Generations in Agony...Texas: Chapter Nine

9) Diner at Lutz’s Dinner…

Dusk fell over Agony as Charlie rode his bike into town. He was dusty from baseball, and hungry enough to feel his stomach gnawing on his spine. Doc’s office was closed; the windows were dark. But, only a couple blocks ahead, he saw his mother’s Nomad parked next to Doc’s Impala in Lutz’s parking lot. Pulling in the lot, Charlie saw his mom wave to him from a booth by the bank of windows on that side. She was flagging him inside.

Doc was sitting in the booth with her as he walked through the doors. “Hi, kiddo how was your day?”

“Okay…” He slid in by Carla as she moved down. Doc smiled at Charlie, but had his attention on the never-changing menu.

“Work hard?” Carla said.

Charlie nodded as he lifted a menu to scan, even though he already knew what he wanted. “Met the coach today.”

“Oh, really?” Carla sounded animated, genuinely happy to hear that Charlie was making his way in town. “Any good players around?”

“Some…”

“Did you see the Cubs’ score from yesterday, Charlie?” Doc said, glancing up at the boy.

“No, sir…I haven’t seen a paper yet, and the radio doesn’t follow all the teams.”

“Lost again…looks like we’re sliding into a hole this year.”

“How did Becket do?” Charlie said as he sipped from a water glass that a waitress brought over after he sat down.

“Banged another homer…at least he’s on a good pace.”

“Pitching isn’t any good again this season…”

“Neikro looks like he’s coming along, though.”

Carla interrupted. “What did you think of the coach, Charlie?”

Charlie shrugged, “he’s okay, I guess. Didn’t say much, really. Just asked if we were going to move any time soon. He said I maybe could play varsity this year.”

“Really?” Both Carla and the Doc spoke at once. “That’s great, Charlie!” Carla added, pulling Charlie under her arm and squeezing his neck.

“Mom…” Charlie hated public attention. He felt too old for that sort of thing.

Carla’s face changed to a look of concern. “Are you old enough to play varsity?”

“Not technically,” Doc jumped in, “but he’ll be thirteen and if he can make the JV squad, he could get called up. Still…big difference between pitching to thirteen year olds and young men that are already eighteen.”

“I should think so,” Carla sounded more concerned.

“He just said maybe,” Charlie said. “Didn’t say for sure.”

“Y’all ready to order?” The same Oklahoma girl from lunch stood smacking her gum, with a pencil hovering over her order pad.

“How’s the meatloaf tonight?” Doc asked.

“Real good, as usual.”
*

Although he had not noticed when he walked in, there was a girl that looked about his age sitting in another booth along the other wall of windows. She was with a large man that Charlie assumed to be her father. The guy was in stained coveralls and still had a silver hard-hat on his head as he hunched over a plate of food and shoveled in into his mouth. Charlie kept glancing over and noticed that the girl was timidly glancing at him.

“…right, Charlie?” Carla said, catching him off guard.

“Huh?”

“Zoned out again?” Carla and the Doc smiled at Charlie’s attempt to rejoin the conversation. “I said your dad taught you how to pitch when we were in Chicago.”

“Oh, yeah, he did.” Charlie added an uncertain nod, as he stole another glance at the girl in the booth. She was smiling at him this time, a sideways smile. Her eyes were pretty, especially when they were cast at him. For an absurd moment, Charlie raked a hand over his head to see if his hair was sticking up wild again, then he rubbed his nose, worried about a dried bugger that might be too obvious.

“…Charlie?” Carla said, snapping his attention back to the table.

“Ma’am?”

“Where are you tonight?”

“I’m here…”

Carla nodded, “I can both see and smell you, kiddo. I asked if anything interesting happened at work today.”

“Oh, ah…” He thought about having seen his grandfather, but he did not want to go into how he had opened up the truck and checked inside. He was not sure how mom might take that. “…not much, really. I made a couple runs for parts. I did get to help pull a distributor, though.”

“So, Caleb is letting you get your hands in things?”

Charlie nodded and shoved a big hunk of meatloaf in his mouth. As soon as mom and Doc resumed talking, he glanced at the girl in the booth again. Her father was sliding out and tossing a couple of bills on the table. A toothpick worked vigorously from his lips. The girl stood up also, smoothing out her shirt and shorts. She wore sandals, Charlie noticed. Her brown hair was pulled back under a white hair-band, and as they walked to the register for Mildred to ring them out, Charlie saw that she had freckles around her nose and cheeks.

She stood with her father and watched the transaction, but just as they turned to leave, she glanced at Charlie again; her smile came at him like a moonbeam, and Charlie Speck was struck with it, full on. For the first time in his life, he began to consider the opposite sex.

He watched the girl walk with her father out to the parking lot where they climbed into a filthy pick up truck. They turned left out of the parking lot, the same direction that Charlie and his mother would be going.

*

Doc helped him shove the bike into the back of the Nomad. “That is quite a beast, Charlie. Why all the baskets?”

“I carry parts in them,” he said as they lowered the tail-gait. “It’s Caleb’s bike, actually.”

Doc gave Charlie’s head a rub, then patted his shoulder a couple of times. “See ya, Charlie.”

“Night, Doc…” Charlie got in the car and waited while mom and the Doc spoke some more between the cars. . The girl’s image kept flashing in Charlie’s mind. It would continue to do so through a very long, hot night.

*