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FRIDAY
Sara gives my uncle a ride home while I wait for Henry Watkins to come by with a flatbed tow truck.
“It’ll do damage if I drag it up.” He walks around my uncle’s car, pulling at his chin, then squats by one of the front tires, reading off the information while writing it down on a small notepad. “I think it’s best if I put the car on blocks, take the tires back to my shop, put new ones on, and come back.” He glances at me for approval.
I thought he’d tow the car back to his shop, take care of it there, but I suppose he can’t do that with all four tires out of commission.
“Can I give you a lift?”
“That would be great, thank you.” I glance at my uncle’s car, not sure if it’s safe to leave it.
“Can do.” He stands and tugs on his jeans, pulling his pants up. Henry definitely has the ass crack thing down to a T.
As he drives me home, Henry asks about my day, but he’s mostly interested in my uncle’s health.
“I was able to pop by and inflate your tires. Any idea how that happened?” We pull up to my uncle’s house and he turns off the engine.
“I honestly don’t know.”
“You were missing all four valve caps.”
“My uncle mentioned the same thing when we looked at it this morning. I thought they popped off during the crash and figured that’s why the air let out.”
Henry scratches his ass. “They screw on to keep dirt and other debris off the valves but do nothing when it comes to keeping air in, and I checked your tires after the accident. They were all there. Someone intentionally removed them. They would’ve had to depress the valve inside to let the air out. It takes time to make a tire go flat that way. Whoever removed the caps was very deliberate in what they did.” He gives a shake of his head. “Any reason anyone would want to mess with you?”
“Not that I can think of. Uncle Pete thought it was kids having fun.”
“Could be; kids are kids. Some are good. Some are bad. But I don’t think any of them would do something like that.”
“Maybe it’s something like picking on the new person in town?”
Henry’s brows arch like that’s the dumbest thing anyone could say, but it’s the only thing I can think of. Nobody here knows me.
“Thank you for inflating my tires. I really appreciate it. What do I owe you?”
“Luv, you don’t need to pay me for that.”
“I don’t want to take advantage of you.”
“Trust me, you’re not.” Henry waves off any further talk about that.
Satisfied with his inspection, he waves goodbye and tells me he’s going to head back to my uncle’s car to fix everything.
I’m a bit at a loss by how much everyone helps one another.
It’s cool.
With my steps light, I walk to the front door but pause at a foul stench. There’s a pile of dog shit on the porch. Screwing up my nose, I step over the mess and head inside.
My uncle is asleep in his worn leather recliner. I cover him with the throw my aunt made for him then head to the kitchen to get something to clean up the mess outside.
I’ve heard of people not cleaning up after their dogs when on a walk, but who lets a dog loose to crap right outside the front door?
When I open the door, movement to my left catches my eye, but when I turn, there’s nothing there. I clean up the dog poop and take a moment to glance up and down the street. Whoever that was, they were in the yard. Or maybe it was the dog and I chased it off?
A chill worms its way between my shoulder blades.
I double-check the door and turn the security lock for an extra degree of protection. Something about all of this feels off.
