Chapter 13
A little while later, Darin walked down Marshall Avenue and turned left and headed south on Brightwood Avenue.
He soon walked upon the entrance to Eddie’s Gas and Repair shop owned by sixty-year-old Eddie Brown.
He walked through the lot and headed to the small office.
He opened the creaky wooden door that was a tad warped and in dire need of painting. He stepped inside the office.
He looked around the room.
He saw a small counter with a desk behind it. All over the walls were all kinds of parts for cars. The office had parts like fan belts, air cleaner filters, oil filters, spark plugs, etc.
Nobody was in sight in the office. Darin heard the clanking sound of a wrench being used in the garage.
Darin walked into the garage through that opened door. “Eddie,” he called out.
“I’ll be there in a minute,” said Eddie with his head buried in the engine compartment of a 1967 Oldsmobile Cutlass replacing a water pump.
Darin went back and waited in the office.
Five minutes passed, and Eddie entered the office wiping the grease off his permanently stained greasy hands with a dirty rag.
“How can I help you?” he said while he walked up to his desk shoving his rag into his back pocket.
“I need to rent your car,” said Darin.
“Rent my car?”
“Yes, I know you rent out your fifty-two Bel-Air,” said Darin and pointed to the white four-door 1952 Chevrolet Bel-Air parked along the side of his garage.
“Ah, yes, I do rent it out for ten dollars a day,” said Eddie.
“Good, I’ll need it to get around town,” said Darin and paused for a few seconds. “For today and I’ll return it on Tuesday morning,” he added.
“Okay, I’ll need to see your drivers license,” said Eddie while he grabbed a rental form off his desk.
Darin looked caught and didn’t know how to solve this problem. He knew he couldn’t show his 1995 Pennsylvania driver’s license. He stood there looking dumbfounded. His eyes lit up with a cover story just might work. “Man, I left my driver’s license at my aunt’s house. It’s such a long walk back there.”
Darin looked at Eddie and thought he really screwed up.
“Your aunt’s house. Who is she?”
“Ah,” said Darin and his mind drew a blank. “Ah, Betsy Koll. She lives down at 1580 Appleton Avenue.”
Eddie looked at Darin that felt like an eternity. “Ah, yes Betsy Koll,” he said then continued to stare at Darin. “I never met you before,” he said then picked up his phone while he opened up his address book to the K section. He dialed a phone number.
Darin just knew this wouldn’t work. He felt that he should just bolt out of the door and run like hell down the street. But for some strange reason, he didn’t.
“Hi Betsy, it’s Eddie down here at the garage.” He listened to her reply. “No, your car isn’t being repaired. I’m calling because I have your nephew standing in front of me,” said Eddie, then he looked at Darin for his name.
“Sidney Koll,” said Darin.
“Sidney Koll,” said Eddie into the phone.
There were a few seconds of silence on the phone. “Ah yes, my nephew Sidney. He’s from Tampa, Florida,” said Betsy from the phone.
“Well he’s here and wants to rent a car,” said Eddie.
“Oh, that’s nice,” said Betsy.
“Thanks, Betsy,” said Eddie, and he hung up the phone.
“Where are you from?”
“I’m from Tampa, Florida,” Darin replied.
Eddie smiled and was satisfied. “Fill out this form, and it will be fifty dollars in advance,” he said while he handed Darin the rental form and a pen.
Darin filled out the form being Sidney Koll and silently prayed nobody would check up on this.
He handed the form and pen to Eddie.
“It’s full of gas. You’ll have to fill the tank here when you return it,” said Eddie while he handed Darin the ignition key.
Eddie looked at Darin, wanting to be paid.
Darin removed his wallet and took out three twenty-dollar bills. He handed Eddie the cash.
Eddie opened up his cash register, placed the three twenties on top of the other twenties, and removed a ten-dollar bill.
“Thank you,” said Eddie while he handed Darin his change.
Eddie reached over the desk and grabbed a set of car keys.
“Be gentle with her. She’s a little old but still has a lot of life left in her,” he said while he handed Darin the car keys.
Darin grabbed the keys, nodded that he would be gentle with the car then walked out of the office.
Eddie walked out of his office and headed back to that water pump on that 67 Cutlass.
Back at Betsy’s home, she was excited about seeing her nephew, Sidney. “Why didn’t he call to let me know he was coming to town?” she said while she poured another cup of hot tea in the kitchen.
Betsy took her cup and walked out to the living room to drink it while she watched The Lucy Show reruns on the TV.
Darin walked up to the Bel-Air, opened the door, and got behind the wheel. He stared at the interior and recalled that day in September 1970 when he was looking for his first car.
Eddie was going to sell one of the cars he used for rentals.
He was going to see this 1952 Bel-Air or his 1957 Bel-Air.
Jimmy chose the 57 Bel-Air over this car. “I guess you’ll be mind for at least a few days,” he said while he ran his right hand around the steering wheel. He shoved the key in the ignition and started up the car.
Darin drove the Bel-Air out of the lot of Eddie’s garage.
He made a left turn out of the garage and headed north on Brightwood Avenue.
He turned the Bel-Air left on Marshall and headed west.
It wasn’t long before Darin drove up to the Burkeville Drive-In Theater. He pulled into the entrance and parked by the sign that still showed the Dirty Harry movie that was being shown.
He turned around and drove out of the entrance.
Darin drove back east on Marshall then turned right and headed south on Thorndale.
Darin drove to the south part of town and turned left into the entrance of the Burkeville Senior High School.
He turned to the lot to the right.
Darin drove around the aisle. He turned left and drove down the other aisle. He stopped when he saw a familiar sight – his 57 Bel-Air parked in the lot next to Charles’ white 1955 Chevrolet Bel-Air.
He glanced at the high school and then down at his watch. “Cap and gown,” he said recalling where he was at this moment. He was with Sheryl in the auditorium getting their cap and gowns for tomorrow’s graduation.
Darin drove out of the lot and pulled back onto Thorndale Avenue.
He headed north on Thorndale.
He turned left on Montvale and headed west.
At the end of Montvale, Darin turned right on Primrose.
He soon turned left down the dirt road and headed to the dirt parking lot of Lake Willow.
Darin parked his car and got out and walked over to the bench he and Sheryl always used to watch the sunsets back in high school.
He removed a Marlboro out of his pack and lit it up.
He smoked and watched the peaceful and quiet lake. While he stared at the lake, he still couldn’t believe he was back in 1971.
After he was done chilling and smoking some Marlboros down at the lake, Darin drove back to the motor court and went back to his room.
He took a nap.
Back at Betsy’s home, she completely forgot about the earlier phone conservation she had with Eddie from the gas station. The excitement of Sidney being in town was long forgotten, and that was lucky for Darin.
After his nap, Darin drove over to Jake’s Country Diner. It was in the early evening, and he was hungry for some dinner.
“You’re back again,” said Gracie, the second Darin, stepped in the diner.
“Yes, ma-am.”
“Please follow me,” said Gracie, and she walked down toward the booths along the windows. Darin followed.
Gracie walked to the middle of the windows and motioned at Darin to sit down.
“What would you like to drink?”
“Coffee.”
Gracie nodded, she heard his order. “Your waitress, Sheryl will be here shortly,” she said and walked away.
It took a few seconds for it to dawn on Darin what she said. “What?” he said and noticed that Gracie was heading to the kitchen. He started to get nervous. He forgot that Sheryl worked on Thursday evenings for the dinner shift.
He fidgeted in his seat, nervous about seeing Sheryl.
Gracie walked up to his booth. “Here you go,” said Gracie while she placed a cup of coffee in front of Darin.
“Ah, did you say my waitress is Sheryl?”
“Yes, I did. She’s a doll,” said Gracie then she leaned toward Darin. “But she’s already taken,” she said and pointed back at the kitchen.
Darin glanced over and could see the kitchen area through the pass-through window behind the eating counter.
His eyes lit up, and he got butterflies in his stomach the second he saw Sheryl in the kitchen. She was talking to Darin but Darin when he was a teenager. “Ah, ah, okay,” he said then he looked away and glanced out the windows.
Gracie walked away from his booth.
Darin started to get extremely nervous. He began to get sweaty and feel a little faint.
“I can’t do this. You can’t do this,” he said and got out of the booth.
He turned around to leave the diner, but someone was right in front of him. It was Sheryl.
“Hello, I’m Sheryl, your waitress,” she said her warm smile that Darin always remembered.
“Hi, Sheryl. I’m Dar,” he said then stopped when he realized he almost screwed up. “I’m David. David Thomas,” he said, then stuck out his hand. He decided on this name, as he knew Sheryl had met the real Sidney Koll.
“Hello, David Thomas. I’ve never had a customer wanting to shake my hand before. This is a first,” said Sheryl while she looked at Darin’s hand. She shook his hand, and for some strange reason, she really liked this old hippy stranger. The feel of his hand made her feel warm and tingly inside. The way she first felt the first time she held Darin’s hand during their first date.
“Were you going to the restroom?”
“Ah, yes,” he said.
“It’s over there,” she said, pointing to the right of the kitchen where a “Restrooms” sign hung on the wall.
“I’ll wait to get your order after you get back,” she said with another warm smile.
“Okay, Sheryl,” said Darin, and he walked toward the restroom.
While he was halfway to the restrooms, Darin glanced back at the front doors. He felt like bolting to them and running away. But he kept on heading to the bathrooms.
Once Darin got inside the Mens Room, he headed to one of the two urinals. He stood by the urinal and unzipped his pants. “I can do this. I can do this,” he said, not realizing that someone was using one of the three bathroom stalls.
The toilet in that stall flushed and after a few seconds, an old man around eighty years old stepped out.
The old man looked at Darin at the urinal while he walked over to one of the three sinks. “I know how it feels. I have a hard time getting the pee to start flowing,” said the old man to Darin while he washed his hands. “Getting old ain’t for sissies,” said the old man with a light chuckle then he turned off the water and dried his hands with some paper towels
“I know,” said Darin while the old man left the bathroom.
Darin zipped up his pants, did a light hand wash, and left the bathroom.
While he walked back to his booth, he glanced over to his right and saw the younger Darin working at the dishwasher. His body tingled at that sight, and the memory of that day came back in his head. It was a fond memory. He smiled at what would happen later that night with young Darin.
Darin walked back to his booth and sat down. He took a deep breath to calm down his nerves, then took a drink of his coffee.
He grabbed the menu and looked it over.
After a few seconds, Sheryl walked up to this booth with her pad in hand. “Are you ready to order?”
Darin looked at Sheryl, and all he could think about was grabbing her and giving her a romantic kiss. His eyes started to well up, so he turned away and looked at the menu. “I’ll take the pot roast platter,” he said and handed her the menu avoiding eye contact.
“The pot roast platter it is,” said Sheryl taking the menu and walked away from the booth.
Sheryl walked halfway to the kitchen when she stopped, turned around, and glanced back at Darin in the booth. There was something incredibly familiar about that old man, and she couldn’t place a finger on it. She turned back around and headed to the kitchen.
After Sheryl got into the kitchen and dropped off her order with Frank, the old cook, she headed off to the dishwasher where young Darin just placed a load in the machine and turned it on.
“Darin, there’s this older guy out in one of the booths. He looks so familiar. I know I met him before but don’t know where,” she said.
“Should I be jealous of this old man?” said Darin.
“Are you kidding me? He’s old enough to be my father.”
Darin gave her a light chuckle to let her know he was just joking, but inside he was a tad jealous. “Where is he?”
Sheryl walked Darin over to the pass-through window. “He’s over there sitting alone at the windows,” she said.
Darin looked at saw the old Darin sitting alone in the booth at the windows. “He’s just an old hippy,” he said then he watched while old Darin turned and looked in their direction. Old Darin’s eyes locked on young Darin’s eyes. Young Darin’s body tingled, and there was something about this old hippy that made Darin feel good, yet he felt sad. Young Darin wasn’t afraid of old Darin for some strange reason he couldn’t explain.
At the booth, it was so surreal for Darin to see himself as a teenager in the kitchen. The sight of Sheryl standing next to him in the kitchen started to make his eyes well up. He turned away and drank his coffee while he stared out the windows.
Back in the kitchen, young Darin and Sheryl continued to stare at old Darin.
“I’m going to find out who he is and what’s he doing here in Burkeville,” said Sheryl.
“Okay,” said Darin.
“Don’t you two have work to do?” said Gracie while she walked into the kitchen and saw young Darin and Sheryl peeking through the pass-through window.
Sheryl grabbed the coffee pot and headed out of the kitchen.
Darin returned to his dishwasher, but his thoughts were on Sheryl talking to that old hippy.
Darin finished his cup of coffee while Sheryl walked up to his booth. “Would you like me to freshen up your coffee?” she said.
“Please,” said Darin while he looked up a Sheryl.
“So, are you from Burkeville?” said Sheryl while she poured coffee into his cup.
“Ah, no, I’m from Tampa, Florida,” said Darin while he watched her pour his coffee.
“Florida. So, what brings you up here to Burkeville?” she said after she finished filling up his cup.
“Ah, I, ah, I’m up here to check out the university for a teaching job.”
“What subject?”
“History,” said Darin.
Sheryl’s eyes lit up. “My boyfriend, Darin in the kitchen, wants to get his degree in history then teach at the university.”
“I know,” said Darin.
Sheryl was a little surprised with his comment. “How would you know that?”
Darin felt caught. “I meant, I didn’t know that,” he said.
“Ah,” she said, then looked Darin over. “I have this strange feeling that I know you. Like we met before.”
“I get that a lot,” he said. “Maybe we knew each other from a past life,” he added.
Sheryl thought about his comment for a few seconds. “I guess that could happen,” she said then paused. “Oh, your dinner should be out in five minutes,” she said then turned around and walked back to the kitchen.