I stated the obvious. “It appears the gas is somehow dissolving the rubber. I don't know if that is normal or..." I pointed at the dubious looking redhead. “Hey! I didn't say I was a mechanic.”
I shook a finger at the smiling imp to prevent hir from opening her pie hole as I grabbed my mobile in my other hand. I growled at hir, trying not to smile, “I have resources.”
McGrath answered on the second ring with a tinge of concern peeking through her Irish accent, “Tina? Is everythin' ok? I thought ya said ya had a special project ta be doin' tonight.”
I nodded to thin air and said, “It's all good. I just have a hypothetical question about general motor maintenance.”
The concern was gone, but an amused tone replaced it as her tweedledee came to the forefront, “Oh, is that so? Shoot.”
I grinned and asked, “Well hypothetically, if someone were to store a motor, without running it out of petrol...”
She interrupted, “Which ya wouldn't do, or you'd be walkin' the plank.”
I squinted an eye and channeled my sister, “Of course I didn't, you surly leprechaun. This is purely hypothetical." I chuckled at the use of one of my sister's common reprimands for her.
“Oh, of course it is now... what? It's the wee one... no, I'm not tellin' her ya love her, Frizzy. We're talkin' important business.”
I giggled and said, “Hi, Lenore.”
McGrath said with her hand over the receiver, “Now you've done it, you've got Tina distracted now. Go play with the toaster in the bath while the grown-ups talk.”
I heard the thud of Lenore's backhand to McGrath's cast iron abs. It played out in my head like a movie, I knew them so well. I loved how much my sis loved McGrath even though the two mixed like oil and water on the surface. I heard my Irish pseudo-sister utter her trademark three syllabled, “Lovely.”
Then like nothing was going on on their end she asked me, “Please, do go on.”
I nodded again and rolled my eyes at the Reidster. “As I was saying, hypothetically, if petrol were left in the tank a few months and the motor didn't start. And you found gummy black residue in the fuel line..." I left it open.
She chuckled and pointed out, “That's a mighty specific hypothetical question yer askin'." Then she gushed, “Our little Tina is workin' on a motor."
I blushed, and she said, “It sounds like a cheap setup. Some manufacturers cut corners on things and use materials that aren't right for the situation to save a bit of lolly on production.”
I nodded again to myself as she shared, “Some rubber breaks down in gasoline over time, an' turns ta sludge. You best replace it, don't try ta clean it out. An' if yer lucky, none of it made its way inta the carburetor or yer in a wold of hurt.”
I winced and said what I feared, “A hypothetical carburetor rebuild. That's a little beyond my skill set.”
I could hear the nod in her voice as she agreed, “Hypothetically.”
I smiled and said, “Ok, thanks, Hunter. Love you, see you tonight.”
Her voice softened as she said, “Love ya too little ship mouse. See ya later, be safe. Now I got ta track down a certain frizzy haired sibling of yers before she makes a mess of mahy boat.”
I rang off and then looked imperiously at Reid as I slid my mobile back into my pocket. “I have deduced that some manufacturers use cheap rubber hoses that can degrade with prolonged...”
Ze grinned and interrupted, “I have ears, Sherlock, I heard.”
I stuck my tongue out and then asked, “I don't suppose you have any rubber hose about that diameter that we can test the theory with until we can get a proper fuel line?”
Reid squished up hir face in thought then held up a finger as ze rushed over to a little workbench and started rummaging in the cabinet below it. Hir head popped up and she asked, “Would surgical tubing work?”
I blinked, I had no idea. But it was temporary anyway, so I nodded. “Let's give it a go."
Ze ran back over with a meter long piece and some scissors and offered it up to me like a prize chicken at the county fair.
I couldn't help beaming a smile at the pixie, and measured a piece and cut it to length. Then I said, “Ok... now THIS is where the mess comes in. Just pinch the middle of the tubing while I pull off the old hose and try to get this on before we lose too much petrol.”
Ze nodded and pinched.
I said tongue in cheek, “Yet another good reason not to store a motor with gas in the tank."
I squeaked, springing up, almost diving through the wall when Reid decided the hose wasn't the only thing around to pinch as ze said, “Yeah yeah yeah, I got it. Duly chastised.”
I giggled and rubbed my sore butt cheek. I squatted down and said, “You, my dear Reid, are no gentleman.”
Ze nodded again and teased, “Again with stating the obvious.”
I turned away to look at the offending hose so that I could blush a bit, when I cooled down, I put the hose clamp over the end of the tubing then slid the hose clamp attached to the fitting on the tank down and said, “Here goes nothing.”
I twisted the hose with the pliers until it started moving freely. I dropped the pliers and picked up the tuna tin and moved it over and then pulled the hose. Gasoline came spraying out, and I grabbed the tubing with my free hand and shoved it onto the fitting, getting petrol all over my hands.
I started spitting to the side and working my tongue in and out of my mouth, trying to get the terrible taste of gasoline off of it. Some of the spray had hit me in the face. Lovely, I was going to smell like petrol for a day or two.
I grinned at Reid, who looked like she was a second away from dropping the tubing and running away to wash the tiny bit of gas that got on her hands. She grinned back. Then I took my own sweet time removing the second hose clamp from the discarded hose and then attaching the other end of the tubing to the motor. She was giving me the evil eye at the slow speed in which I was working, which pleased me to no end.
“Ok. Release it," I said.
Ze stopped pinching the hose, and we saw it darken slightly as gasoline made its way down the length of it.
Reid asked dubiously, “So... is that it?”
I shrugged as I stared at my wet hands, gas fumes wafting up to me. “I was beyond my knowledge when we found the hose was bad. Only one way to find out." I motioned a hand to the bike as I backed off and started putting the tools back in the box.
Reid stepped up to Melody trepidatiously and grabbed the pull starter. After two pulls the motor sputtered a little and died. Hir eyes were wide with anticipation and excitement as I stood up beside hir. One more pull and the motor buzzed to life like a weed eater on steroids.
We squealed like a couple school girls, mine aborted in mid squeak when I found myself in a tight embrace. Hir scent filling my nose as hir ponytail whipped my face while she swung us back and fourth in a warm hug that was melting both me and my resolve. Bloody hell, she was so strong for hir size and sexy as hell.
Reid released me and held me at arm's length as ze gushed, “You did it, TinTin! You're brilliant!" Then ze pinched hir nose and grinned as ze added, “And you stink.”
I squinted one eye at hir and couldn't help but grin. My body was on fire from our contact moments earlier, and I was riding an endorphin high, or was it a pheromone high? “You're no spring daisy yourself. You smell like a gas station.”
Then I said, “And you may want to shut that off before we die of carbon dioxide poisoning.”
“Right." Ze nodded and shut off the bike. Then Reid's smile slowly grew even bigger and said, “Now... we have transportation.”
I just giggled. “There is no way in a million years that I'm getting on that thing.”
Less than minute later, after Reid called into hir mum that we'd be back in a flash, I was on the back of the bike, my arms wrapped around Reid's waist as I held on for dear life... oh... my arms wrapped around... With a grin, I laid my head on hir back, the stupid goggles, and helmet not allowing me to bask
in our contact.
We did a quick lap of the neighborhood, the little motor straining under both our weight, we couldn't have gotten up to more than thirty kilometers an hour. I was feeling much more relaxed when we pulled back into the tiny garage. I was sort of sad I had to let go of hir, and got off the bike. When the door was closed, Mimi poked her head in. “Ok children, get cleaned up, supper is ready.”
We virtually ran into the main part of the house. Reid pointed to the door I assumed was the loo. “Loo is just there, I'll use the one upstairs." Then with more excitement, ze said, “She fixed it, mum! She's amazing." And ze dashed up the stairs in a flash.
I turned to got to the loo and froze when I saw Mimi studying me with a thoughtful look on her face. “You're good for my baby, Christine. Reid hasn't been this happy in years.”
I blushed and shrugged I whispered, “It's all Reid." Then dashed into the loo before I died of embarrassment.
A fun and entertaining meal ensued, and Reid announced to the room when we had finished cleaning the dishes afterwards, “I'll drive Christine home."
That was an exciting, if not terrifying prospect. I'd get to see more of my personal obsession, though it would be on a rolling death machine.
We bundled up for the ride, then Mimi met us at the garage door. I giggled almost uncontrollably as she said, “Cat." Shoving a small canvas into my hands. “Kiss." She kissed the top of my head. Then she pointed with a manic grin. “Door.”
I smiled and gave a tiny hip wave to her. “Good night Mimi, thank you so much for supper. I hope it wasn't a bother.”
She shook her head as she shoved us out the door into the garage and said as she shut the door behind us, “You, dear child, are welcome anytime.”
Then through the door, she groused out, “Drive careful Reid. Don't get distracted.”
Reid was blushing as we headed to the motorized bike. “Muuuuum.”
I absently wondered what I was going to do with another cat painting, as the garage door raised.
Chapter 7 – Freedom
After my delivery to the BBC backlot, I hurried back to Bits 'N' Bobs, giggling at the latest text message from the red headed troublemaker. “Does Paya take cute pills or something? I see how she uses the adorable to get people to do her evil bidding...”
Yup.
I thought the question was so funny because that's about what I thought about Reid. I mean, how can one person be so cute, in an ambiguous way. Life had been different when my world was seen through the binary goggles we were taught to see through our whole lives. I mean, it becomes second nature to think, she's cute, or he's handsome. But when it comes to non-binary gender it is a whole different matter, because those two could be one and the same or neither... something completely wonderful in its own right.
While I never thought I'd be more than passingly attracted to a woman, I find it quite pleasing to hunger for Reid's feminine lips. I still remember our first, 'sort of' accidental kiss. Mmmmm.... A happy misread on my part.
It had been that same night.
Reid had driven me home that night on her flaming bicycle of death. Fine, it really isn't that bad, and Melody gives us some freedom and autonomy that we had not known we had been missing until we had it.
The little motor had buzzed like an angry swarm of bees, straining to push us along almost at the speed of the regular traffic on the streets of London. I was content just to hold onto my crush from behind and take in the sights.
I realized after a minute that we were taking a circuitous route, weaving through the city, then along the Thames. My chauffeur was giving me a tour. If it wasn't for the chill night air, it would have been almost...
There! Ze was doing it again, did the Reidster not realize that the things ze did with me could be construed as romantic? I knew from hir stories and what Mimi had shared, that Reid had never dated, nor even seemed interested in anyone that way. Which to me was endlessly sexually frustrating, knowing the object of my desire was apparently asexual. But just being with hir like this was enough.
When I shivered at a stoplight, Reid looked back with concern on hir face. She was all 'protective bloke' at that moment, and he actually put his jacket over me. I melted a bit. Then the winding journey became a direct route to the shadow of the Hammersmith where the Deidre sat low in the water.
The tide was going out. If we had been any later, the Deidre would have been grounded until the tide came back in.
I wondered with an internal smile if that had been part of the reason Reid had been taking such a lazy route to bring me back home. If we missed the tide, we'd have to hang around longer with each other until the tide came back in.
As we turned onto Lower Mall, he cut the motor and pedaled us along the promenade to the gangplank that McGrath had reaching out to the barge.
When we came to a stop, I slid off, and Reid put the kickstand down and stepped beside me and rubbed my arms to get some warmth into them as I took off the helmet and stuffed the goggles into it.
That same look of almost tender concern was in hir eyes, and I was lost in those crystal blues. Then my heart skipped a beat when ze leaned forward with a smile. I leaned in to meet hir half way, and Reid froze when our lips met. Hir eyes were wide, and then I felt hir take the helmet from me.
Feck me sideways!
I had misread the hell out of the situation. I stepped back, my entire body was hot with embarrassment. As Reid said in a halting, whispering voice, a look on hir face I couldn't decipher, “I was... I was just reaching for the... for the helmet...”
I turned to run to the gangplank, I was mortified. I'd never been so embarrassed in my entire life, and I was so afraid of what Reid was going to think now. I didn't want to lose hir friendship. You bloody git, Christine! What have you done?
I was halted by a hand on my arm. I turned back, and tears were welling in my eyes, I had been so stupid. There was nothing but concern in those huge blue eyes of hirs. “What's wrong? Are you ok TinTin? I'm... I'm sorry.”
I shook my head and placed a hand on hir cheek, “You don't have anything to be sorry about. I just... I'm so stupid. I thought...”
The redhead looked uncomfortable, shifting hir weight from foot to foot, then to my surprise ze said, “I don't know how to... I've never. Was it ok?”
I don't know why, but I chuckled and wiped my eyes on the sleeve of hir jacket I still wore. Which I was claiming as my own by the way, if I hadn't just turned our friendship into a fecking mess like a looney gobshite that is.
I asked carefully like I was speaking to a skittish animal who was about to dart into traffic, “You're not mad?”
Ze shook hir head and smiled sheepishly, “Of course not. You're my best mate. And I don't think I've ever felt... I... you're different, and I don't know why. It's all sort of confusing.”
I asked shyly, “Did you... like it?”
I held my breath, waiting the infinitely long single heartbeat that went on and on until ze nodded and shrugged. “I... I think so. You confuse me so much. I like... holding your hand and stuff. Things I never did with my other mates.”
I smiled and felt my blush returning like a long lost friend. “Well, I like holding your hand and stuff too, Reidster.”
I loved the blush on her cheeks, for she was all girl just then and she looked so deliciously bashful. She grumped out with a slight smile, “I'm still not going to answer to that.”
I exhaled a huge sigh of relief that I hadn't just pushed away from the person that makes my heart beat so hard in my chest it sometimes actually physically hurts. I bit my lower lip then gave her a quick peck on the cheek and turned to run away home, “G'night Reidster.”
She still hadn't let go of my arm, so I turned back, and her bashfulmess had multiplied exponentially as she looked down at her feet then up at me. She caught me by surprise with a quick kiss on the lips before diving on the motorized bike and yanking the cord, bringing the small motor to buzzing life.
She squeaked ou
t as I just stood there, still in the fog of my happy shock, trying to process the fact that Reid had just kissed me on the lips... of hir own accord this time. “G'night TinTin.”
Then ze was off, Melody buzzing like a frantic chainsaw as she darted away on Lower Mall. I giggled and squeaked and waved at hir back then hugged myself, then spun around to board the Deidre. I froze when I saw Lenore, McGrath, and Bobby all stepping out onto the deck, looking at the bike as it disappeared around the corner.
McGrath was asking, “Did you see him, Frizzy?" Lenny was shaking her head, and Robert was cursing, which got him a chastising look from Hunter.
I exhaled heavily, shaking my head at my nosy family and marched across the bouncing plank to the Deirdre and hopped onto the deck. A detached portion of my mind remembered how terrified I was the first time I walked across that thin board. Now it was second nature to me and easy as pie.
I raised my chin, moved past the gossips on the deck, and went down into the main cabin. McGrath, leading the snoopers behind me, asked, “So, was that the person you've been spendin' so much time with the past few weeks, now? An' what did you say the bloke's name was again?”
I said as I headed through the cabin toward the back hall where my berth was, “It's none of your business, and I didn't supply a name before. If and when I'm ready to share, I will." Then in my best imitation of McGrath's voice, I added, “So don't be makin' trouble where there isn't any, or I'll have ta be puttin' a hurtin' on ya." Lenore snorted. It was a great impersonation, and she knew it.
McGrath grumped, “I don't sound like that."
Lenore and Robert assured her that she certainly did, and I was grinning, but they wouldn't know it as they continued trailing me from behind.
McGrath said through the door when I closed it in their faces, “Bob messed up yer kitchen. Seein' as how we had ta fend fer ourselves tonight.”
Bobby blurted, “Hey!”
I snorted because of all of us, I was the only one with any experience cooking anything that didn't come out of a can.
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