Generations in Agony...Texas: Chapter Five

5) Charlie puts two and two together…


Once he had all the new parts put away, Charlie started sweeping the floor. Caleb had already put the belt on the last Onyx truck and was gone to the diner for burgers. Charlie’s mouth watered at the idea of eating. He loved the way they made a cheeseburger down here: a hunk of meat, smothered in cheese, mustard, pickles, and the rest of the trimmings, plus those jalapeños. Mom had fussed at him last Thursday because all of his tee shirts were covered in the stains caused by eating such a conglomeration.

With the floor swept, he went to sit in the office and cool down under Caleb’s window AC. Work orders were piled up, so he went to work putting some order to them, sorting finished tickets from work still in progress or those that were still waiting for the arrival of a part.

Then he saw a name that stopped him in his tracks: Carl Speck.

“My grandfather…”

Charlie wondered when the ticket had come in. Then, he saw the date and the vehicle, realizing it was the old truck and horse rig that had pulled up just as he left for parts. The man inside that truck was my grandfather…

Remembering the cowboy he saw earlier, he realized that it had to be the same man; although he had not really looked all that hard at the rider, just at the overall figure he cut on that beautiful horse. Still…

Charlie pulled open the front door and walked out to the old Chevy. He touched the fender and pulled his hand over the hot metal as he moved around to the passenger side door. Looking around to make sure no one was looking; he opened the door and leaned in.

It smelled like old vinyl, tobacco and sweat: a man smell. Yet, everything was clean and orderly. The dash was practically dust free, the knobs gleamed; only the cigarette lighter showed wear, the chrome-like finish rubbed down to the dull cast undercoat. There was no radio.

Just below the gas pedal, he could see clearly the imprint of a boot heal, practically worn through to the floorboard sheetmetal.

Standing there, taking in what little there was, Charlie tried to absorb as much of an impression as possible of the grandfather he had never met. No one, not his mom, not even his dad had ever spoken about grandfather, other than the fact that he had one.

He’s not a very nice man… Was all that anybody had told Charlie.

Once, while lying in his bed back in Chicago, he had overheard mom and dad talking about this man called Carl Speck. He was only able to hear a snippet:

“He’s just a mean old cuss…”

“But it’s been years since you’ve even spoken with him…”

“I’m dead to him, he’s dead to me. He just ignored us.”

“Maybe you should try and call…”

“No phones on the range, Carla. He doesn’t go anywhere else.”

“I still think—”

“Can we just drop it? Please?”

Whenever Charlie tried asking mom about his grandfather, she offered up little information. Probably, Charlie figured, because she had very little.

When he examined his feelings about it all honestly, knowing so little only made Charlie want to know more. Mean old cuss or not, he held a curiosity about this grandfather that he wanted to explore. Only, he had no idea how he would go about it.

Standing there, he tried to think: Why had Caleb not said anything? He had to know who Carl Speck was; he had been best friends with dad when they were kids. So, why would he not say: “Hey Charlie, your grandfather just dropped off his truck!” Or, a simple “Just missed your grandfather…”

People in Agony spoke very little about Carl Speck, at least when Charlie was around. He was getting tired of it. What was the big deal?

Caleb’s tow truck pulled in and Charlie shut the door of the Chevy. He walked back to the office and waited for Caleb to come in.

“Hey, buddy; you like yours all the way, don’t ya?” Caleb set a grease-stained brown-paper bag on the desk. It smelled so good that Charlie’s stomach roared in
response.

“Yeah, you bet, Caleb. Thanks!” He tore into the bag and pulled out a huge
burger and a paper tray filled with chili-cheese fries, a concoction that he never knew existed until he came to Agony. After two bites, Charlie looked over at Caleb, who was munching down on his own food. “Whose old truck is that?”

Caleb took another giant bite of burger and chewed with a thoughtful expression.

Charlie could tell he did not want to answer the question.

“That truck…” Caleb paused, swallowed, then sucked a little on the straw in his drink cup. “…Belongs to a man named Carl Speck.”

“Hey,” Charlie said. “That was my dad’s name.”

Caleb nodded. “That’s right. This man was his father.”

“So…then…he’s my grandfather?” Charlie played along, grateful that Caleb was
simply answering the questions, although he wanted more than that.

Caleb had taken another big chomp of cheeseburger. He chewed and nodded
without looking at Charlie.

Charlie ate a little more as well, looking out the big window in the front of the
office, overlooking the pumps. His brain worked like mad, fixing the next question in line in order to take full advantage of having an adult, who knew something about the issue, to interrogate. “Do you know him very well?”

“A little, I suppose. I don’t think there’s anyone around that knows Mr. Speck all that well.”

“Why?”

Caleb set his burger down and sat up uncomfortably. He ran a hand through his
scalp, then leaned his elbows on his knees and looked at the floor while he answered.

“Your granddaddy… he ain’t what you’d call a friendly sort of fella, Charlie.”

“Is he really bad, like Mr. Mulligan?”

Now Caleb remembered exactly why he did not have children of his own. He was
not really any good at this sort of thing and he hated feeling inadequate. “Well… not really like that. He’s a dif-ernt sorta unfriendly. He just…well, I don’t really know how to tell you all this, Charlie.”

“But, you know him, Caleb. He’s my grandfather, even though I’ve never met him.”

Caleb nodded. “He don’t come into town very much. I haven’t seen him in more
than a year, and that’s only because I work on his truck, when it needs a fix-up. He always yells and hollers at me; like he’s got…I dunno, like he’s walking around with scorpions in his boots or something. He’s always aggravated by everything, least it seems that way.”

“When are you gonna work on his truck?”

“Here in a bit…why?”

“Can I help out?”

“Sure you can. You always help, Charlie.”

“I mean, like, really help. Can I pull the distributor?”

“Think you can handle something like that?”

“I’m sure ready to try.”

Caleb looked at his watch. “Well, let’s get it inside and start tearing it down so we know what parts to get. You gonna play ball this afternoon?”

Charlie had forgotten about that. He went to the old ball field and played pick up ball with a lot of the other kids in town. He had been so disappointed when he found that Agony had no organized little league. He would be playing pony league had he stayed in Chicago. “Yeah, I was planning on it.”

Caleb belched loudly. “Alright then, let’s get a move on.”