'The Lesson', By Fred Alvrez
Wendy surveyed the damage. Oh it's bad, she said to herself. Certainly worse than she first thought. She barely even heard it hit! Still the damage was there, plain as day. Perhaps if she got to the panel-beaters this morning, they could fix where the fence-post had hit the car (well, really the car hit the fence-post, if you wanted to get picky), and paint it up this afternoon before John got home and saw that anything had happened to his prized Sunbeam Scorpion. No, that wasn't right, it's a Tiger, she corrected herself.
Oh my husband and his beloved car, she thought. Sometimes I wonder if he had a choice which he would chose between the car and I. Mind you, he did tell me not to drive it today, he was still fixing something on it he said. Maybe he was fixing up the steering and she could blame it on that? Fat chance. Still, those guys at the panel shop fixed up the dent she put in their Toyota quick- smart. Surely they could do this one little job today, especially if she wore her favorite short-cut black mini-skirt. Gets them everytime, hehe.
No point in procrastinating. She dived back into the car, and carefully reversed away from the post and sped off towards the local dent-fixer.
A smile came across the panel-shop owner's face as she pulled into the shop. She could just see the dollar signs in his eyes. She wound the window down.
"Is here ok, Mr Owens?", she asked with a slight flicker in her eyes to warm him up.
"Sure Mrs Taylor, just switch it off", he answered.
She turned off the ignition, got out, and they both moved to the left-front of the car to assess the dent. He sighed and tut-tutted at her.
"Is this your husband's car Mrs Taylor?", he asked.
"Yes. But I really need this fixed today, he doesn't know about it you see. And doesn't need to know about it of course", she added quickly.
"Hmmm. Well I can get my boys on to it, certainly. But the paint, if I can get it today, will take a good ten days to dry and harden. Sorry".
"Oh no! He'll kill me for sure. Can't you do anything quicker than that?"
"Well. We do have some quick dry paint. It'll be alright and will dry today but it's not the best stuff in the world".
"Use it. Please", she pleaded.
"Ok Mrs Taylor. Come back at three o'clock and pick her up".
Wendy caught a lift back with the office-lady to her house, asking her as she got out to pick her up again at 3'oclock if she could. She knew John was going overseas in three days, perhaps she could get the car back into the garage today, hope he didn't decide to go for a drive, and then while he was away get it fixed properly. Of course! If only he knew how devious she could be, especially when under pressure.
3 O'clock arrived and Wendy was picked up and taken back to Owen's Panel Shop. The car looked ok, she thought. Actually it looked terrible. The paint used was patchy at best and looked like it would wash off in the first rain. But some red paint was better than no red paint. She paid them with her secret savings and told Owen Taylor she would be back in a few days with the car.
Carefully driving home, she made it into the garage only 10 minutes before her husband returned home. He did his usual evening things of watching the news with a beer, and burping with considerable volume.
In bed that night, as Wendy was planning ways to stop John from going out to the garage at the back of the house, he spoke up.
"Wendy, have you seen the front guard of the Tiger lately?".
Wendy lay in the bed staring at her book, in shock. How could he know? She had been with him since he got home. Those bloody panel-shop guys and their big mouths! She would march down there tomorrow and have a serious word or two.
"Wendy? Did you hear me?", John asked again.
"Yes. No. Um, what?", she stumbled.
"I said, have you seen the from left hand guard of the Sunbeam lately. And have you?".
"Yes. No. Why do you ask?". Confuse 'em if all else fails, that's what her mother had taught her. Works too, as she had found in the past.
"Well let's just say that I need you to remind me to ring Owen's Panel Shop tomorrow, ok. Let's just leave it at that shall we?", John said.
Wendy lay there. Why didn't he just let her have it with both barrels. She would, if she was in his shoes, that was for real. Don't drive the car he said. So she did. She couldn't take it anymore. She decided to test the water.
"John, why do you need to ring the panel shop for?".
"Well, I wasn't going to tell you, but I sort of bashed the Tiger up backing out of the garage the other day."
"You bashed it up?! Why didn't you tell me?!", she said in a raised voice.
"Calm down Wendy. It's just that I was embarrassed about it and I tried fixing it myself with my new 'Home Panel Beaters' set and only ended up making it worse. That's why I told you not to drive it. I need to get Owen's to fix it while I'm away. Ok?".
"Sure darling. Of course. But why don't you let me handle the panel shop."
"Why? You never seemed bothered about the car before."
"Well, you keep telling me I should take more of an interest in your Sunburst."
"That's Sunbeam." "Whatever. Anyway I guess it's about time I did", she said with a sly smile.
"Ok, that sounds good. I'll let you handle everything."
Oh buddy, she thought, you just do that.
Fred Alvrez
E-Mail: Fred.Alvrez@xtra.co.nz
Snail-Mail: PO Box 45, Ahipara, Northland 0551, New Zealand