Redemption Lake

by Monique Miller

  As he left the store and headed for his car, he heard a woman’s voice mumbling something in frustration under her breath. Looking toward the source, he saw the hood of a car raised, and the same woman who had mesmerized him moments earlier was shaking her head. She was off the phone, and the laugh lines were gone.

  Travis looked up toward heaven and said a quick thank you to God. He was sorry the woman was having some sort of car trouble, but he was glad he’d have the opportunity to speak with her.

  He quickly opened his car door and flung his bag in the passenger’s seat. Then he slammed it and made a B-line for her raised hood.

  Walking up behind her, he said, “Excuse me, Miss. Is there anything I can help you with?”

  Startled, the woman turned around to face him. “Oh, you scared me.” She placed her hand on her chest and started to breathe heavily.

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to. It looked like you might need some help,” Travis said. As he gazed upon the woman’s face close up, she looked even more beautiful to him. Even in her frustrated state.

  After a second, her breathing slowed, and she spoke. “Sorry, I’m just a little jumpy. This darn car has been giving me a run for my money.” She kicked the tire and wiped sweat beads, which were starting to form on her forehead.”

  “What seems to be the problem?” Travis asked.

  “Name something,” the woman said. “Some oil valve thing has been leaking for a while. The breaks have been making this awful grinding sound, and now,” she paused to look down at the ground, “there’s green stuff leaking underneath.”

  Travis looked down and saw the green ooze she was referring to. “That green stuff is antifreeze.”

  “Great,” the woman said, again wiping her forehead. “What does that mean?” She peered down under the hood of the car.

  “I don’t know. I need to look at it a little more closely. Your radiator might have busted, or it might be a leak in the hose or something,” Travis told her.

  “That’s going to be a lot of money, isn’t it? Then I’ll have to get it towed somewhere.” She shook her head. “Great ... just great.”

  “Hold on,” Travis quickly said. “Let me take a look before you work yourself up too much more.” Travis touched the cap of the radiator to see how hot it was. It was warm to the touch. Then he touched the engine to make sure the engine wasn’t too hot. Finally, he knelt down on the ground to try and determine where the leak might be coming from. Not seeing anything, he carefully opened the cap to the radiator, hoping it wasn’t hot enough to burn him.

  Once the cap was off, he peered into the hole and didn’t see any fluid. He took a careful look at each of the hoses connected to the radiator. Seeing what he thought might be the problem he asked, “You wouldn’t happen to have any antifreeze in your trunk, would you?”

  Dumbfounded, the woman shook her head.

  Travis looked around and spotted an AutoZone a ways down the street. “I tell you what, I’ll run down the street to that AutoZone and get some antifreeze. Hopefully that will help me find out where this leak is coming from. Why don’t you just wait inside the store and get out of this hot sun.”

  The woman huffed in frustration as she kicked the car again.

  “Calm down. I’ll be right back. Go inside and cool off a little bit. I’ll be right back,” Travis said.

  The woman opened her purse. “How much does antifreeze cost?” She pulled out her wallet.

  “I got it. Don’t worry about it. Buy yourself some water or lemonade or something,” Travis said.

  She looked at him with skepticism. “Are you sure?”

  Travis closed the hood and said, “Yep. Now go ahead inside, and I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  “Okay, thanks.” Her demeanor softened a little. She closed her car door and locked it, then headed back inside the video store.

  Travis returned to his late model Acura. Upon cranking it, he saw the bright red gas light indicating that his tank was close to empty. Instead of driving down the street to the AutoZone, he really needed to head toward the nearest gas station. He turned the ignition back off. He’d have to run down to the auto parts store instead.

  Wearily he looked down the street to where the Auto-Zone was located, it was only about a half a mile away, but he was going to have to cross six lanes of traffic to get to it.

  Looking up at the sun, he wiped his brow and took a deep breath before venturing off toward the store. After a great deal of heavy panting from the speedy walk/jog down the road, Travis finally reached the store. He welcomed the cool air blowing down on him from the air conditioner.

  Scanning the aisles, he spotted the antifreeze. He picked up a bottle and saw it was seven dollars and twenty-nine cents and pulled his wallet out. In it, he found the twenty dollars he knew was in there. He also looked behind old credit cards and his license to see if he had tucked away any other money that he might have forgotten about.

  No such luck. This was the last twenty dollars. It was supposed to last him another two days until his next unemployment check arrived. After paying for the antifreeze he’d only have a little over ten dollars, not to mention the fact that his car was on empty.

  “Maybe I should have let the woman give me some money for the fluid,” he mumbled to himself.

  He picked up two bottles of cold water and made his purchase, all the while shaking his head. Then he sprinted back to the video store. Once he returned to the woman’s car, she quickly joined him outside. Travis’s face and clothing were drenched.

  “You ran all the way down to the store?” the woman asked with obvious concern.

  “Yeah,” he said, panting even though he was trying hard not to.

  “It must be a hundred degrees out here,” the woman said.

  Travis wiped his forehead for what seemed like the hundredth time. “No problem. I figured I’d run down there real quick instead of fighting traffic.” He pulled the bottles of water from the bag he was carrying and handed her one. “Here you go.”

  “Thanks.” She took the bottle, opening it to take a couple sips.

  Travis opened his too, but didn’t stop drinking until the bottle was empty. The cold water felt good trickling down his throat.

  “Pop the hood for me,” he said.

  After she unlatched the hood, Travis opened it and took the radiator cap back off. Then he poured antifreeze in. “Okay, crank the car up for me.”

  The woman did as instructed, and Travis looked around the radiator and hoses to see if he could detect a leak. Relief set in when he saw that one of the hoses had a crack in it, and her radiator hadn’t busted. It was going to be a quick, cheap, relatively easy fix.

  “You can shut the car off and come look at this,” Travis said.

  She came around the front of the car, and Travis showed her the source of her problem.

  “Aw, man. What am I supposed to do now?” the woman asked.

  “Well, the good news is that it isn’t your radiator. That alone will save you time and money. It’s just a hose, which won’t cost you much.”

  The woman nodded her head. “Okay I guess that is good news. But now I’ve got to get this car moved somewhere for it to be fixed.”

  Travis smiled. “Not necessarily. I’ll be right back.” He pulled his keys back out and headed for his trunk. After opening it, he rummaged through it for the pocketknife he kept in his fishing kit. After locating it, he returned to the car and commenced to pulling the hose away from the clamp it was attached to.

  “Your hose is dry rotted and it’s leaking where this clamp is connected,” Travis said as he worked.

  After he pulled the hose and clamp off, he cut away the part of the hose where the hole was located, and then reattached the slightly shorter hose and clamp. He then poured antifreeze back into the well of the radiator.

  “Go ahead and crank your car again,” Travis told the woman.

  She did as he requested, and Travis surveyed the hose to again assess for any leaks. A
couple of minutes passed before he fully determined that the problem had been fixed.

  “There you go, Miss. You’re all set,” Travis said.

  “What?” the woman asked, perplexed. “All set?”

  “You can drive now. It is only a temporary solution, so try to get it to a mechanic soon. But for now you’re good.”

  “Are you serious?” the woman asked.

  “As a heart attack,” Travis replied.

  The woman smiled for the first time since he’d heard her laughing on the phone. Travis didn’t know if he’d ever see that beautiful smile again.

  “Thank you so very much.” She touched her purse.

  “Are you sure I can’t give you something for all your help?”

  Travis thought about the few dollars he had in his pocket and the empty gas tank that was awaiting him. But he wanted to impress the woman. He’d just ask his sister for a few dollars when he got home. She’d give him some money—like always.

  “Nah, helping out a beautiful woman is enough gratification for me,” Travis said.

  The woman smiled at the compliment. “Well, thanks.”

  Travis wasn’t sure if she were thanking him for fixing the car or for the flattering remark.

  “I can’t thank you enough.” She paused for a moment. “Hold on a second.” She rummaged through her purse until she found what she was looking for. “Here you go.”

  She handed Travis two pieces of paper. They were coupons for a free cup of coffee and breakfast sandwich at Hardee’s. “I know it isn’t much, but I’m a manager at Hardee’s, and those are a couple of coupons, you know, for maybe you and your girlfriend.”

  The way the woman said it, he wondered if she were just fishing and flirting with him. “No girlfriend and no wife. No kids either, if you’re wondering,” Travis said, taking the bait.

  “Oh ... okay. So maybe one day when you need a caffeine fix or a sandwich for breakfast, they’ll come in handy.”

  “Thanks.” Both coupons would definitely come in handy in his current situation. As the woman turned toward her car, Travis thought quickly. He still didn’t know who this beautiful young woman was. “Hey, I didn’t get your name.”

  Turning, the woman smiled again, teeth wide and gleaming. “I’m sorry; how rude of me.” She extended her hand. “My name is Beryl.”

  Travis shook her hand and held it a little longer than needed. “Beryl. That’s different.” Travis released her hand, though she hadn’t seemed bothered by his extended handshake.

  “Yeah, sort of like Cheryl, but with a B. My dad’s name is Berry, and my mom’s name is Cheryl,” she said.

  “It’s a pretty name. My name is Travis. My mama’s was Norma, and I don’t know what my daddy’s name was. So I really don’t know where she got the name Travis from.” He wanted to make as much small talk as possible. He wanted to keep Miss Beryl in his presence for as long as he could.

  She wiped beads of sweat from her forehead and frowned. “Whew! It’s so hot out here.”

  Reluctantly Travis said, “Don’t let me keep you. Go ahead and get in your car and blast that air conditioning.”

  “You bet I will.” She turned back toward her car and opened the door.

  “Hey, uh ... if I wanted to get some free coffee and a sandwich while being able to look at your beautiful face, where would I need to be and when?” Travis asked.

  “The Hardee’s on Main Street. I normally work the breakfast shift from six o’ clock ’til two o’clock,” she’d said.

  As he reminisced about the first time he’d met Beryl, Travis nodded his head. He hadn’t realized everyone at the table was starting at him until Beryl tapped him on the shoulder to ask him for his feedback.

  Not having the slightest clue as to what the most recent topic had been, he said, “I think that icebreaker was nice, everyone has such interesting stories.” He didn’t really know what else to say.

  “Okay everyone. Let’s go ahead and break for lunch.

  We’ll meet back here at The Round Table at one o’clock,” Phillip said.

  Travis was glad his answer sufficed. He’d have to try and pay more attention during the sessions; after all, his marriage depended on it.

  Chapter 7

  Travis Highgate

  Monday: 1:03 P.M.

  Travis patted his stomach, full from the lunch Shelby had prepared. When he returned to The Round Table, everyone else was already there. Once he was seated, Phillip said, “Okay, let’s go ahead and get started.”

  Beryl rolled her eyes at Travis. He looked over at the clock on the wall and saw that is was just a little past one o’clock. He’d just lost track of time for a few minutes as he walked by the lake, but he wasn’t that late. And what did it matter anyway? They had all week to sit around The Round Table and talk about all the gripes the women had about the men not doing something right.

  “Again, I want to welcome you all to this marriage retreat. This week will probably be one of the most pivotal weeks in each of your marriages. I know for my wife and I, this retreat was vital during the reclamation stage of our marriage when we were literally sitting in the same places as you all are now,” Phillip said.

  Travis’s ears perked up. Again he wondered what kinds of problems they could have had; especially with Phillip being a minister and all. But then again, Travis knew that sometimes those ministers could be the most devilish of all.

  “This week we’ll be doing some exercises to help you communicate your thoughts and feelings to your spouses. We’ll talk about the many facets of love. Not just the love you have for your spouse, but the love you have for yourself. We’ll also talk about the way love can be used in the right and wrong ways,” Phillip said.

  “I’ll be giving you some steps to improve your marital home and some marriage commandments you can use in your daily lives. Also we will delve into how important communication is in marriage and how to figure out what communication barriers you may have. There are five areas in marriage that you need to discuss and come to an agreement about, even if the agreement is that you disagree. You need to know where you both stand and how your spouse feels.” Phillip looked around pointedly at everyone.

  “Again, let me reiterate that you can voice any concerns you have. Ask any questions you need to ask pertaining to your situation. Please be assured that your information will not be shared with anyone outside of this room. Everything is to be kept confidential,” Phillip said. “Are there any questions before we get started?”

  No one had any.

  “Okay then. The first thing we’ll be talking about is the love we have for ourselves. The internal love we feel. In order to show others love—real love—you need to love yourselves first. And that love comes from within,” Phillip said.

  “You’ve also got to know that God loves you. He loved you enough to put you on this earth to live and breathe the same air as the other wonderful creatures He made. When God made you, He had a special plan in mind as to what you would look like, what complexion your skin would be, how tall you would become, and even the length of your big toe in relation to the other toes on your feet. He made your fingerprints just as He makes the snowflakes, unique and undu-plicated. God loved you first. Now you also have to love yourselves.”

  Travis listened to Phillip as he went on about them having to love themselves. Travis thought about how much he loved himself. He loved himself very much. So that wasn’t a problem. He also knew that God loved him, and he didn’t have any doubts about that either. His mother had raised him in the church, and that was where he’d first learned about God’s love. And he had even gotten saved at a young age. Each Sunday he was at church serving as an usher to show his love for the Lord.

  Travis made sure he was always front and center when it came time to hand out programs and to help take up the offering. There shouldn’t have been any doubt in anybody’s mind about how much he loved the Lord. People could tell by the works he was doing in the church each Sunday.

&n
bsp; Travis heard Phillip saying something about letting God complete you and not depending on another person to make you feel whole. Travis knew he didn’t have a problem in that department either. He was a whole person and didn’t need anyone else to validate that.

  “Now I want each of you to take a mirror.” Phillip pulled hand mirrors out of a box that was sitting on the floor. Once each person had one, Phillip continued. “I want each of you to take a look at yourselves in the side of the mirror that has the little heart sticker.”

  They did as instructed, examining themselves in the mirror, some holding the mirror closer to their faces than others. “Do you like what you see?” he challenged.

  Travis nodded his head. “Yep, I like what I see just fine.”

  “I look good,” Nina said.

  George said, “I like what I see.”

  The others just nodded their heads, some more vigorously than others.

  “Now,” Phillip said, “turn your mirrors over.”

  There was a gasp from the ‘I know I look good’ Nina. “Oh my! My head looks enormous.”

  Looking in his own mirror, Travis saw how his nose looked three times its actual size, and he had something sticking slightly out of one of his nostrils that no one had bothered to tell him about.

  “What do you think now?” Phillip asked. “How does it feel to look at yourselves up close and personal?”

  “I must say, I do still look good,” Nina said.

  While everyone was focused on Nina’s comments about herself, Travis decided to slip out to clean his nose. When he returned, Phillip was saying that they were to quickly jot down a couple of things they liked and disliked about themselves.

  Travis pulled out his notepad and headed a piece of paper with two columns to list his likes and dislikes. First focusing on the positives, he wrote that he liked his physique. He worked out at least three times a week and had been doing so for years. The fruits of his labor had yielded him a body that often captured the attention of many women, especially when he wore fitted, sleeveless T-shirts. Travis wrote that he liked his skin. He had been blessed with what some people would call flawless skin. His mother and sisters didn’t have skin like his, so he figured must have gotten it from the father he had never known.