Thunder and Lightening
Chapter 20
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2004

Sunday morning Jerry drove to city hall with Bill and Jenny in the 
car. Restored cars lined the road on the side of the street on which 
the city hall stood. The street was closed to allow people to walk 
around and look at the cars. It was hard to see the cars because of 
the crowds of people surrounding them. 

"Lots of people here," said Jerry looking down the street. This was 
his first time to come to one of these events and he was rather 
impressed with the turnout. 

An officer stopped him and asked, "Are you showing this car?"

"It's not done yet," replied Jerry confused by the question. "We're 
here to look at the other cars."

"Okay, then you need to turn right and find a spot to park."

Jerry followed the officer's directions and it was a couple of blocks 
later that he found a spot where he could park the Camaro. Pulling 
in, he said, "I'm sorry. It looks like we have a bit of a walk ahead 
of us."

From the back seat, Bill said, "We can always go back and show 
off this car."

As Jenny frowned at the idea, Jerry laughed and said, "Not yet. I 
don't want to show it off until after it is finished."

He got out of the car and held the door open for Jenny. She exited 
and got out of the way as Bill climbed out of the back. Shutting the 
door, Jerry put an arm around Jenny. With a smile, he said, "Let's 
go find the old truck and see what kind of attention Martin's car is 
getting."

The three of them walked up the street. Jenny occasionally bumped 
her hip against Jerry's hip just to remind him that she was there. 
Bill moved ahead and then waited for them to catch up. He was 
excited and wondered how he was going to find his friends in the 
middle of the crowd of people up ahead. 

When they reached the street, they found a booth set up in front of 
the steps of city hall with a number of trophies. Stopping to look at 
the trophies, Jenny asked, "What's with the trophies?"

"I have no idea," answered Jerry looking around to see if he could 
spot anyone. A woman came over to the booth and took a seat 
behind the table. Jerry asked, "What's with the trophies?"

"The cars are going to be judged around noon. We'll hand out 
trophies for the best cars being shown here."

Bill looked at his father and said, "Wouldn't it be great if you or 
Martin got a trophy?"

Jerry laughed at the idea and said, "That would be nice, but I 
wouldn't count on it."

The three of them continued on down the walk, checking out some 
of the cars. There were a couple of early model Fords. One of them 
really shined and outclassed all of the others there. Jerry bent down 
and asked Bill, "Do you want to fix up one of those?"

"No way. That's too slow," replied Bill. He appreciated the look, 
but it wasn't a practical car. 

They went down the street looking at the vintage cars parked along 
the road. Jenny found it fascinating that people took such care to 
restore these cars. Occasionally, one of the owners would tell a 
story about the car. The stories ranged from the history of its 
manufacture, tales of the owners, and the work that was performed 
to restore it. Most of them had a series of photographs that showed 
the car through various phases of restoration. 

After leaving one of the more talkative owners, Jenny said, "I had 
no idea about this whole culture of people that love these old cars."

Laughing, Jerry said, "Have you seen any that you would love to 
own?"

"Several," replied Jenny with a smile. 

There was a large crowd around one of the cars and Jerry pointed 
over to it. "Let's check that one out."

"Must be pretty nice considering all of the people around it," 
remarked Jenny. She had already noticed that the nicer cars had 
larger crowds of people around them. 

They made their way over and found Martin in the middle of the 
crowd. He spotted them and shouted, "Hey! Come on over here."

Together, the three of them made their way through the crowd and 
found Martin's Caddy at the center of attention. Jenny couldn't 
believe how sharp the car looked. In the morning light, the Caddy 
looked even better than that evening when she had first seen it. 
Jerry said, "Looks like the Caddy is a hit."

"Sure is," replied Martin. He looked around at all the people and 
said, "I can't believe how many people are checking out that car. 
Makes me wish I had taken a picture of it before we started 
working on it."

Jenny snuggled against her boyfriend and said, "That's a sharp 
looking car. After seeing it, I can understand why they compare all 
of the best things to the Cadillac."

Hugging her back to let her know that he was thinking of her, Bill 
asked, "Where's Abe?"

Pointing over to a tent, Martin answered, "He's over there getting 
something to eat."

"Great. I can't wait to introduce him to my friends from school," 
replied Bill. Turning to his father, he asked, "Can I get Abe and 
look for my friends?"

Jerry checked his watch and saw that it was ten thirty. Nodding his 
head, he answered, "I'll meet you here at noon."

"Great," replied Bill as he slipped through the crowd in search of 
people his own age. Jenny laughed at his excitement as she 
watched him leave.

Jerry and Jenny talked with Martin for a little while and then 
headed out to find Jerry's truck. An old time rock and roll band 
was setting up and the sign said that music was to begin at eleven. 
Knowing how all women loved to dance, Jerry said, "Maybe we 
can come back and dance a little to the oldies."

"You dance?" she asked surprised by the suggestion. 

Laughing at her surprise, he answered, "Not really, but I can try to 
flail around like everyone else."

She giggled at the image that his comment invoked in her mind. 
She replied, "I hope they play the twist. Everyone can dance to 
that."

Feeling happy, he picked her up in his hands and swung around 
holding her out at arm's length. The ease with which he did that 
took her breath away. More than that, it made her wet between the 
legs. When he set her down, she threw herself into his arms and 
said, "I love it when you do things like that."

He hugged her having no idea what effect his action had on her 
and said, "Let's find my truck."

They walked down the center of the street passing by a number of 
cars that were clearly not theirs. There was another Ford F-100, but 
it was a different year and looked rather plain. Jenny stopped and 
asked, "Is this yours?"

"No, wrong year," replied Jerry.

"I hope yours looks better than that one," she commented. It really 
was rather plain and didn't seem to be much of an improvement 
over the truck before it been painted. 

They continued up the street and started to walk past a rather large 
crowd gathered around a car, not intending to look at it. Jerry said, 
"I don't think a pick up truck would attract that kind of crowd."

He stopped when he heard someone calling out his name. Turning 
around, he didn't see who it was. Pointing over to the crowd, Jenny 
said, "There's some guy over there waving at you."

He looked in the direction that she was pointing and saw Eddie 
waving to him. He said, "That's Eddie. He's the guy that I hired to 
do the paint job on the truck."

They went over as Eddie was shouting, "Everyone clear a path 
here! Out of the way."

As the crowd parted before the yells of Eddie, the pickup truck 
came into view. Jerry stopped as he looked at his truck. Jenny put a 
hand over her mouth to cover it as she stared incredulous at the 
truck. 

The body had been turned into a canvas, with storm clouds 
threatening rain upon the ground below. It was a dark picture with 
subtle shades of black, deep blue and dark purple defining the 
clouds. The bottom of the clouds glowed as lightning lit them. 
Looking at it, you could almost hear the low rumble of Thunder 
generated by the storm. Ground level was portrayed with dark on 
dark giving hints of trees bent in the wind, rough waters on a lake, 
and grass blown flat in an open field. The effect was three-
dimensional, making it appear that the clouds extended into the 
truck. It was magical.

Jerry slowly walked around the truck, taking in the details of the 
paint job. Across the rear of the truck was the word, "Thunder." 
Beneath that were the signatures, in a deep red, identifying Jerry 
Smith as the restorer, the paint shop, the metal plating shop, and 
the auto detailing company.

He reached the open door and took in the interior of the truck. It 
was gorgeous with a soft gray seat cover. He ran his hand over the 
fabric amazed at the texture. He looked in the back at the truck 
bed. The wood had a brilliant sheen. 

"It's gorgeous," said Jenny, still nestled in his arm, as she stared in 
awe at the transformation. Before, she had been embarrassed to be 
seen in the patchwork truck because it looked bad. Now, she would 
be embarrassed because the truck would be the center of attention 
every where they went. 

Almost afraid to touch it, Jerry whispered, "Thunder, you are 
great."

Eddie had walked around the truck following behind them 
watching the reaction of his client with a grin. For years he had 
wanted to paint that particular scene and the opportunity to do it 
had been too hard to resist. It pleased him to know that his creative 
vision was appreciated. 

Jerry turned around and extended a hand to Eddie as he said, 
"That's an amazing job you did. You captured the spirit of Thunder 
beyond anything that I could have imagined."

"I'm glad you like it."

"Like it? I love it," replied Jerry. The truck had been his therapy to 
rebuild himself. Seeing the truck in such excellent condition made 
him wonder if he hadn't improved to the same degree. He hugged 
Jenny closer overcome with emotion.

Smiling, Eddie asked, "Would you like to watch the car while I go 
get some more business cards? I'm almost out of them already."

"Sure," replied Jerry. Almost immediately he was besieged with 
questions about the restoration. Handing out cards of the 
businesses that had done the final work, he did his best to answer 
their questions.

Jenny went over to the tent and bought some soft drinks for them 
to sip while talking to the crowd. She couldn't believe the interest 
surrounding the truck and regretted her previous disdain for it. 
While she was returning to the truck, she ran into Bill and his 
friends. She waved them down and called, "Bill! Come over here."

The kids gathered around her, a little irritated at having their 
explorations interrupted. She recognized the impatience of youth 
and decided to keep it brief. Pointing over at the large crowd, she 
said, "Your dad's truck is over there. You might want to check it 
out."

Bill looked over in the direction that she had pointed and said, 
"Sure. We'll be there shortly."

Enjoying herself, she leaned down and, giving him a wink, said, 
"It's a real chick magnet."

Blushing, Bill listened to his friends tease him about how he 
needed every advantage that he could get to attract girls. He 
replied, "We'll be over there soon."

She smiled and walked back to the truck. For the next hour, she 
sipped her coke and answered questions about the truck. It amazed 
her that she was in the middle of a car show. The variety of people 
that stopped by was tremendous. Old couples recalling the cars of 
their youth, middle aged couples longing for the distinctive styles 
of the past, and young kids interested in cars came stopped and 
looked at the truck. The questions people asked her were wide-
ranging and varied.

It was just a little before noon when the kids showed up to see the 
truck. The reaction among them was one of stunned silence. They 
had all seen the truck the previous week when Jerry had dropped 
off Bill before school. None of them could believe the 
transformation. Abe was stunned, finding that all he could do was 
stare at the car. He recalled his earlier words that the truck should 
be shot and put out of its misery. He went over to Jerry and nudged 
him. In a voice that admitted a change a heart, he asked, "Can I 
borrow the truck for my prom?"

Jerry, laughing, answered, "Wait until you finish your car."

"That's way too much work," replied Abe with a smile. Winking, 
he said, "You know me, I'm lazy. I'm thinking about a career in the 
porn business."

"Nobody would pay to see that skinny ass of yours," replied Jerry 
in a teasing tone of voice.

Abe looked over at the truck and said, "It's really sharp looking. 
Jenny was right. It is a babe magnet."

Jerry looked over at Jenny with a smile. He had found her without 
a babe magnet and that felt good. Their discussion was interrupted 
by the arrival of Helen and her cameraman. Woody had gone and 
brought them over to see the truck. Jerry turned around and said, 
"Hello, Helen. Nice to see you."

Smiling at him, she replied, "Hello, Jerry. Woody was telling me 
that this was your truck."

"Yeah," replied Jerry. 

"We're taping some of the nicer cars here. Would you mind if we 
film your car?"

Jerry had forgotten that she was working. The reminder of the fact 
made him uncomfortable, as it would be the second time that his 
privacy was intruded upon by the press. Pride in his car forced him 
to answer, "Sure. Go ahead."

He watched as the cameraman struggled to film the car in a fashion 
that showed it in its full glory. As the man worked, Helen said, "I 
really appreciate the interview you gave me earlier this week. I'm 
afraid that as a working mother, I seldom get an exclusive 
interview. Usually, I'm covering flower shows, boat shows, or 
events at the zoo."

The past week had been strange, as he was recognized just about 
everywhere he went. He didn't like the attention, feeling that he 
hadn't deserved it. At least the attention was positive for a change 
and, all in all, the attention hadn't been that bad. Shrugging, he 
said, "I hope it helped your career."

"It did," replied Helen with a smile. She added, "You are a rather 
remarkable man. I look at the truck and can't believe that anyone 
could do something like that. You rescue someone and don't get a 
swelled head. I can tell you are a great father and, based on the 
looks that your girlfriend gives you, I'd say that you are a pretty 
good boyfriend."

Jerry grunted and said nothing about her assessment. He didn't see 
it the same way. There was a still a rage within that could break 
loose and wreck havoc. The episode with the car had been a case 
where he had been able to call upon it in a positive manner, but 
that was an exception. 

Jenny replied for him. "He doesn't trust himself with his strength."

"You don't say," replied Helen as she looked at Jerry while 
speculating what that meant. She decided that the large man was 
much more complex than she had initially considered. 

Eddie returned with a large stack of business cards and looked at 
the cameraman taking pictures of the car. With a grin, he stepped 
over to Jerry and said, "Consider the paint job free. This kind of 
publicity would have cost me a fortune."

"Thanks. I'll be bringing Lightning over to be painted tomorrow."

A surprised look crossed Eddie's face as he asked, "Lightning? 
What kind of car is it?"

"A Camaro," answered Jerry.

"Sweet." Eddie was already picturing in his mind what he would 
do with the Camaro. If the quality of work was the same on it as on 
the truck, it would be an outstanding restoration. Thunder and 
Lightning, what a pair of paint jobs that would be.

Looking around, Jerry realized that he had lost track of the kids in 
all of the excitement. He asked, "Jenny, do you know where the 
kids are?"

"Yeah, they followed Abe over to look at a couple of restored 
motorcycles. Arnie took them over there."

It took a minute for him to recall that Arnie was Sandy's father. It 
was nice to know that other parents were watching out for the kids 
as well. He replied, "I didn't see him."

"He was across the way at the 49 Ford. Sandy said that they would 
come back after checking out the motorcycles."

"They have a Ford 49 over there?" The news that someone had 
restored a 49 sparked the interest of Jerry. That was the classic car 
that saved the Ford Motor company in 1949. Looking across the 
street, he could make out the car. It was a splendid example of the 
49 and he wondered how his son would feel about restoring one of 
them. 

Jenny smiled at the interest of the males in the cars around her. She 
wondered how Sandy was surviving the day surrounded by car 
mad teenage boys. She slipped away and found the kids all looking 
at motorcycles. Abe was very excited while Sandy was completely 
bored. Jenny leaned over to Sandy and whispered in her ear, 
"Would you like to get away for a bit and drink something while 
listening to the music?"

"You bet," replied Sandy relieved at the chance to get away from 
all the car talk.

Jenny asked, "Boys, can I borrow Jenny for a little girl talk?"

Attentions fixed on the motorcycles, the boys answered, "Sure."

Jenny and Sandy headed over to the tent where hotdogs and 
hamburgers were cooking over charcoal. The smell was enough to 
make a person hungry. After glancing at each other and 
recognizing the look of hunger, Jenny asked, "You want to share a 
burger?"

"Yeah, that would be great. But if I eat a whole one, I won't be able 
to eat with the boys," replied Sandy as she moved to the beat of the 
music from the grandstand on the other side of the street. 

They waited in line and got a burger with two soft drinks. There 
was a table off in a corner that was empty and they made their way 
to it. Sandy's clothes hid her figure, but Jenny could tell that there 
was an attractive young woman under it. With shoulder length 
brown hair, green eyes, and a ready smile, the girl probably had 
boys swarming around her. Sitting down, Jenny said, "Three guys 
and one girl. You must get a lot of attention."

"Not really. The guys and I are friends. I'm afraid that the other 
boys in school are afraid of getting beaten by Bill and Larry if I get 
upset. Of course, no one is as quick with a barb as Woody. I have 
no idea where he got his sharp tongue, but when he gets mad the 
other person is ripped to shreds," replied Sandy. 

"So is there a particular boy that you are interested in seeing?" 
Jenny cut the burger in half and handed one of the halves over to 
Sandy. 

Accepting the burger, Sandy blushed. Her face turned a bright red 
as she answered, "Yeah, there's this one boy."

"Do the other boys know that?" asked Jenny curious about the kind 
of relationship that existed among them. She took a bite of her 
burger.

"No! They'd tease me forever."

"You guys tease each other about generalities, but when one of you 
needs help everyone is there for them. Jerry told me about the first 
day when Bill came back to school with his broken arm. He was so 
proud of all of you." Jenny had heard the story several times from 
him and it never changed. The kids stuck up for his son on the 
worst day of the kid's life. 

"You really like Bill's father, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do. I've never met anyone that is so nice to me and others 
around him."

"I didn't trust him at first. I thought he was a bully and I was afraid 
that he would hurt Bill," replied Sandy. She recalled the first day 
when she had met Jerry. He looked like a monster. His deep gruff 
voice grated like sandpaper on her ears. 

The comment made Jenny laugh. She looked down at the last bite 
of her burger as she countered, "Jerry doesn't trust himself. He's 
terrified of being a bully and hurting someone."

"I realize that now." She still wasn't sure what she thought of Jerry. 
The story about ripping the door off the car was a mixture of 
frightening strength and good hearted humility. The way he told 
the story was just as contradictory. What he said was incredible, 
but the delivery was so matter of fact. She asked, "Are you going 
to marry him?"

"I don't know," replied Jenny with a sigh. She wondered if she was 
going to have to ask him to marry her at the rate the relationship 
was developing.

"For a big man, he isn't very assertive," remarked Sandy.

The statement took Jenny by surprise. It was a very accurate 
assessment of her boyfriend and that a fifteen-year-old girl was 
able to come to that conclusion was remarkable. She smiled and 
said, "You're very perceptive."

"Thank you."

Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Jerry with the 
rest of the boys. He stopped by the table and noticed the empty 
plate that had held their burger. Shaking his head, he picked up the 
empty plate and said, "Wish that people would clear the table when 
they leave. Would you two like a burger?"

Smiling at him, Jenny replied, "I think we'll share one, if that 
would be okay with you."

"No problem. Let's see, that's seven burgers, five cokes, and eight 
french-fries." He looked around at everyone to see if there were 
any objections. 

"Uh, that should be six burgers," replied Sandy as she counted 
people. There were seven of them around the table.

"Seven," he said, "Martin is coming over to join us."

"Oh," replied Sandy feeling a little embarrassed. She had never 
heard of Martin before and wondered if Bill had an older brother or 
something that she hadn't met.

Noticing her reaction, he said, "Sorry, Martin is Abe's big brother 
and is showing a car across the way. I should have said something 
about including him in the count."

"No problem," replied Sandy. She turned to look at Abe who 
appeared to be proud of his brother. Meeting the young black kid 
was a new experience for her since her school was entirely white 
with a few oriental kids in the mix. In her opinion, he was vulgar 
because of the language that he used. Other than that, she thought 
he was a nice kid. The difference in age between Abe and her 
group made it harder to judge if he was as vulgar as he appeared.

Jerry asked, "Who's going to help me carry the food back to the 
table?"

Abe was the first one to volunteer, followed closely by Bill and 
Larry. The four of them left to stand in line to get burgers. A few 
minutes later, Martin showed up at the table and said, "Hello, 
Jenny. Where's that scrawny guy you're dating?"

The comment brought laughter to the rest of the table, particularly 
Sandy. Jenny answered, "He's getting food."

"I better go over and help him carry it back to the table," replied 
Martin.

"No need. He has lots of volunteers already." Jenny gestured to a 
chair and said, "Take a seat. This is Sandy and Woody, two friends 
of Bill. Everyone, this is Martin."

As he took a seat, Martin said, "Nice to meet all of you."

"So how is the show going for you?"

A bright wide smile spread across his face as he answered, "Great. 
That lady that interviewed Jerry took pictures of my car. She said 
that it might be on the news tonight."

Woody looked up and said, "That's my mom."

"She's a real nice lady," replied Martin. He looked across the table 
at Woody and winked as he said, "Of course, mom's are always 
nice until they tell you to clean up your room."

Woody laughed and said, "Ah, she's not that bad."

Martin got serious for a minute and said, "I think I found a buyer 
for the Caddy. It's so hard to let go of it after all the work that Jerry 
and I put into it."

Able to see that the young man was not particularly enthusiastic 
about selling the car, Sandy asked, "You're selling it?"

"That was the idea the whole time we were working on it. I was 
going to sell it for enough to buy a new car for my mother and use 
the rest of the money to restore another car for me. It's not really a 
practical car for driving around town. It's just too big." Martin 
hadn't realized just how much of himself went into the car.

"So will you buy a car for your mother?" asked Sandy surprised by 
the idea that the man would buy a car for his mother. She didn't 
know that the car was his mother's originally. 

"Yeah, it's actually her caddy. I'm getting more than we thought we 
would get. I'm thinking about picking up two cars and another old 
clunker to fix," replied Martin. He wasn't sure what kind of cars he 
would get, but all they needed was transportation.

"Speaking of your mother, where is she?" asked Jenny.

"She said she was coming down here with Henry," answered 
Martin with a smile. Henry was a very respected man in the 
neighborhood and the fact that his mother was interested in him 
was, as far as he was concerned, a positive thing. He winked and 
said, "Might have a daddy soon."

"And you are okay with that?"

Martin shrugged and said, "It'll be good to have a man around the 
house. Actually, I guess she and Abe would move in with him 
since he owns his own place. I'll probably keep the house until I'm 
ready to move on."

"Why stay there?" asked Jenny. That he would want to stay in a 
slum area struck her as odd.

"This scrawny white neighbor of mine recommended getting in a 
good financial position before moving. After watching him, I've 
come to the conclusion that he's right." Martin had come to value 
Jerry's opinion on things. 

Every time he referred to Jerry as the scrawny guy, a titter of 
laughter broke out around the table. The group of four returned to 
the table carrying plates of burgers, fries, and soft drinks. Their 
arrival was met with lots of activity as the food and drink was 
passed around. Jerry sat down between Martin and Jenny. 
Reaching over to pat Martin on the stomach, he said, "Getting fat 
there, buddy. I don't know if you should be eating a burger."

Martin was about as thin as a man his height could be without 
being sick. He laughed and replied, "Right."

Silence settled around the table as they ate. As the food 
disappeared, the conversation around the table returned. Abe said, 
"I think I would rather restore a motorcycle than a car."

Jerry and Martin both looked over at Abe in surprise. Martin 
asked, "Why a motorcycle?"

"I like riding the scooter and feel that I would love riding a 
motorcycle," replied Abe.

Jerry asked, "What does your mother say?"

"Uh," stuttered the young man, "I haven't asked her."

Knowing that his mother would worry about him riding a 
motorcycle, Jenny said, "You better tell her before you start getting 
a bike."

Grinning, Martin said, "Don't you know that blacks don't ride 
motorcycles? We leave that to crazy white folks."

Everyone, with the exception of Abe, laughed at the comment. The 
conversation turned to Bill when Abe asked, "Did you see any cars 
that you would like to restore?"

Shrugging, Bill replied, "I saw a couple of them that I liked. 
There's something that I find rather attractive about those early 
fifties cars. They look big without any straight lines. I like the 
rounded corners."

Returning from lunch, Martin was surprised that his car had been 
awarded one of the trophies. He walked down the way to let Jerry 
know, only to find Jerry coming his way to tell him that he had 
won a trophy for his car. 
