Page 33 of A Boy Called Lovesong

The woman from the manor laughed. “Sunshine, if you think cars have legs then you probably shouldn’t be driving one.” She turned to the auto shop a short distance away and shouted, “Earl! I think you got a new customer.”

From the auto shop emerged a man in his fifties with scruffy whisps of hair, a pepper-white three-day growth, and coverallssmeared in grease. “What are you doin’ stopping there?” he called to me. “The auto shop’s here.”

“I didn’t really have a choice in the matter. Do you think you can give me a tow?”

The woman from the manor waved the idea away like a buzzing fly. “Forget about towing it. We can push it the rest of the way.” She turned to the bulldozer from the bar. “Li’l Leroy, come and help the gentleman.”

“I’ll help you, Leroy,” said the large woman from the general store.

The woman from the manor said, “Cybil, you do enough lifting all day long. Let the rest of us handle this.” She called across to the pastor. “Reverend Jim, you gonna help?”

“Indeed, I shall,” said the pastor. “With the power of prayer. Although it’s mighty hot out here. I think the Lord will hear me better if I pray from inside the church.”

With that he turned and retreated into his house of worship.

I saw the woman from the manor roll her eyes at him, then using her cane she hobbled toward me, joining Cybil from the general store, Li’l Leroy from the bar and Earl from the auto shop.

“Maybelle, you get in and steer,” Earl said to the woman with the walking stick. “The rest of us’ll push.”

“What are you implying, Earl?”

“I’m implying that you already got one bad hip. Do you want two?”

“Since when did you get yourself a medical degree, Earl? I thought you was a mechanic.”

“I am, which makes me an expert in spare parts. And the way you limp about, pretty soon you’re gonna be full of them.”

“Step aside, everyone,” said the colossal man from the bar. “Li’l Leroy can handle this. Mister, why don’t you take the car outta gear and steer it while I push.”

“Sure,” I said, jumping back behind the wheel.

Beside me, Chet was already wagging his tail at the prospect of new friends. Jesus, was he really that tired of my company?

With a lurch, Li’l Leroy set the car in motion.

The steering wheel was heavy, like someone had poured sticky corn syrup all through the steering column, but I managed to point it toward the auto shop while Leroy pushed harder and harder until eventually the Dynasty rolled intoEarl’s Auto.

The car was followed into the auto shop by Earl, Cybil and Maybelle from the manor.

The moment I pulled on the brake and got out of the car, Chet barked happily and jumped onto the ground, racing around to the back of the car and continuing to use his doggy voice to say hello to the strangers. Who knew what he was saying…

Hi there, my name’s Chet.

This place seems nice.

Will you be my friends?

Me, I didn’t think the place seemed nice at all. It was oozing humidity and ghost-town vibes. And as for friends, I sure as hell didn’t need those. I had one thing to do in this town—find Lovesong Valentin and let him know what he’d done to my world.

Of course, that wasn’t something I was planning on telling these people.

“Hey there, little fella,” said Leroy, bending to pet Chet. “What’s your name?”

“His name’s Chet. Thanks for your help.” I turned to Earl who had already popped the hood open. “Do you think you can fix whatever’s wrong with it?”

“Hard to say till I actually find out what the problem is.”

I recalled words I’d heard. “It could be the spark plugs… or the alternator… or the cooling system… or the timing belt… or—”

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