by John Miller
from the magneto to the cylinder head.”
“I’ll be damned. How did you know how to look for it?”
“That just sounded like the problem to me.”
“Do you live around here?”
“No, I live in Englewood.”
“Do you have a job, son?”
“I work on different jobs as a handy man.”
“Well, I can give you a job for now. How would you like to help me fix up that old plane for air shows?”
“You serious?”
“Yep. Been wanting to do that for years now. Just need help on it. I can’t pay you a lot, but it would be worth your time.”
Mark looked at the old airplane and smiled. “You got a deal.” he said, "but I want a bonus when we're done."
“A bonus?”
“Yes, when we're done, you have to teach me how to fly it.”
“Son, you have a deal.” The two shook hands.
As Mark sat there with Lisa at the kitchen table he thought of how David and he had fixed up that old World War II plane for air shows and had become great friends, though David was more of a father figure to Mark than a friend. When Lisa and Mark got married, there was David, sitting in the front row at their wedding. Lisa would invite David over for dinner. David would accept. They would laugh and talk the night away. She became fond of David. She was impressed by how David was a man of his word.
After they got done with the Texan, David taught Mark how to fly it, just like he said he would. Not only to fly the Texan but the crop dusters also. He helped Mark get his pilot’s license. Then he told Mark he was done crop dusting. So he sold the business to Mark and retired. He sold Mark the planes and the barn hanger he had. David did keep the Texan for air shows, but he still let Mark fly it during the off-season.
Mark missed David when he was out on tour with it. That was why, when Lisa told him David was coming by the bank today, he had to see him. Mark got up from the kitchen table and said, "I’m going to take a shower before I leave home."
“I already took mine, so go ahead.”
“You taking Herman in with you today?"
“Don’t I always?" Most people would think a dog at a bank would be strange, but Herman was up in age. He mainly sat beside Lisa’s desk on a blanket she had made up for him and just watched people come and go all day long. Since Englewood was a small town, Herman knew most of the patrons that frequented the bank. He just watched with no interest. Lisa got away with Herman being there because she was the bank manager.
Lisa didn’t start out that way. She had applied for a teller's job when she seventeen. She graduated high school that spring before she turned eighteen and the bank hired her as a teller. She worked hard at her job, never missed a day, so when she was nineteen they offered her a job as a loan officer. She still worked hard and when Mr. Adams, the long-time bank manager, retired, she got the full-time job as manager and never looked back since. She was twenty-one when she got that position. Lisa, now in her thirties, had carte blanche as manager so Herman wasn’t a problem.
Mark got out of the shower and yelled to Lisa, “I have to go and get some parts for one of the planes this morning.”
Lisa yelled back, “It’s no problem. I’ll drive myself to work.” One of the planes needed a cable replaced on the rudder control system. He had to drive almost to Kansas City to get the part. It would take four hours round trip. So he would be back at the bank in time to see David in the afternoon.
“You going to drive the pickup truck to get your part?”
“No, I don’t trust it to go that far.” David had also sold Mark the old work truck he had, along with the planes.
“Oh, I see,” said Lisa, “you're wanting an excuse to drive the Trans Am today. I see how you are.”
“No, dear, it’s not like that at all.” Mark got dressed for his trip for his parts. As he walked past Lisa he gave her a kiss and scratched Herman behind the head. He took the keys off a hook and headed toward the garage.
Lisa looked up. “You really didn’t need an excuse to drive the Trans Am. I know you love that car.”
Mark smiled. “Not as much as I love you.” She smiled back.
Mark opened the garage door and walked over to a covered vehicle inside. He pulled back the car cover and there she was, A 1979 Trans Am, painted saddle brown with a gold bird on the hood. It had a 400 engine and a four-speed transmission. He had gotten the car as a sixteenth-birthday present from his dad. Of course back then the car wasn’t in the shape it was in now. Mark got into the car and switched the garage door open by remote control. Before he started the engine he thought about how the car looked now compared to how it had looked when he first got it.
His dad had been on a business trip for the plant. On his drive he saw the car in a field out by the highway. He knew Mark wanted a car and that Mark had a talent for engine work, so he bought the car for him.
The paint was faded. The bird decal on the hood was peeling off. The engine had seen better days. But to Mark, at sixteen years old, it was freedom.
The car had run decent enough for its age but it smoked a lot. The main problem was the valve guide seals were bad. Mark figured this was because the car had just sat there so long in the field.
After a few parts here and there, Mark got it to stop smoking. The only problem Mark had was that at the age of sixteen, money was tight, so he couldn’t afford a lot of the parts he needed. He drove the car anyway and took Lisa along a lot of the time. As long as she was with Mark, it didn’t matter to Lisa what she rode in. Mark drove the car for a few years. Eventually he got more money from his work and bought something newer, but he still kept the Trans Am. The crop dusting business had been good, and Lisa had been made bank manager, so he finally had gotten together the money to fix the old girl up.
Mark rebuilt the engine himself. He gave it more horsepower and rebuilt the four-speed transmission. At mechanical work he was okay, but not at paint and body. David, however, knew a man in the next town over who was good in that department, so he introduced Mark to him and they made a deal on the paint and bodywork. He painted the Trans Am a metallic blue with silver ground effects. Mark had to order all the decals and the man put those on also. David did the interior work for Mark, and then she was done.
Mark reached down and turned the key. The engine fired up immediately and purred like a kitten. Mark stepped down on the accelerator, watched the tachometer go up, pushed in the clutch, put the Trans Am in reverse, and started backing out the driveway. As Mark backed down the driveway he wanted to do a burn out in front of the house, but Lisa did get on to him the last time he did it. He just smiled, put the car in first and took off for his parts.
Lisa finished her bookkeeping at the kitchen table. She looked at her watch, looked at Herman and asked, “You ready for work, Herman?” Herman began to wag his tail. Lisa led Herman out to the garage and into her Nissan Altima. Lisa liked the Trans Am but she preferred to drive her Altima. The trip to the bank was only a fifteen-minute drive. Englewood only had four red lights, and downtown wasn’t that busy. She made it there at her usual 8:45am time. After all, she was the bank manager and couldn’t afford to be late.
Lisa pulled into the bank parking lot and shut her engine off. Herman seemed to be excited. She opened the door of the Altima and Herman jumped out and headed for the front door of the bank. Lisa cried out, “Hey, slow down. Wait for me.” She reached the front door and unlocked it. As she turned the knob to unlock the door she noticed the alarm didn’t go off. Normally when she did this the bank alarm went off for thirty seconds till she reset the code inside the bank, but for some reason it didn’t do that.
She opened the door and Herman jumped in the bank first and headed to his blanket. Lisa walked over to the other side of the bank and checked the control box on the wall. It said all systems were working normally. The alarm system of the bank had not been upgraded since Lisa was first hired as a teller. She walked to her desk and looked in h
er Rolodex for the alarm company to call about the alarm. She wanted to make sure it was working properly. She wasn’t too worried. This is Englewood. Who would want to rob us?
The bank door opened and Amy walked in. “Good morning, Lisa.”
“Good morning to you, too.” Herman got up from his blanket. He wandered over to Amy at the teller stand and peeked around the corner.
“I see you, Herman.” Herman responded with a tail wag. The bank door opened again and Janice walked in.
“Morning, Herman.” Herman met Janice halfway across the lobby. She reached down and petted him on the head. As Janice walked to her workstation she noticed Herman didn’t follow her over to it. Instead he just sat there, staring out the bank door. Janice put her purse in her desk but Herman still sat there.
“Something wrong with Herman, Lisa?” she asked.
Lisa stood up. Herman's ears and the hair on the back of his neck stood up and he just sat there, staring out the bank door.
“Herman, you okay, honey?" Lisa called. At first Herman didn’t respond. Lisa called him again. “Herman, come here.” Herman sat there for a minute, then stood up and walked back to his blanket. Lisa wondered what was wrong with him. Maybe a stray cat was out there or something. Lisa looked around her desk for some papers she needed to get finished for some customers. Then she saw the rock. It was a rock that Mark had