked

  like a small shed that had been added to the side of the

  barn, said, "There's a studio with a shower. I'll bring you

  some towels," Dan said.

  "Thank you," Kyle said.

  Dan didn't respond. Instead, he simply walked off.

  "The girls have to go to work first," Maria said as she

  grabbed Liz by the hand. Isabel followed. Before they got

  there, Dan had appeared with a stack of towels, which he

  handed to Isabel. Then the girls disappeared into the door

  to the building.

  Half an hour later, the girls came out dressed and with

  their hair wet. Their clothes also looked freshly cleaned.

  Max realized that Isabel must have used her powers for

  that. Well, it's not gold bars, he thought, but at least our pow-

  ers are good for something.

  None of them had so much as a change of clothes. And

  even if they had the money, buying more would create a

  storage problem in the van. With six people taking up

  most of the available space, there wouldn't be much room

  for clothes or possessions of any kind.

  Well, at least their powers would save them from hav-

  ing to do laundry.