Redemption Lake (6 page)
Authors: Monique Miller
Travis eagerly started filling in the blanks. The others did the same although some not as eager. This portion took only a fraction of the time it took to fill out the first page.
While reading over her completed paper, Beryl chuckled a little. She'd even looked over at Travis a couple of times and smiled instead of scowling at him. Travis didn't know what to think, but was glad something had finally made his wife happy. Only one day in, and this retreat had already started to work wonders.
George and Shelby looked over their papers and chuckled a little also. Travis read over his own narrative and thought it was pretty cut and dry. He couldn't see anything funny about what he had written. Nina sat stone-faced. Her sheet must have lacked life also.
“Okay.” Phillip looked around. “Who would like to be the first to read theirs?”
Beryl continued to chuckle without being able to stop long enough to answer. Everyone else just looked around.
“Now don't everyone volunteer at once,” Phillip said.
“I'll go ahead and read mine first,” Shelby said, then proceeded to read.
After she finished reading her narrative, George volunteered to read his; followed by Xavier. The entire time Xavier read his short story, Travis noticed that Charlotte continued to direct her attention away from her husband.
Travis wondered what must have made Xavier's wife mad enough to not only ignore her husband, but make her stop speaking to him all together. Even though Beryl was mad at him, she still voiced her ever-mounting complaints and gripes to him. That's how he knew she still loved him. In Travis's mind, she wouldn't continue to take so much time out of her so called busy schedule to talk to him if she didn't care. Even if it were mostly complaining that she was doing.
As the others read their narratives, Travis wondered why Beryl kept chuckling. What he had written was sort of cute in a Mad Lib way, but nothing to snicker at. Before he knew it, the only two people left to read their sheets were he and Beryl. She had calmed down long enough to speak and decided to read hers. As she read it, she again started to laugh, but it was controlled enough for her to be able to finish reading it.
Travis looked around at the others at the table. Their expressions mirrored what he was thinking. What in the world was so funny? Nothing she had read seemed to warrant the laughing spell she was having.
Travis picked up his paper. “Okay, I guess it's down to me. Here it is; the life and times of Mr. Travis Wayne Highgate.”
Beryl made an effort to calm down and direct all of her attention to Travis. He was glad she had. Her laughing was getting old and a little annoying.
Once he finished telling the group about his life, Beryl busted out laughing again. Travis was baffled. What was so funny about what he'd just read? It was pretty straight forward; not boring, but there was definitely no reason for his wife to be acting like Chris Tucker had just finished a set. Beryl excused herself to go to the bathroom, and Travis was relieved. By now he figured everyone at the table must have thought he'd married a lunatic straight from the nut house. He had no idea what had gotten into his wife.
He hadn't seen his Beryl laugh in a while. He'd actually forgotten how much she used to laugh when they first met. Her laughing was so intense that he'd actually heard her before he saw her. He was at the video store looking to see if they had put any new movies to sell in the previously viewed bin. He wanted to purchase a few to add to his growing collection.
Travis was deciding between a western and a comedy when he heard a woman laughing so loud that a few of the other patrons glanced her way. From where he was standing, he couldn't see the source of the laughter, but after it didn't let up, curiosity got the best of him. He maneuvered to the other side of the bin so that he could look in the direction the laughter was coming from.
When he did, his eyes fell upon one of the most beautiful women God had created. He couldn't believe that loud laugh was coming from such a petite woman. Her skin was smooth and the color of the chocolate mocha hot cocoa he liked to drink whenever it was cold outside. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail of dreads, which fell midway to her back. Her eyes were the color of coal, and her laughing smile lit up the room. So much so that even the people who kept glancing at her didn't seem to mind and even smiled themselves.
She was on her cell phone, and the person on the other end of the line must have been saying something amusing.
Travis wasn't sure how long he stared at the woman, but he couldn't stop until he watched her leave through the front door. After a few moments, he awoke from his dazed staring and ended up deciding to buy three movies at the three for twenty-dollar discount.
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.
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