A Family Thing. Randy Beal

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СКАЧАТЬ Seeing as fearless Charlie was about to run in and clobber my brother over the head, I had to come clean.

      "Wait," I said to him, pulled him aside, and revealed our plan.

      Charlie, when he finished laughing at our half-baked idea, insisted on being in on it. He pointed out a few obvious details that I hadn't considered, like how was I going to get the hydraulics running on the lifts? But he also kicked our vision up a notch by promising that he could not just have the wing cleaned up, but fully operational and stocked with all the necessary parts within the two months left before Dad's birthday. He could come in earlier on Sundays, send Dad home on slow nights, and pull a second shift. In fact, he even wanted to have some sort of ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open the new wing as part of the surprise for Dad, perhaps invite some key customers, maybe even the mayor, whom he knew personally.

      It was a relief to have Charlie in the know and so excited about the project, since he knew what he was doing. At the same time, I was afraid Charlie would blow the surprise, too. He got so into it at times, he could barely contain himself. It reminded me of the time when I was 8 or 9 and I had saved up allowances to buy my mom a snow globe for Christmas. I showed it to John and swore him to secrecy. But the thrill of the secret was too much for him. First, he told mom that he knew what she was getting for Christmas and ran off in a fit of giggles which I then punched out of him. Then, he would drop mom some not so subtle hints by asking her if she liked snow or asking her to find places on the globe we had in our room and saying, "Don't you love this globe?" Mom was clueless or pretended to be so. Finally, on Christmas Day as mom was opening her gift, John yelled out, "It's a snow globe!" and I attacked him, and we were both given the gift of a time out for Christmas.

      Without telling me, Charlie let Tony in on our little secret. Tony was a guy my dad had hired fresh out of trade school and we hadn't known him very long. It annoyed me that Charlie recruited him without consulting me, but his enthusiasm won me over in the end, and I began to align more with Charlie's vision of a big reveal.

      Charlie did, in fact, invite the mayor to my dad's surprise, as well as a local reporter to chronicle the opening of the new wing. We planned it for the Monday before Dad's birthday. My mom scheduled a fake doctor's appointment for that morning and asked Dad to come with for support. She vaguely mentioned it was something related to her "girl guts" as she put it, and that was all Dad needed to hear. He agreed to go, no questions asked. This gave Charlie and us the time to spit-shine everything and set up a ribbon in front of the door to the new wing for Dad to cut. We had invited some of our regular customers, a few relatives, the mayor, and the reporter, so there was a good sized group of about 15 or 20 people.

      Mom called Charlie from inside the doctor's office (yes, even the doctor was in on it) to notify him they were leaving. She insisted on driving Dad to work after her "appointment," saying he could ride back with me that evening. Dad just nodded in his usual "keep Mama happy" way. When they arrived at the shop, Mom insisted on dropping in for a minute to say hi.

      They walked into the front of the shop, which was eerily quiet and empty, but a second later the group jumped up from behind the service counter and yelled, "Surprise!" Dad's face went red and lit up with a smile. I think he figured it was a birthday surprise at that point and commented about John being out of school. Mom said, "Don't you worry about that—it's taken care of." As Dad surveyed the crowd, he gave a quizzical look toward the mayor. Mom took charge then and said, "Come right this way, Don. We have another surprise." My aunt handed her an oversized pair of scissors as she passed by and Mom handed them to Dad. "You'll need these." She led him to the ribbon stretched across the door to the dormant wing. That's when my part came in. I had prepared some remarks about how Dad was always giving to others and that we finally wanted to give back. We knew he had been wanting to get the full shop up and running, but didn't have the time. And now, thanks to Charlie, Tony, and some other people, we were proud to present the new and improved Automotive Advantage.

      Everyone applauded and Mom motioned to Dad to cut the ribbon. He opened the door and stepped in. "Wow!" was all he could say as he surveyed the room and took it all in. He spoke in sentence fragments after that . . . "fully stocked . . . lifts going? . . . how did? . . wow!"

      Someone produced a sheet cake, and the celebration followed. Dad was totally surprised, and we could tell a little proud of us for pulling it off. As much as Charlie made it his project, he was quick to point out that it was 'them boys' idea, and Dad tousled our hair and slapped our backs in appreciation.

      I was taken aback when the reporter asked to interview me for his article. I thought for sure he'd be talking with one of the adults, though I was legally an adult myself. He called me the mastermind of the plot and methodically ticked off his questions. At one point while we were talking, I looked over to Dad and saw him talking animatedly with Charlie as they plotted out how to incorporate the new wing into the daily operations. A sense of intense happiness settled over me.

      For the most part, I was happy working at the shop. It sure beat flipping burgers at the Golden Spoon. I felt like I was learning a lot and had that mechanic title in sight. When John started part-time in his senior year, it highlighted the differences between us. The shop was only ever a part-time job and a stepping stone for him. He knew exactly what he wanted to do. He'd always wanted to teach and was planning on going to a local university and teaching at the local school after that. So he'd save up all his paychecks toward that goal. I was proud of him for his determination and jealous of him for knowing what he wanted out of life. Sure I was advancing as a mechanic, but I couldn't help but think there was more out there for me. I just didn't know what.

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