Thunder and Lightening
Chapter 36
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2004

Jerry woke and wandered into the kitchen to prepare breakfast. The 
events of the previous night had shaken him far more than he was 
willing to admit even to himself. With the kids in school, he had 
been looking forward to an easy Monday. His plans had been to 
take Abe's bike to get fixed. As a result of the damage to the house, 
his plans for the day had changed to include stopping by the house 
to meet with the insurance assessor. 

Surveying the contents of the refrigerator, he decided that breakfast 
was going to be scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast. It had to be a 
simple breakfast since that would take all the energy he had. Sleep 
had not come easily to him. When he had fallen asleep, it wasn't a 
restful sleep. Nightmares of his ex-wife trying to destroy 
everything that he valued kept waking him.

Once the coffee was started, he went to work frying the bacon. As 
he had laid the bacon in the frying pan, he was surprised to hear 
the sound of a motorcycle being started. Walking to the front of the 
house, he looked out and saw Abe revving the engine of his 
motorcycle. 

Going back into the kitchen to turn off the heat under the bacon, he 
was surprised to find Melissa at the stove. She smiled and said, 
"Put your pants on and go talk to Abe."

"Thanks, Melissa," replied Jerry as he returned to the living room. 

Dressed only in his pants, he stepped out onto the porch. Abe was 
seated on the motorcycle revving the engine with a smile on his 
face. The bike was fully restored and looked as nice as the day it 
was first built. The young man had done a very good job in 
restoring it. In a voice loud enough to carry over the sound of the 
motorcycle, Jerry asked, "What are you doing?"

Abe turned off the engine and said, "I realized last night what was 
the problem with the engine. Made the adjustment and it started 
right up."

"You don't say," said Jerry. He understood Abe's desire to get the 
bike operational as soon as possible. His birthday was coming and 
he wanted to get the bike running in time to get his license.

"Sorry to wake you," said Abe realizing that he had probably 
wakened everyone in the neighborhood.

"It's a sharp looking bike. I've said it once and I'll say it again, you 
did a good job on it," commented Jerry while rubbing his arms to 
warm up. He regretted not having put on a shirt before coming 
outside.

"Thanks," replied Abe. 

The front door opened and Bill, wearing only his boxers, staggered 
out onto the porch. The door closed behind him. Rubbing a hand 
through his hair, he said, "You got it running. That's great."

Grinning at his friend, Abe said, "I'm not trying to make a big deal 
out of this, but the women around here are going to go wild over 
those boxers."

Bill grinned and shuddered as the cold air finally registered. He 
was about to make a comment about driving women wild was his 
specialty when Melissa opened the door and called out, "Why don't 
you three come in and have some breakfast?"

Surprised by the source of the invitation, Abe asked, "All three of 
us?"

"Yeah. I scrambled a couple eggs for you too. Now get in here 
before breakfast gets cold," answered Melissa. She turned and 
headed back to the kitchen. 

Jerry headed into the house as Abe asked Bill, "What's up? She 
was nice to me."

Watching his sister walk away, Bill said, "It's a long story. I'll tell 
you about it later."

Around the table, everyone filled their plates with eggs, bacon, and 
toast. In front of each of them was a cup of coffee. All of them, 
with the exception of Melissa, drank it black. One small pint of 
cream sat on the table for Melissa's coffee. After Abe took a bite of 
eggs, Melissa said, "By the way, the bike looks good."

Abe gestured to indicate that he was going to answer as soon as he 
swallowed the food in his mouth. Once he had swallowed his eggs, 
he answered, "Thanks."

Abe took a bite out of his toast and Bill asked, "So what are you 
going to do today?"

Again, Abe gestured while he chewed. He swallowed and 
answered, "Going to school and then getting some driving 
lessons."

"We're going to school, too," said Bill. Jerry and Melissa shook 
their heads as they realized what Bill had done. Jerry winked at 
Melissa and looked down at his plate.

Abe scooped up a fork of scrambled eggs and looked around to see 
if anyone was going to ask him another question. Everyone 
discretely looked down at his or her plate. After he shoveled the 
food in his mouth, a smiling Jerry asked, "Where are you taking 
your lessons?"

Frustrated, Abe waved his hand as he chewed. Once he had 
swallowed, he asked, "Are you doing that on purpose? Every time 
I get some food in my mouth, you ask me a question."

Jerry and Bill burst out in laughter because they had timed their 
questions that way. Bill asked, "What do you think?"

"You are," accused Abe with more than a little amusement. He 
took a sip of his coffee and then said, "Yeah. The owner of the 
motorcycle shop where we bought the scooters agreed to teach me 
some of the finer points of riding a motorcycle."

"Do you get to practice riding?" asked Melissa. She wished that 
she could get more time behind the wheel of her car. Her father 
took her out Sunday afternoons and Jenny let her drive when they 
went shopping, but it just didn't seem like enough time behind the 
wheel. 

"Yeah, I'm going to go out for a good ride this weekend. Henry 
promised me that Saturday we would head up to the lake to go 
fishing with Martin. I can ride the bike and he'd follow me out 
there in his car," answered Abe. Much to his surprise, he was 
enjoying having Henry around the house. 

Finishing his breakfast, Jerry moved back from the table and said, 
"You really did a great job on that bike. You should be really 
proud of it."

"I am," said Abe. He attacked the food on his plate hoping that he 
could finish the food without another interruption.

Jerry went over to the coffeepot and returned to the table with it. 
He refilled all of the cups on the table without asking. Melissa 
topped hers off with a dash of cream and said, "Thanks. I think this 
is a two cup morning."

"You're welcome. I don't think any of us got a good night's sleep 
last night," commented Jerry as he carried the pot back to the 
brewer. 

Abe worked on finishing the breakfast despite the fact that he was 
curious what had happened the previous night. He had found it odd 
that everyone had disappeared without warning. Abe listened but 
didn't ask any questions, thinking he would learn more by not 
talking. 

Jerry sat down at the table and looked at his children. Melissa was 
surprisingly cheerful that morning. He wondered if it wasn't an 
avoidance reaction on her part. Bill was munching on his toast 
looking far more thoughtful for this time of day than usual. He 
asked, "Does anyone want to talk about it?"

Nodding, Bill said, "I know why she did it."

"Why?" asked Melissa wondering if there was something that 
actually triggered her mother's behavior. 

Abe wondered who she was and what she had done. He looked 
over at Jerry hoping that he would explain what they were talking 
about. He eyed the last of his toast and popped it into his mouth. 
He chased it down with a sip of his coffee. 

"The trial is Wednesday," answered Bill.

Jerry wanted to slap his forehead, unable to believe that he had 
forgotten about the trial. He was supposed to take Bill to the 
courthouse to testify against his mother for hitting him with the 
baseball bat. It only took seconds to commit a crime, but it took 
more than a year for the snail they called the legal system to get the 
criminal to trial. Shaking his head, Jerry said, "I didn't even think 
of that, but you're right. That would set her off."

Abe nodded realizing that he now knew who had done the deed. 
All he needed to know now was what she had done. Judging by the 
expression on Melissa's face, he decided that it had to have been 
something pretty bad. He couldn't keep the surprise off his face 
when Melissa warned, "Don't go within a hundred yards of that 
woman without a policeman standing by you."

Bill snorted and replied, "I'm going be hiding behind Dad. I'm not 
a fool. That woman is a crazy bitch and she'd kill me in a minute."

"You can say that again," remarked Melissa.

Abe listened wide-eyed as Melissa proceeded to say some of the 
nastiest things about her mother that he had ever heard a person 
say about another human being. He knew that woman must have 
really done something nasty to get such a reaction out of Melissa. 
Looking around the table, he could see that none of them had been 
hurt. 

When Melissa had finally calmed down a little, Jerry decided that 
it was time to change the subject. Turning to Abe, he said, "Abe, 
I'm glad you got your motorcycle running. I was afraid that I 
wasn't going to be able to take it into the shop this morning. I've 
got to be over at the house most of the day."

"Hey, I'm glad that things worked out alright," replied Abe. 

Melissa said, "Jenny is coming over to the house after work to see 
what we need to replace. We decided that I would stop by after 
school and we'd go shopping. I hope that's not a problem."

"No problem. I guess that leaves me and Bill to find something to 
do this afternoon," replied Jerry as he thought about what he could 
do with Bill that afternoon.

Bill grinned and said, "I never thought that my sister would end up 
spending more of her time at the hardware store than at a fashion 
boutique."

"Hey, it's all part of decorating," she replied in defense of her 
actions. It took her a second to realize that he was teasing her. She 
looked at him with an expression of puzzlement on her face.

"I know," replied Bill with a dismissive wave of his hand and a 
smile. Turning to his father, he said, "If she's going shopping, I'd 
rather spend some time here working on the car. I'd like to get it 
started."

Realizing that his plans for Monday were shot, Jerry decided to go 
with the flow. Bill was making reasonable progress on restoring 
the car. Some of the bodywork had been completed, but they had 
decided to work on the mechanical parts of the car for the time 
being. He said, "Okay. If you get it started today, maybe we can 
get the brakes done this coming Sunday."

"That would be great, Dad."

Abe smiled and said, "Maybe you can follow me to my driving 
lessons."

Nodding Jerry said, "I guess that's the plan. Melissa and Bill will 
stop by the house after school. She'll go shopping with Jenny and 
we'll come back here to work on the car after following Abe to the 
motorcycle shop."

After everyone around the table announced their agreement with 
the plan, Jerry said, "Let's get to it."

Jerry wandered through the house watching the men hard at work. 
It was already hard to see where his ex-wife had spray painted the 
walls other than as bare patches. The ruined carpet in the living 
room and master bedroom had been removed. It wasn't until he 
went into the new den that the damage was truly obvious. The 
wood paneling had been spray painted. 

The panels would have to be removed and replaced. He noticed 
that someone had already removed the outlet covers in preparation 
for the work that had to be done. He wondered when they would 
strip the walls, although he was tempted to do it himself.

He shook his head as he examined the damage. This room was 
supposed to be his private retreat and the words Gorilla sprayed in 
five-foot letters hurt far more than he thought possible. It had been 
a glorious room. Jenny had taken particular care to assure that it 
had a strong masculine feel to it. 

George, Sharon's brother-in-law, entered the room and came up to 
Jerry from behind. Holding his claw hammer, he said, "It sure is a 
shame."

Jerry turned and replied, "Oh, hi George. Yeah, it is a shame."

"That bitch must really hate you," commented the black man. He 
went over to the wall and slipped the claw part of his hammer 
under one of the panels. With a grunt, he lifted off a bit of the 
panel. They had used liquid nail to put the panels in place and 
getting the wood paneling off was going to be ugly.

Allowing some of his frustration a chance to express itself, Jerry 
reached over and grabbed the edge of the panel. With a roar he 
pulled the panel off the wall. The muscles of his back reveled in 
the chance to work. Once started, he couldn't stop. He tore panel 
after panel from the wall giving a roar as each piece was ripped 
down. When the last panel hit the floor, Jerry bent over breathing 
hard at the effort he had just expended and looked at the wreckage 
left behind. Panels littered the floor like a sheaf of paper caught by 
the wind. 

Standing at the door where he had retreated when Jerry went to 
work, George said, "Shit, remind me never to make you mad."

"I'm not mad. Very frustrated, but not mad," replied Jerry. He 
looked down at his hands and saw that his calluses were returning. 
It wasn't natural for hands to toughen so quickly.

Jerry bent down and put the panels into a pile. He picked up the 
pile and carried it out of the room. Although it was far heavier than 
he had thought it would be, the panels were difficult to carry 
because of their size. George had just stepped out of the way and 
watched the big man carry the entire load single-handedly. 

All work in the house stopped as Jerry carried the load of panels 
out to the dumpster. One of the younger workers followed behind 
and watched as Jerry lifted the load over his head and threw it into 
the dumpster with a yell of satisfaction. It had been an impressive 
display of strength. More important to Jerry, it was a chance to let 
off the tension that had been building ever since he had discovered 
the damage to the house. 

Satisfied, Jerry went to the back yard and sat down on the ground 
beneath the one small tree that grew in the middle of the yard. For 
all intents and purposes, the backyard was a very plain yard. The 
grass, never nice or luxurious, had turned brown with the autumn 
weather. There were no flowerbeds or a patio to break up the 
expanse of lawn. All in all, it could have been ugly if it hadn't been 
so plain.

The sounds of hammers, saws, and an air compressor filled the air 
as the men returned to work inside the house. Jerry, listening to the 
noises of labor, thought about the changes that he would make to 
the yard. In his mind, a plan for a garden slowly formed. Included 
in the plan was the introduction of a patio, flowerbeds, and a water 
garden. 

He was still deep in thought when Melissa said, "What are you 
doing out here?"

"I was thinking about putting in a garden back here," answered 
Jerry surprised to see his daughter at home so early. He glanced 
down at his watch and realized that he had just spent four hours 
under the tree. 

"I hope that your plans include a swimming pool," she suggested.

"Not exactly, although I was thinking of including a nice wading 
pool with a waterfall in that corner over there," answered Jerry 
pointing to a corner in the far corner of the yard.

"Really?" asked Melissa surprised at the grandeur of his plans. He 
kept surprising her with his sense of esthetics. The interior 
waterfalls had been a total shock to her. 

"Yes, I think that a swimming pool would be rather plain. You 
know, a large rectangular space inside a larger rectangular space. 
This backyard is dying to have the straight lines bent in an artistic 
manner," replied Jerry as he pictured the typical backyard 
swimming pool in his mind. 

"Why didn't you do that when we were all living here?" asked 
Melissa. It seemed to her that her father was a completely different 
person now.

"Didn't have the money to do it. Your mother wasn't interested. I 
didn't want to be here. Take your pick of a reason, they're all 
reasonably close to the truth," answered Jerry with a shrug. 

Melissa understood that all of his reasons boiled down to the same 
one -- her mother. Her mother spent every spare dime on herself. 
Her mother wouldn't have wanted anything other than a 
conventional pool that she could show off to her friends with 
conventional pools. He didn't want to be here and put up with her 
mother's caustic comments about how he did everything wrong. 

She was about to comment when he said, "In that corner over 
there, I'd plant tall bushes in the back with flowers in front of them. 
Maybe three levels of flowers with rocks strewn about to break up 
the flowerbed a little. It would hide the fence and provide a lot of 
color."

"Sounds lovely," she said wondering what prompted him to tell her 
that.

"I think I would put in a chair swing over there and surround it 
with bushes. Young couples need a place where they can sit and do 
things with each other with a little privacy."

Melissa frowned and said, "You and Jenny are getting married. 
What do you need privacy for?"

"I wasn't thinking about her and me. You're dating and Bill will be 
dating girls from his school soon," answered Jerry looking up at 
his daughter.

"Oh," she replied with a slight blush.

"Young couples need a place where the passions can rise a bit. 
Young women need a place where they can say no and have it 
stick. A little private nook in the backyard can fulfill both needs," 
said Jerry.

"Bill seems to be doing fine with his girlfriend at the other house," 
said Melissa. She wasn't sure how she felt about her brother having 
sex with a black girl. Ever since the girl had dyed her green, she 
was very careful to think of her with respect. It had been a very 
good act of revenge and one that won her admiration.

"They are just fuck buddies," said Jerry. Even as he said it, he 
wondered if his daughter would understand what that meant.

"I thought so," she replied understanding what he meant far more 
than he did. One of her girlfriends had a nerd who lived next door 
and they were fuck buddies. The only time the two acknowledged 
each other was in the bedroom.

"You don't seem surprised," commented Jerry.

"It's common enough," she said with a dismissive wave of her 
hand. 

Deciding that it was time to learn how her acceptance of other 
races was developing, Jerry asked, "What about the fact that she's 
black?"

She shrugged as she answered, "It's just sex."

It was not the reaction that he had expected, but it was safe enough 
not to worry about it. Changing the subject, he said, "I wonder 
what Jenny will think about my plans for the garden?"

"She'll love it. She loves everything about you," answered Melissa. 
She had never known that a woman could feel as deeply about a 
man as Jenny felt towards her father. Every time they went 
shopping, Jenny was always commenting or wondering how he 
would like this or that. At first, Melissa thought it was an act. After 
a while, she had begun to wonder. By now, she had come to accept 
that Jenny really did think about his needs all of the time.

"She's a wonderful woman," said Jerry with a soft expression on 
his face. Thinking of her warmed his heart. Softly, he added, "I'd 
move heaven and hell for her."

Melissa stared at her father while she considered what he had said. 
Jenny, doing nothing more than loving her father, had 
accomplished effortlessly what her mother had tried to force her 
father to do for her. A soft word here, a thanks for each kindness 
shown, and loving support achieved what years of badgering, 
insult, and abuse had not. She said, "You'd really do anything for 
her."

"Yes," answered Jerry, "I would. I know that she would do the 
same for me. When we get married, we're going to be partners in 
the marriage. I don't need a boss at home and I don't want to be the 
boss when I'm at home."

Melissa sat down on the ground and covered her eyes with her 
hands. In a weak voice, she said, "I'm so confused all the time. 
Everything that I thought was true seems all wrong."

Jerry's heart was breaking, but he didn't know what to say to help 
his daughter. Instead, he shifted over to sit beside her and put his 
arm around her. He pulled her close and just held her. She dropped 
her head against his shoulder and cried.

Looking over at the house, Jerry noticed that Jenny was standing at 
the doorway with a smile on her face. At his look, she shook her 
head and stepped back into the house so that the moment between 
father and daughter wouldn't be interrupted. He could see Bill 
heading towards the door, but at what appeared to be a word from 
Jenny he turned back into the house.

After ten minutes, Melissa shuddered and pulled back from her 
father. With a weak smile on her face, she said, "Thank you."

"I wish I could do more for you," replied Jerry. There were times 
when he wished that all problems in life could be solved with 
physical strength. 

Melissa stood and said, "You've done enough."

As he watched her go into the house, he muttered, "I just wish I 
could have saved you from her."

A few minutes later, Bill came out into the backyard. Looking 
back at the house with a frown, he commented, "Melissa and Jenny 
are gone."

"Okay, let's head to the house. I'm sure that Abe is waiting for us to 
pick him up."

Jerry drove to the house with Bill in the seat beside him. Bill stared 
out the window watching nothing in particular. After a while, Bill 
broke the silence. "What was that with Melissa?"

Glancing over at his son, Jerry wondered what was really on his 
mind. He answered, "She's going through a rough time right now."

"She's becoming the queen bee again and I don't like it," spat Bill. 
It seemed to him that the past week had been spent worrying more 
about how Melissa was going to react to something than what he 
felt.

The sudden rise of sibling jealousy caught Jerry by surprise. About 
the time that Melissa was getting her act together, Bill was falling 
apart. It took him a minute to frame a reply. "I can understand why 
you would feel that way. She's going through a rough time and 
requires a little extra care right now, but I don't want you to think 
that I've forgotten about you. You're going to be facing some pretty 
heavy shit soon. To tell the truth, I'm worried. The trial… Well, 
that's a rough one."

It amazed Bill that his father was able to focus in on exactly the 
things that were bothering him. His sister was going through a 
rough time, but so was he. The fact was that he was beginning to 
have nightmares about the upcoming trial. In them, his mother 
would point at him and say that it was his entire fault. She would 
proclaim that he ran into the bat trying to get injured. Frozen in 
place, he could see his sister standing behind him with a baseball 
bat getting ready to hit a homerun with his head. He mumbled, 
"I'm worried about the trial."

"Shit, so am I," agreed Jerry. He took the exit off the freeway and 
headed down main street. When they hit a traffic light, he turned to 
face Bill and said, "I'm amazed at how well you're holding up."

"You are?" asked Bill. 

"Sure. You've been handling this like a real man. I have to say that 
I'm proud of you, but you don't have to face it all alone. Remember 
that I'm here and I want to help you with any difficulties that you 
face."

The light changed and with it, Bill's mood changed as well. He felt 
the pride that his father had for him. He knew that he wasn't facing 
the trial alone and that meant more to him than anything he could 
express. He looked over at his father and said, "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

When they turned onto the street where they lived, they could see 
Abe waiting on his motorcycle. As soon as Abe saw them, he 
waved and started the bike. They didn't even have a chance to stop 
the car when Abe pulled out ahead of them. Jerry followed behind 
as Abe drove to the motorcycle shop. Looking over at Bill, he said, 
"Abe looks happy on the motorcycle."

"Yeah. It's really a sharp looking bike," commented Bill. 

"We're going to have to get him a better looking helmet than what 
he's wearing now," said Jerry.

"And a leather coat," said Bill.

"I guess we should let Henry and Sharon know what we are getting 
him for his birthday."

Abe pulled into the parking lot of the motorcycle shop and stopped 
the bike in front of the front door. People came out of the shop to 
check out his restored Indian Scout. It wasn't long before they had 
surrounded Abe and the young black man ate up the attention.

Jerry pulled up next to him and rolled down the window of his 
truck. Waving over at Jerry, Abe said, "Thanks for following me 
here."

"No problem. How's it ride?"

"Great. I love it," answered Abe. He'd had lessons for the past 
month riding a loaner bike at the shop. Riding his very own bike 
for the first time was a special thrill. The reaction of the people at 
the bike shop was icing on the cake. He added, "I'll be by the house 
in a little while. I have to work tonight."

"Okay, see you later," replied Jerry. He pulled away from the store 
and headed home.

An hour later, Jerry was bent over the fender tightening the wires 
to the battery. Once he was satisfied that the battery cable was on 
tight, he shouted, "Try her now!"

A second later the starter engaged and the engine turned over. The 
starter ground for thirty seconds, but the engine never started.  He 
pulled a wire off a spark plug and saw it spark. He put his hand 
over the carburetor and felt the draw of air against his skin. It was 
getting a spark and plenty of air. That left getting gas as the 
problem. He shouted, "Stop it!"

He picked up the can of instant start and sprayed a shot into the 
carburetor. Stepping back, he said, "Okay, try it again."

The engine turned and then caught. It was running a little rough 
and very loud, but that was to be expected. They still had to adjust 
the timing and replace the muffler. Bill climbed out of the car and 
stepped next to his father. With a grin, he said, "It runs."

"Sure it runs. You fixed it," said Jerry. He reached over and put his 
arm around his son's shoulders giving him a good shake. 

"We fixed it," said Bill feeling proud at receiving his father's 
praise, but recognizing that he hadn't done it alone. 

"Let's throw the timing gun on it," said Jerry.

Bill stepped back and went over to the trunk of his Pontiac. It took 
him a minute to retrieve the timing gun from under a pile of 
hubcaps. Looking at the pile of parts stored in the trunk, he 
realized that there was a lot of work that remained to be done on 
the car. He closed the trunk and went back to his father. 

The next twenty minutes were spent tuning the car. By the time 
they had completed the task, the engine was running much 
smoother. It was loud, but that wouldn't change until it had a 
muffler. It was still running a little rough, but that would also end 
when they added the muffler.

After turning off the engine, Bill joined his father on the porch. 
Accepting a cold can of coke from his father, he said, "I couldn't 
believe it when it started."

"I had no doubts. You've done a good job."

Bill took a sip of his coke and looked at his car. The body still 
needed a little work, the brakes were shot, the muffler was missing, 
and the interior was a wreck, but the car was coming together. It 
didn't matter. When he looked at it, he saw the car as it would 
become and the result would be outstanding. He smiled as he 
replied, "I couldn't have done it without you, Dad."

