Thor's Child ©
by K Pelle
Chapter 13
Once breakfast and the chores were done, Tor and his dad hopped into the pickup to drive to the Haymaker Creek property. Tor surprised his father by not being curious about what they were going to do that day, or why he had to be along.
"You're very quiet and not acting very wide awake, almost like you didn't sleep well last night," Tor's dad commented as they drove down the driveway.
"I had a hard time getting to sleep after I went to bed," Tor sighed softly. "Too much on my mind, I guess, what with Kevin and Sunny, and all that stuff on top of everything else."
"Well, considering how many things have happened to you, and those around you in the last while, that's not really a surprise. Every teenager's life is filled with changes, since they're going through a period of change and growth, but for some reason you seem to be having more than most right now. In your case, you're extremely talented at the game of hockey, and since hockey is so popular in this area, you draw a lot of attention. Then on top of that you inadvertently became involved with the wrong people, but in a positive way. That's when you tangled with the younger members of a gang of people who've been preying on others, and eventually that drew the rest of your family into the conflict. I wasn't made aware of it until the other day, but Dagny, Björn and Kai have been heavily involved with the police in trying to defeat that bunch for over a year."
"I didn't know that they were all involved. I knew Kai was and that Dagny might be, but Björn is a surprise."
"Oh that's not all," Tor's dad chuckled quietly. "Your friend, Rick Chance, still has contacts in the states and he's been deeply involved in trying to stop drug traffic, especially the anabolic steroids. He had his eye on you from the time you first appeared out here and were caring for the Armstrong property. At first he felt you were using steroids, so he wrote to Kai about it and even talked to Nils. They set him straight in a hurry, in fact you can imagine what Nils said to him for even suspecting you. Actually, my big brother thinks you can almost walk on water and Hanna isn't much less of a fan, but neither one of them will tell me why. The three of you seem to have some sort of a secret that you won't talk about and I know darn well it happened before the rest of us moved out here. Nils just tells me it's nothing important and none of my business, while Hanna ignores me if I ask about it and you've never mentioned whatever it is."
"Well, to be honest, I don't know exactly what you're asking about. One thing I can think of was the time I fell off one of the horses I was working with, but I fell the way you'd taught me – you know what I mean, letting yourself go limp when you hit. I think that scared Uncle Nils more than it did me because he was watching and said I bounced like a rubber ball. Another thing that comes to mind is the day Mrs. Armstrong had her fall and Aunt Hanna stepped in so calmly, so I did my best to act as calm as Aunt Hanna. I know that seemed to impress them, but that's the way you and Mom taught me to act. Other than that, I'm not sure what they could be thinking about or why they act the way they do.
"Let's face it, Dad, when I came out here I was scared silly, but Aunt Hanna and Uncle Nils treated me like I was one of their own kids, so I was able to adapt. I think they made a big deal out of the fact that instead of getting homesick when I was on my own, I kept really busy and worked as hard as I could instead. I'll be honest though, I worked hard because when I was working at something, I was thinking of the job, not how lonely and homesick I was feeling. I suppose that might have impressed them, but I was really glad to see Mom and Alva drive into the yard the day they showed up, because I could quit trying to be so darn fearless."
"Well, you impressed the rest of the family pretty well. There were several times though when either Alva or Björn would threaten to hop on a plane and fly out here to rescue their little brother. Then Nils and Hanna would call and say you were doing fine, or you'd phone us to talk to everyone and they'd settle down for a few days. When the Armstrongs ended up in the hospital so soon after you arrived, I almost let Björn come out, then we got that call about the way you'd handled Sami and that rumour she started," Tor's dad laughed. "That's when I decided I wasn't worried and felt certain that you'd do just fine. I had a little argument with your mother over it, but we called Hanna and Nils, and they backed you to the hilt, so your mom went along. Then a few days later we got a call from Hanna about the way you treated Sami after she got stuck in the rain outside the Co-op store. She bragged about you so much that there were no further arguments about leaving you alone to handle things on your own.
"Then when we came out here and saw the amount of work you'd done while you were on your own, and we were all astounded because what you'd done was far beyond what we expected. We were going to see that you got a reward once we got settled in that summer, but before we could, you got involved with that murdering rapist and ended up in the hospital. I don't know if you know it or not, but your ankle was so bad we didn't know if you'd ever walk right again, let alone skate, so the operation was absolutely necessary. Then you got that bloody infection after the operation and damn near died. Just as you were recovering from all that crap, Tommy Carruthers tried to kill you, then his cousin tried to finish the job, after that came the long wait before the trial. And the crap carried on and on, so the reward you earned that first summer got put on a back burner, but it never got forgotten."
"But, Dad, you paid me for all that work, and you gave me some shares in the Co-op, then in this new land development thing, and Aunt Hanna and Uncle Nils gave me a share in their valley, and . . ."
"And you earned each and every one of those," Tor's dad stated flatly. "In each case, except the deal on Hanna and Nils' valley, your brothers and your sister got just as much as you did, so any of that isn't counted. As far as that crazy valley is concerned, that was something Hanna and Nils wanted to do for you, so your mom and I have nothing to do with it. We wanted the reward to be something special and I think we may have finally found it, but it's going to be your decision if you accept it or not. However. I'm going to let it be a surprise for now.
"First though, I thought you deserved to see the way Haymaker Creek has been cleaned up, since the various things you noticed and heard were the keys that cracked the case wide open. I doubt if he'll ever tell you about it, but a comment you made to Officer McDonald about Ordonez's son started the investigation about the importation of drugs from Mexico. That resulted in Ordonez being caught red handed while accepting a package of illegal steroids and it also put Schneider under the microscope. Then you got me interested and I stuck my nose into the fracas, which got me shot at – we're certain that shot was made by Tommy Carruthers' father, Dan, by the way. So you probably saved my life when you told me that the Carruthers were the only people living on Haymaker Creek Road and that they didn't raise horses. Otherwise, he'd have had a clear shot at me. As it is, he's been charged with several firearms offenses. He may be facing a possible charge of attempted murder too, if they can prove that he's the one who shot at me, so at the present time he's being held in confinement without bail. Of course that also set off the land development deal and when Schneider was arrested, that set off the whole series of arrests on drug and assault charges for the rest of the Carruthers family. I imagine you've heard about everything else, because once that happened the whole thing blew wide open."
"But I didn't do all that much," Tor protested. "I just passed on a couple of facts and a few rumours."
"Ah, but those facts and rumours could be checked out and most of them were true, which is why I decided you should see what we've done to the property we bought."
Just then they topped the ridge overlooking Haymaker Creek and Tor's dad pulled over so they could look at the changes. All Tor could do was stare at the place in surprise.
The whole area was cleaned up and most of it had been bulldozed level. Only one building remained on the whole site, and that was a huge, ancient barn, built of logs and roofed in shakes. Every other building on the place had been demolished, then the rubble had either been burnt and the ashes buried, or the rubbish had been hauled away. The rough shacks, rundown houses, abandoned cars, ratty fences and untidy fields were all gone, and there was no sign that they had ever been there. The clumps of trees and the verges of the creek had been left as they were, but the scraggly brush, rank weeds and over-grazed pastures had all been levelled, graded, and even cultivated. One tractor was still running over the open ground, spreading grass seed, followed by another tractor pulling harrows.
"You're spreading seed? At this time of year?" Tor asked his dad in surprise.
"That's a gamble, but the weather forecast is for rain by the end of the week, so we talked to the municipality and they sold us some grass seed they use on dry areas. Nils decided we should give it a try just to give the weeds some competition. But we aren't here to look at the scenery, or to discuss your uncle's hunches about the weather. You and I have an old car and a mess of car parts to load and then we need to haul everything to the local scrap yard."
So his dad restarted the truck and they drove down the hill, then up the long grade to the old barn. The doors were open and Tor's dad backed the flatbed trailer up close. Once it was lined up, they released the catch so they could tilt the deck of the trailer. When the trailer was all ready, they used a winch to ease a huge old 1959 Lincoln Continental sedan onto the trailer, then locked it all down with chains.
"What a monster!" Tor crowed. "Too bad it's just a wreck."
"Yeah, and it turns out that it was stolen and it's missing both the engine and transmission. We had to get clearance from the insurance people before they'd let us dispose of the darn thing," Tor's dad shook his head. "This car was in a body shop in Vancouver being restored when it was stolen and used in a failed bank robbery about six years ago. The city cops caught the robbers red handed, but the driver of the car sped off and got away. The police haven't been able to find out how it got here and of course the Carruthers are saying that they 'dunno how it got there.' Yet when the RCMP looked in here and pulled the tarp off, they say they were all coughing and snorting because the tarp was covered in years of dust, dirt and bird dung. Three of the tires and the spare all had air in them though. The only reason it couldn't be driven away is the engine and transmission had been pulled out of it, which is also why the insurance company doesn't want it back. The strange thing is that there's another engine and transmission over there to one side that looks like they belong in an old Ford truck, just like the one Johnny Carruthers used to drive. Kai remembers Johnny Carruthers having a knock in the engine of his truck on a Friday afternoon, but he also remembers Johnny getting into a drag race the next night and winning hands down. We all think that might be because he got a sudden boost in power from a new engine and we suspect this car might be where he got that engine. Of course Johnny has long since sold the truck, but the RCMP are trying to run it down to check the serial numbers."
"Well, won't someone be charged in some way over this car, since it's stolen?"
"Oh yeah, this barn was on the piece of land that old Billy Carruthers supposedly paid rent on, so he was charged with possession of stolen property, but nobody believes he was the thief. The old geezer is eighty-four years old, so I can't see him going out and boosting a car to rob a bank, can you?" Tor's dad chuckled. "Anyway, I'll turn the rig around and move it to the side so Kai and Björn can get in here with the front end loader to lift out the heavy parts and load them in the dump truck. Meanwhile you can start by separating out all those lighter boxes of parts and once I swing around and get parked nearby we can pack them in the pickup too."
"I thought we only had one load for the dump truck and trailer to go to the scrap yard?" Tor commented to Björn as he came in dragging a chain to throw around an engine and transmission setup.
"Well, we would have, but Dad didn't want to overload the trailer or the pickup, so we decided to split it up and haul all this heavy junk in the dump truck. Old Wally, the guy at the wrecking yard, will be happy about that, because his guys can sort it easier that way."
"You mean some of this junk might be reusable?"
"Most of it probably can, or it would have been dumped outside. Dan Carruthers might have been crooked as a snake, but he was a good mechanic and he wouldn't let good parts sit out in the weather to get ruined. That's why Wally Friedman is so happy to take all this stuff off of our hands."
"Wally Friedman?"
"Yeah, the old guy who runs the auto-wreckers down by the highway, that's where we'll be hauling all this crud. His son, Sammy was out here to look at yesterday and seemed to think his old man would be really happy to get this stuff, especially that old Lincoln sedan. Oops, watch your back, here comes Kai with the front end loader."
An hour later they had both trucks loaded and had double checked that the Lincoln was tied down well, then they headed for the scrap yard. Until that day Tor hadn't even known that there was an auto-wreckers or scrap yard near Eagles Bluff and he knew he must have gone past the site many times. He was going to ask about it, but didn't get a chance, instead as soon as they were on the way, his dad started talking.
"In case you're wondering about what's going on with that old Lincoln on the trailer, it became something of a nuisance because it was found on the property when we bought it. The police reported it to the insurance company, but the insurance had long since been paid out on the claim against it. They didn't want it back since it had no motor and had been banged up, then left sitting for years, but legally I couldn't sell it or junk it. The long and short of it was that I had to buy the darn thing for the price of scrap and I expected to sell it for the same amount. Then Kai got involved in the hassle. He called the son of the guy who owns the scrap yard, and eventually we made a complicated deal to trade it for something else – something which I think you're going to want. If you like the final deal, I'll call the results a partial reward for your hard work for the family, two years ago," Tor's dad looked over at him and grinned.
"What would this guy at the auto wreckers have that I'd want?" Tor asked quietly.
"Well, you're going to be sixteen next year, which means you'll be able to get your driver's license. Once you have a driver's license, you'll want a vehicle and I can't see you driving around in some old second hand sedan or a beat up pickup truck. Something of that sort just doesn't suit you. So Kai found something that he thinks will suit you to a 'T' and we figure it will be a wonderful deal for you, but the final decision is going to have to be yours," he grinned at Tor again. "You see the vehicle we're trading for is going to require you to do some work to finish it – quite a bit of work from what I hear, in fact what we'll be getting you is almost a kit. It's in pieces and you'll have to put it together and finish it yourself, but I guarantee you'll have help, probably a lot of it, maybe more than you want.
"I know Björn wants to help and so does Kai, but neither of them is a mechanic. Kai says he knows people who are mechanically inclined and who'll want to help you, but he'll have to explain that. My idea was just to get you interested in something besides hockey and horses."
"Dad, like you implied, I'm not a mechanic either and I don't think I know anyone who is."
"I know that, but as I also implied, you've got limited interests outside of school, sports and horses, so I was hoping to have you get interested in something else. Besides, having a little mechanical training isn't a bad idea for anyone, and if necessary I'll hire someone to help you learn, but I'd like you to be involved. That was really the point behind getting you a car you can repair, that way you'll have an idea how to maintain it, as well as have a feeling of involvement in it, so you'll probably look after it even better than normal."
"Now that sounded funny, Dad," Tor chuckled. "We're on our way to a junk yard to trade off one junk car and get another one, and you think I'll look after the second car well, just because I worked on it. Something in that just isn't clicking home, Dad. I simply don't get it!"
"Well, when you put it that way, I can see the humour in it." Tor's dad laughed. "Anyway, there's the sign for the scrap yard, so you'll be able to see what I mean in a few moments."
It was no wonder Tor had missed seeing the auto wrecker's yard. It was hidden by a huge hedge of tall trees and there was only a tiny sign near the road, so it wasn't blatantly advertised. Once the pickup got past that barrier of trees and through the gate in the chain link fence though, Tor could see acres and acres of dead cars and about a dozen quonset huts of various sizes. There was one white trailer not far from the entrance, which was set up as an office, and Tor's dad pulled to a stop in front of that.
"Here we are, and it's time for you and me to go talk to the man, Tor," his dad said with a wide grin. 'Let's go see Wally and talk to him about everything, because he and Kai will have to explain the whole deal, I'd get lost, but then I'm not a mechanic."
So Kai, Björn, Tor's dad and Tor all went into the office to meet Wally Friedman and Tor wondered what the meeting was all about, but he soon found out. He not only learned about the deal, but he learned a lot more too, for Wally Friedman was a talker who talked, and talked, and talked some more.
Tor met Wally and he met his oldest son, Sammy, then he learned about them and about their business, but he also learned about Wally's second oldest son, Frankie. It seemed that Frankie had been the rebel of the Friedman family. Frankie Friedman didn't want to buy and sell junk cars and he didn't want to spend his time salvaging and selling junk car parts. Instead Frankie had wanted to build things, so first he built cars, then he discovered that he loved welding, so he became a welder. In only a few years he became so good at welding that he became a pipeline welder. The only problem with that was the fact that he had been working on a project when he'd been hired as a welder – he'd been building another car.
Now though, Frankie's job was in the Yukon and since he was so far from home his last unfinished project was just gathering rust and taking up space. What was even worse was that Wally and Sammy really needed that space to store car parts, so Wally had called Frankie, and Frankie had agreed that Wally could dispose of that unfinished project. Unfortunately for Wally, Frankie had put conditions on exactly how he could dispose of that old car. Frankie didn't want money for the unfinished car, but he wanted it to go to a young man who would finish building the car, then drive it himself, but on top of that he wanted a car in trade. However, he didn't want just any car, he wanted a big old car from the late fifties, which was where the Eklund family came into the deal.
First off the Eklund family not only had a young man in their family who was turning sixteen next year, but they had also come into the possession of a 1959 Lincoln Continental. The only problem with that was that the present owner of the Lincoln, insisted that his son Tor had to have the final say of whether they took on Frankie's old project or not.
At that point Wally Friedman heaved his considerable bulk out of his office chair and still talking a blue streak, he led the whole group across the way to an isolated quonset hut. At that point Wally fell silent as he and Sammy threw open the two big rolling doors of the steel building and turned on the overhead lights. What was exposed was a massive pile of car parts including old bodies, fenders, hoods, tires, wheels and who knows what else, along one side of the building. In the middle of the floor, which was the only relatively open space where anyone could walk, was a relatively new frame, motor, transmission and all the running gear of a much newer vehicle. On the remaining side of the building there was a workbench and an open space which had obviously been left there for tool storage. Above the workbench was a large drawing of a car and beside it was the drawing of a frame – the frame sitting in the middle of the floor.
The first drawing showed an old, boxy, two door car with a long hood and a short trunk. A long sweeping fender began at a point slightly ahead of a radiator, swept over the open wheel, then down to a running board. The running board ran along the bottom of the door, then became a rounded fender which rose above the open rear wheel, around it and down, then curved and flattened out slightly at the very end.
The first drawing was labelled; 1931 Ford, Model A, Five Window Coupe.
The second drawing was a blueprint of the frame everyone had looked at as they walked around it, because it was right in their way and they didn't want to trip over it. The drawing showed labels and directions at various points, but it also showed where the motor was placed, how it was attached, where the transmission sat and so on. Tor could glance at that drawing and then at the frame to see the full sized object in front of him.
That second drawing was labelled; Frame for '31 Ford, using '79 Volvo running gear.
Tor just had to compare the two drawings and see if he could make sense out of how they would be used to fit everything together. It didn't really help that the coupe drawing was just an outline and didn't have comparable frame mounting positions, but he could glance over at the both actual items and that helped.
"Well, Tor, what do you think?" his dad asked him quietly.
"Oh, this is neat!" Tor said, not really thinking what he was getting himself into. "The guy who designed that frame really knew what he was doing, or at least I think he did. Excuse me, Dad, I want to go look at that body for a minute. Oh, does anyone have a tape measure I can borrow for a few minutes?"
He was so absorbed and so fascinated by those two drawings that he hadn't realised that he was almost alone in the building. When he did look around, the only other person there was Kai.
"Where did everyone go, Kai?"
"Oh, they went off to unload everything. I take it you are interested in the deal, aren't you?"
"Sure, but I'm not enough of a mechanic to build this," Tor gestured at the drawing.
"Well, that's not really a problem," Kai said very quietly. "You see there are enough parts here to build at least two different vehicles, one an antique with an old frame and wheels, and the other with the custom frame and the Volvo running gear. I knew Frankie quite well, because we chummed around together at school, so I heard all about this project way back then. He was collecting stuff for it all through high school and he would talk about it for hours, if he had a willing set of ears to listen. The idea was to end up with either a coupe or a pickup that looked old, but had hydraulic disk brakes, decent suspension, twelve volt ignition, signal lights and a modern engine. He collected all the parts for both a coupe and a pickup body, but along the way he collected a lot of extra stuff too.
"What you could do is to find someone who wants to restore an old vehicle and trade him work for parts. He could help you build what you want, then he'd end up with most, if not all of the parts for a vehicle of his own, while you'd end up with a running car. Besides, I'd help you if you wanted me to, and I know Björn would help out, because he likes to work on mechanical gadgets. I think even our dads would help out, but I'm not too sure how much help they'd be on a job like this."
"Do you really think I could get a car running in a year, starting with this mess of bits and pieces?"
"Oh heck yes, but it might take a lot of time and effort, as well as a fair bit of cash, unless you know an upholsterer and a car painter who work cheap," Kai paused for a second and then grinned. "You know, I think I know a guy who would love to work on this sort of thing for the bits and pieces of an old pickup, but that would mean you'd have to build the coupe."
"Who?"
"Rick Chance. I'll bet he'd love to have an old pickup to run around and deliver his vegetables, at least when the weather is nice. Besides, his wife is an excellent upholsterer."
"Do you really think they'd be interested in helping me?"
"Oh, yeah. The two of them are nuts about old stuff. Just look at their house. It's full of antiques and collectables. So what do you say? Are you going to take the deal?"
"Yeah, I think I will," Tor shook his head slowly. "Maybe I'm nuts, but surprisingly, I think it would be a lot of fun."
"Well, that's good, because your dad and old Wally already shook on the deal just as soon as they saw you staring at those drawings. I think the closer was you asking to borrow a tape measure though, that's when your dad nodded his head and turned to old Wally," Kai chuckled softly, and broke into a wide grin. "I don't know what the heck your dad would have done with that old Lincoln if you'd have said no."
"Well, let's go find out," Tor grinned back at him.
When Tor and Kai found his dad, he was just about to unload the big car from the trailer, but he stopped when Tor and Kai came walking up to him wearing deep frowns.
"Dad, don't unload that car yet. I'm not so sure I want to . . ." Tor started to say, watching his father's face as it registered complete surprise.
"Wait a minute. I'll sweeten the deal. I'll get you a set of new tires, a new battery, anything like that, anything at all," Wally interrupted. "We really do need that space and you . . ."
Kai couldn't hold it any longer and he broke into laughter, which was enough to make Tor laugh as well.
"You pair of whelps!" Tor's dad grinned. "Are you two trying to give me a heart attack or something?"
"Sorry, Dad. I just couldn't resist teasing you a little bit," Tor winked in relief that the joke hadn't gone badly.
"Did you see Father's face though? I thought he would bust," Sammy roared with laughter, actually laughing so hard he was bent over and holding his stomach, but even Wally was smiling and shaking his head at the joke.
It took two whole days to move all the car parts of various kinds from the Friedman's quonset hut to the equipment shed at the Eklund farm. That's because Kai insisted that they had to be careful not to scratch or dent the bits and pieces any worse than they already were. Then when they unloaded them, he wanted all the pieces sorted so they could see just what they had. There wasn't an argument about that though, everyone involved wanted to see exactly what was there and what would be needed.
Actually they thought they had everything pretty well moved by noon of the second day, but as they were pulling out of the auto-wrecker's yard when Wally stepped out of his office and waved them down.
"I looked in the shed earlier, but I see you left the workbench, all the boxes of new parts and the toolboxes full of special tools needed to finish this young man's car," Mr, Friedman reached in the open window and patted Tor's arm. "Now, I wanted that building empty. Otherwise, I'll have to find someone else to take those things away and most of them wouldn't be of any use to anyone."
"Are you sure you want us to take that workbench, the new parts and all those tools as well?" Tor asked.
"Most definitely, Tor, you'll need those," Mr. Friedman nodded. "You won't want to use the old worn out body mounting rubbers and hardened seals around the windows and doors or that car will be drafty and it will rattle and thump at every lump in the road. Frankie even put in all new motor mounts when he built that new frame and he replaced any worn parts in the suspension, steering and brakes he salvaged from a wrecked Volvo. Since the car was a rollover, the engine should have been okay, but he even had it rebuilt, put in a new clutch plate, then had the transmission and rear end checked, so the running gear is all like new. You fix that body well, and you'll think you're driving a brand-new car."
So Tor, Kai and Björn drove home with their load, unloaded it and went back one more time. When they finally hauled that last load home, Tor just looked at all the piles of parts and broke into laughter because they had stuff scattered across half the floor of the equipment shed. The old coupe body was still sitting on its original frame and still had the old steering wheel in place, even the interior was almost complete. Actually the only parts that had been removed from that frame were the hood, radiator, fenders and running gear, but all of that seemed to be there too, even the motor, transmission, wheels and axles. There were two different cabs for pickup trucks, one old beat up pickup box, a mixed lot of fenders and lower side panels, various extra body parts and wheels, another old motor, and two transmissions. As well as that there was a pile of old tires, and another pile of headlights, running lights, horns, bumpers and radiator shells. The strange thing was that there was only one radiator and it was mounted on the custom frame.
The custom frame was complete. It looked as if it only needed tires and wheels, a battery, a gas tank, and a body to be ready to run, but it was a strange looking thing in comparison to the simple frames of the Model A's. There were wheels meant to fit the Volvo, but Tor didn't think solid wheels would look right, so he felt he'd have to hunt for a set of spoked wheels that would fit the Volvo hubs.
That was the first difference Tor really noticed that differed from the original, but he soon saw several others as well. Starting at the front, the Model A frame had a transverse spring mounted to a solid front axle, whereas the new frame used coil springs with internal shock absorbers and folding struts. The brakes on the Model A were an internal expanding design and used mechanical linkage to operate, while the custom frame used hydraulic operation and external pads clamping against disks. The steering on the new frame was rack and pinion, while on the old one it was worm and sector. Since Frankie Friedman had used all Volvo parts for the running gear, the mounts for the motor, transmission and rear end were all different from that on the Model A frame as well. At the same time though, he seemed to have made allowance for all the necessary body mounts to accept the Model A body. The attention to detail on the custom frame was almost unbelievable, right down to the heavy duty paint that had been sprayed on all surfaces of the whole frame. Tor was very impressed with that whole job.
"Well guys, I've decided I want to build the coupe, not a pickup, and I definitely want to use the new frame, so let's sort out all the pieces I'll need to build the coupe into one area. Then we'll be able to see just what will be left over to use for trading material," Tor said finally, after studying all the various parts that were spread around the floor.
"I called Rick on the phone and he said he'd love to be involved in building you a car, so I think we should get him over here quite soon," Kai grinned. "He sounded really enthused about the idea of helping out, but I'm sure he'd love to build an old pickup truck for himself too. Besides, his wife, Akio is very good at upholstery work and you're going to need some work done on the seat, the head-liner and the door panels."
"Only the seat and the head-liner, because I think I'll replace the door panels with woodgrain panels like the stuff they use on fake wood furniture. There's so little foot-room inside that coupe that any upholstery on the door panels would be damaged too easily, just look at the upholstery on the original doors," Tor shook his head slowly. "Let's face it, this is going to be a modified car, so although I want the outside to look like an old coupe as closely as I can, what people can't see is going to be the way I want it. For example, I'm not too happy about having the gas tank right behind the firewall of the engine and above my legs, so I'm going to want to change the position of that too. Instead of gravity feed for the gas, I'll put in an electric fuel pump and a tank mounted somewhere inside the frame, so it's lower and less dangerous.
"Anyway, we've made a heck of a mess by spreading this stuff around in here, and if Dad sees it like this, we'll all be in deep doo doo. Let's do some shifting and shuffling so it looks like we're at least trying to keep some order to the job."
As Kai, Björn and Tor sifted through the parts and set aside those that Tor wanted to use, separating those he could part with, it soon became obvious that he had almost all the parts needed to build the coupe. Before they stopped for the day, they had the workbench shifted over against one wall of the building and they had the drawings hung on the wall above it once more. They'd shifted the new frame and all the coupe parts near that same wall to keep it all in one place. Tor had packed the boxes of parts under one end of the workbench to protect them and Kai had shifted the headlights, taillights and other small breakable and delicate items under the other end. While they'd been doing that, Björn had been trying to sort the rest of the parts. By the time they had to stop to do chores they could see that if they included the old frame under the coupe, there were almost enough bits and pieces to assemble two pickup trucks, not one. Whether either of those pickups could be restored enough to be driven on the road was another question though.
It wasn't until after chores were done and they were sitting down to eat that Tor was reminded of his buddies, meaning Kevin and the three girls.
"Sunny showed up over here again today," Alva said as she passed Tor the potatoes. "You were gone, so all I could tell her was that you were moving some old car parts, because I wasn't sure when you were coming back."
"Was she unhappy?" Tor sighed.
"Not really. She mentioned that she was going to town with her mom and asked if we'd mind her coming over for a swim once in a while, only she wondered if we'd mind if she wore a suit. Mom told her she could wear a suit if she wanted, but that we might not be wearing one. I'm not sure what she thought of that, but she sure did blush," Alva chortled. "Then not long after you came back the last time, Sami phoned, but she didn't want me to bother you if you were busy. She asked about swim suits too and I gave her mom's answer. I like that kid, she just giggled and said you weren't prepared for her to show that much bare skin."
"She's right," Tor laughed, but he blushed slightly himself. "Only do me a favour and if she does come over to swim, don't tease her about her figure, please? She thinks she's short, fat and dumpy, but I think she looks just fine and I let her know that I feel that way."
"Good for you," Alva reached over and touched his arm as if giving him her approval.
"Well, now that we've heard about all of Tor's girlfriends, I have a question. How did you make out with all those old rusty car parts? Do you think you'll really be able to make something out of them?" Tor's dad asked.
"Oh yeah, and there are going to be a whole lot of spare parts too," Tor grinned at him. "Thanks, by the way. You really took me by surprise this time."
"Well, I'm not so sure it's a good idea," Tor's mom spoke up. "I don't really like the idea of Tor driving around in an old car that doesn't have any of the modern safety features."
"Oh, that's what's so neat about this car, Mom. All the really modern stuff is built into the frame, so it will be completely safe, but it will look like an old car. The motor, wheels and all the running gear is only a few years old and any used parts were rebuilt to like new condition," Björn said quickly. "It isn't going to be unsafe at all."
"In case you're wondering, Mom, I'm even going to put seat belts in it," Tor nodded at Björn in thanks, then looked right at his mom. "The outside will look old, but inside that old body, where people can't see the bits and pieces, that car will have almost new parts and be built for safety. For instance the frame I'm planning to use is built around a Volvo engine and Volvo parts. You must have heard about the safety record Volvo maintains. They actually advertise that a Volvo is one of the safest cars on the road, and really that's what I'll have, but it'll be hidden inside the body of an old Model A Ford coupe."
"Well, I'm still not to certain that I like the idea," Tor's mom said flatly.
"Sorry to change the subject, dear, but before I forget, Nils was asking me to have Tor give him a call. I think he was wondering if Tor will still want to go with him and Hanna to their valley this summer," Tor's dad interrupted the discussion. "I thought I should get that message across before I forgot."
"I think I still want to go along, Dad, but I'll call him anyway. After all, I've got a year to work on the car and a lot of that work has to be done with the help of people who are experts in one way or another. I can do a lot of the bull work, but before I do anything mechanical, I'm going to have to be taught what to do by someone who knows how to do the job properly. I really don't want to screw anything up."
"Well put," his dad smiled at him. "I was going to suggest something along those lines. Did you have anyone in mind to talk to about it?"
"Well, Kai was saying that he thinks Rick Chance and his wife are the first people I should talk to. I think Rick knows how to go about painting a car and Kai said his wife, Akio, is an upholsterer. I'll be honest though, I'd like to talk to someone who has done quite a bit of old car restoration too, so if you know anyone who is familiar with that sort of thing, I'd like to meet them."
"I've met the fellow that owns the autobody shop in town," Alva offered. "His name is Jackson Larocque and at times he drives an old convertible that he fixed up himself. His wife, Keisha, works at the hospital and right now I think the two of them would love to help out anyone in this family. They think we're all heros for helping to chase the Carruthers out of town anyway, so we're all in their good books – I guess they were giving the Larocques a rough time over their skin colour."
"Oh yeah, their daughter, Dori, is in some of my classes at school," Tor grinned and rolled his eyes. "I'm not sure what to make of her though, she stares at me like I was some sort of oddity or something."
"Oh? I wonder why?"
"I dunno, I've tried to be friendly, but she seems to be awfully shy or something."
"What? Dorothea is anything, but shy! I've met her and she's a doll and one of the most outgoing kids I know! She's a candy-striper at the hospital this summer, and friendly as all get out with everyone. Because she's so outgoing, she's just wonderful with kids!" Alva argued.
"Well, perhaps I've inadvertently done something to offend her, but if so, I certainly didn't mean to upset her in any way. Come to think of it though, she treats all the guys the same way."
"Now that is strange," Alva frowned. "You've got me curious about her actions now. She's certainly attractive enough that she could have a boyfriend if she wanted one. Now you've gotten me really curious."
"Well, don't drive her nuts over it. Whatever is bothering her is her own business and I know what you can get like when you start probing a mystery," Tor frowned right back at her. "Just leave it alone, okay? Now if everyone would excuse me, I haven't spent any time with the horses today, and I shouldn't forget them, just because I've become interested in fixing a car."
With that he got up and left the table. He didn't know what it was, but Alva had set him off and he had to get away before they started an argument at the dinner table. Tor sighed as he went outside, pausing on the back steps of the house and wondering why having Alva disagree with him over Dori's personality had set him off. He knew why he'd told Alva to ease off, after all she was like a bulldozer when her curiosity was raised, plowing ahead no matter who or what she disturbed. He questioned his reasons for wanting to protect Dori though, it wasn't as if she was a close friend or anything.
Then he had an idea that shocked him a little bit. Perhaps he was feeling protective because she was different from anyone else in the school, something the same as he felt he was, but in Dori's case she couldn't hide her colour. It wasn't that she was really dark complected or anything, but her skin was a darker shade than that of anyone else in the school. Besides, he'd heard her mother was Oriental or something, so her face had a mixture of European, East Asian and African features, which he thought looked neat and exotic. Only that made her look different as well, so he supposed that perhaps she'd been the subject of discrimination at some point or other and she might be defensive about her looks. Somehow that idea made sense to him, but it had come to mind so easily that he questioned it.
He shook his head then, deciding that he had other things to worry about anyway and with that, he walked up to the orchard to find a few June-drop apples to feed to the horses.
Later, after he'd fed a few apples to the horses, then fiddled with the two of them for a while, he wandered back up to the equipment shed. He was standing in front of the new workbench, studying the two drawings when he heard a noise behind him and turned to see his dad approaching.
"Hi, Dad. Sorry about the mess, but we'll get it cleaned up in a few days, but first we need to sort the things I need from the stuff I'll get rid of to someone else."
"It's summer, so it won't hurt the machinery to sit outside for a few days anyway," his dad waved off Tor's concerns with one hand. "As it is, I was thinking that it might be a lot handier for you to use the Armstrong's old garage to work in, then a little mess wouldn't be a problem and you could leave work in progress at times. We've only been using that old building as storage anyway and it wouldn't hurt a bit to clean it out and let you use it, then you wouldn't be bothering anyone in any way. Björn did mention that you had a lot of spare parts you'd be getting rid of, but you'll still need space to store things and that building is a two-car garage I think you'd have enough space to work in there, if all that junk that's in there now was cleared out. What do you think?"
"Wow! That sounds great, Dad, but what will we do with all the things stored in there?"
"Well, most of it is junk to us, appliances and things that we've replaced with something better, or bits and pieces that the Armstrongs left behind. I was thinking that we could sort it out and get rid of most of it. Anything we want to save should be stored in a safer place than that old building anyway. Your mom was saying that there's a used store in town that might take a lot of the smaller items as a donation and what they won't take, we can load in a truck and take to the dump."
"I think we should sort it out before we dump anything, but other than that, I agree completely. I mean there's electricity and lights in that building, as well as lots of room to work, and there's an old stove I can use to heat the place in the winter time. I can set up this workbench in there and everything. It sounds wonderful. Thank you!" Tor broke into a wide grin. "I never even thought of that, and I've been worried about taking up space in here anyway."
"Björn mentioned that you were driving him and Kai pretty hard to sort things out quickly so you could keep the mess down," his dad laughed softly. "Now it's late, tomorrow is Saturday, and you can work on this stuff some more then, but come Sunday I don't want you to plan on doing much work. You need a day off, and so does everyone else in the family. Besides, you haven't been getting to bed or getting to sleep very early for the last few days. I know you're one of those people who don't sleep a lot, but you need rest just like everyone else. So let's shut 'er down for the day and take a break."
Tor didn't argue, but he did grin. "Yes boss!" he teased as he shut off the lights, then joined his dad as they walked toward the house.
"By the way, that was an excellent point you made to your mother, the one about Volvo's safety record – I noticed she found an old copy of 'Consumer's Report' after you went outside. I'll bet she was checking on Volvos to see if you were right, so let's hope that eases her mind a little," Tor's dad said quietly as they walked side by side. "I just hope she doesn't start to make horsepower to weight comparisons between early Model A Fords and late model Volvos."
"Why would that worry you?" Tor asked quietly.
"Because a Model A Ford had a forty-horsepower engine and that Volvo engine must turn out about a hundred horses. You're going to have to learn to drive that car very gently and very carefully, because that is going to be one hotrod Ford! I'll warn you now though, if I catch you being involved in a drag race or doing anything stupid with that car, your driving privileges will be curtailed – very, very quickly."
"Holy smoke! I never even thought of that! I was just thinking about the safety and reliability aspects of that new frame and engine setup."
"I didn't think of it either, not until Björn pointed it out to me this evening. But, you know how I feel about car racing now, so I won't harp on it or try to put a stop to you building the car. I think you need an interest in something other than hockey and horses anyway. Besides, it's bedtime and we both need a good sleep."
So the two of them went inside and Tor said goodnight to the family, then headed upstairs to have a shower and go to bed. He didn't go to sleep right away though, even if he was very tired and should have slept easily. His mind just wouldn't quit mulling over various things that had come to his attention that day. He thought about the car, his dad's attitude, Kai and Björn's interest in the car, then Alva's feelings about Dori Larocque and more than once, Dori Larocque's attitude and actions toward him. Actually just before he fell asleep his thoughts bounced back and forth between two subjects; the car and Dori Larocque.
That night he did something which was unusual for him, he had a dream and it awakened him. That hadn't happened to him since he was young, when he would occasionally be awakened by nightmares. Only this time when he awoke, he recalled dreaming about driving the coupe, with Dori at his side, but strangely they were driving in Uncle Nil's valley, and for some reason they were trying to round up horses. What was totally weird was that he knew it was a happy dream, but it had snapped him wide awake and he couldn't think of any reason why he'd been awakened by anything of that sort. He couldn't even think of a good reason for having dreamed about Dori, especially not having her riding in his car, which wasn't even built yet. Of course she was a doll, at least he thought she was, but he knew she must be either shy or stuck up, and Alva said she wasn't stuck up. In either case, he wouldn't mind giving her a ride in his new car – if and when he ever got it running.
Unfortunately, having been awakened in the middle of the night it took quite a long time before he fell asleep again, but when he did, he slept solidly for the rest of the night.
The next day, right after morning chores, Tor was shanghaied away from work on his car by his dad, because his mom and dad wanted his help, but Tor's mom drafted Alva as well. Somehow Björn missed out on it, but then his pickup was gone and Kai's old pickup was sitting near where Björn's had been parked, so Tor figured they'd gone off together. The four of who were there were soon busy though, separating the rubbish from the reusable items which had been stored in the old garage. It took the four of them the rest of the morning to do the job, but by lunch that garage was empty. Most of what had been stored there was unusable, so those items had been loaded right into the back of the dump truck and Tor's dad was going to take it to the dump that afternoon. All of the reusable and salvageable items had been loaded into the pickup and Tor's mom was going to take that to town to donate the whole batch to the used goods store. A few items had been salvaged for the family to keep, but those were now stored in the basement of the house, the equipment shed or in one of the barns.
Tor's mom and dad decided they'd head off to get rid of the junk, and since she was going to town, and he was going through town, they were going out to lunch. Alva decided to join them, but Tor decided to stay home, have a swim, then have lunch later, that way he wouldn't have to have a shower before lunch. So, he had his swim and his lunch, then felt so darn tired from a combination of lack of sleep and hard work that he lay down for a while, and surprisingly he dozed off for a few minutes. Only when he awakened he felt as if he was even more tired than when he lay down, so he decided to have another swim and grabbed a towel as he headed for the door.
He came out of the house just in time to see Björn's extended cab pickup full of people coming up the driveway, so Tor paused to say 'Hi' as Björn, Kai and two others slid out of the truck. The two other men who'd been in the pickup were Rick Chance and a tall, thin black man Tor had never met before.
As soon as he was out of the truck, Rick grinned at Tor. "Kai said you had something to show Jax and me. Oh, you have met Jax, haven't you?"
"No, I haven't, but I think he might be Dori Larocque's father, the autobody man," Tor surmised, since Dori's family was the only coloured family in town.
"Ya got it. Jackson Larocque is the name, but I prefer to be called Jax, and I heard about you, kid. Any kid who put two of them young Carruthers goons in the hoosegow is somebody I wanna meet anyway," Jackson Larocque held out his right hand with a twisted smile on his face. "Besides that though, Kai was sayin' you might have somethin' we'd like to see, but he's bein' secretive 'bout what it is. In fact he's bin so quiet, he's bin actin' like an ol' widow with her life savin's hid under her mattress."
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Larocque," Tor smiled, then almost had his hand crushed before he decided to squeeze back. "Regarding what I have for you fellows to see, I think it might be best for you to come up to the equipment shed and have a look for yourself. From what I understand you are two guys who can give me a better idea of what I have than I know myself."
"Hmm, just from that shake, there's more to you 'n I thought there was. Dori tol' me you was kinda standoffish an' quiet around school, maybe even weak an wishy-washy, but you don't seem like that t'me."
"Tor – standoffish, quiet, weak and wishy-washy – not that I've noticed," Rick squawked in surprise. "I can tell that you and your daughter aren't hockey fans. This guy is the star of the local under seventeen hockey team and the fellow who mops the ice with hockey goons on a regular basis. I know him quite well, because he's one of my star pupils, but I suppose that Keisha and Dori may not have met him at the dojo, since he comes to class on different nights than they do."
"Oh, lay off it, Sensei," Tor frowned as he was leading the group up the yard toward the equipment shed. "I just have fun playing hockey with my friends and when I'm at the dojo, I'm only trying to spend as little time on my back as possible, since I find that embarrassing. Now, you came here to see what I have to interest you, so let's have a look at all the stuff I was given during the last week."
With that, Tor opened the door and turned on the lights in the big equipment shed, then gestured toward the Model A bits and pieces, spread along the wall and sorted into piles on the floor. He noticed someone had thrown some old tarps over the two piles of pieces he didn't think he was going to need though and wondered why they'd done that.
"Omigawwwd, looka that!" Jackson bellowed. "Holy Hanna, ya got a deuce coupe body an' frame. 'member mine, Rick. Oh, does that rusty old body bring back some great memories."
"Actually that's a '31 coupe body not a '32," Kai said quietly, but with a big grin. "Have a look at the frame and power train he wants to mount that body on – custom frame, Volvo engine, transmission, rear end, suspension, brakes, steering, the whole bit."
"Holy jumped up catfish, would you look at that? I can tell you right now that frame was built by a pro, that's for sure," suddenly the tall dark man spun toward Tor. "You do any o' that layout, weldin' and mechanic work?"
"Nope, that was done by Frankie Friedman before he left town to work up north on the pipelines as a professional welder. His old man traded all this stuff to my dad for an old Lincoln that Frankie wanted, then Dad gave all of it to me as a reward, sorta," Tor admitted.
"There's no sorta about it, Tor," Björn broke in. "Jax, my kid brother came out here and looked after this farm one summer, all on his own – with no outside help, and he was only thirteen years old at the time. The whole family figures he's earned that car and a lot more too, 'cause he's the brains that started us all on checking up on the drug deal with the Carruthers' and those other two dorks. He's fifteen now, and by next spring, he'd like to have that coupe ready to drive when he gets his license."
"Now tha's interestin' to know," Jackson Laroque squinted at Tor through bleary looking eyes.
By that time Tor had begun to suspect that all the men had been drinking, perhaps quite heavily. On top of that there was something about the way they were acting that was annoying him, but he couldn't put a finger on just what it was, still he tried to be polite.
"Hmph, can't see why that'd be a problem. Just lookin' at that coupe from here I can't see no major body work bein' needed. If t'other side is just as good, then all it really needs is sandin,' maybe some fillin' o' a coupla dents an' some paint. Most o' the rest o' the parts seem like they're layin' there too, so mostly it's a matter of preppin' an' paintin' the pieces, then boltin' 'em in place. Now I dunno how it's gonna fit over that engine an' tranny, but that's just a bit of fiddlin' to make it fit anyhow, so I'd say ya got an easy job ahead o' ya. Hard parts collectin' all the bits an' pieces an' thas done awready," he turned to Rick. "Whatcha say, Small? You see anythin' missin' I don't?"
"I'd say you should come over here and give me a hand to shift these two tarps," Rick snorted. "I see a fender peeking out from under this one and both piles look like they might be bits and pieces of other old cars. I'd like to see what else Tor is hiding from us."
Tor had wondered why the two piles of spare parts had been covered with tarps when they had walked into the building, but he hadn't had a chance to say anything about it. As soon as he'd turned on the lights, Mr Larocque had gotten excited by the coupe body and he'd carried most of the conversation since. Now though Tor saw Kai wink at Björn and he knew that they'd set this up beforehand, which bothered him because he didn't feel it was really straightforward and honest on their part. In fact there was something about the whole setup that bothered him more and more as time passed.
"It's okay to look, ain't it, Tor."
"Go ahead and look, but you should know that it wasn't me that tried to hide things from you and Mr. Larocque. I had no reason to put tarps over those two piles. That would be those two idiots over there, laughing at us," Tor said resignedly
"Hmph, if your brother's like Kai, I kin believe it. Oh, on top o' that, ever'body calls me Jax, not Mr. Larocque. On'y that skinflint banker calls me mister all th' time an' right now, I ain't his friend an' he ain't mine," The two men had been pulling off the tarp as he talked, but suddenly he fell silent.
"Wow, another coupe . . . no wait, it's a five window pickup!" Rick said almost in awe. "And it looks like almost all the parts are here for this one too."
"There's a motor and tranny," Jax responded.
"Both front and rear fenders are here."
"The runnin' boards is both there."
"Here's the box, with the lights, the seat and rad in it."
"All it's short is small stuff an' the frame."
"Well, Tor won't need the frame the coupe body is sitting on now, since he has a new one," Rick laughed.
"Keerist, this is better'n openin' presents on Christmas mornin.' Now I'm wondrin' what's behin' door number two," Jax turned toward the other pile. "C'mon, Small, grab yerself a corner o' this other tarp an' pull."
"I've got it, now pull yourself, but be careful it doesn't catch and tear on anything," Rick answered.
While the two visitors were poking around in the bits and pieces, Tor was keeping one eye on Björn and Kai. For some reason they were snickering and snorting, as if they were finding the whole thing funny, so Tor was getting more and more annoyed with the whole episode. He really couldn't see anything funny about the whole deal and Jax Larocque was bothering him, that fake accent of his was so corny it was annoying. He couldn't understand why Rick was going along with it since it was an obvious put on.
"Jayzuz, it's 'nother pickup an' it's even older, but this'n is the smaller cab ain't it?"
"Yeah, but there's no box in this pile."
"There is so! See, here's one side o the box, an' there's t'other. The stretchers cross middle bit is jus' rotted away is all, an' the bottom's mos'ly wood anyhow. So 'bout the onliest thing missin' outta that pile that's in this'n, is the frame, an like ya said, the kids got another'n o' those with the coupe body," suddenly Jax stood up and reached out a hand to grab Rick's shoulder. "Small, I think you 'an me needta talk turkey with the kid, don't you?"
"Well, I think those two wiseacres over there set you guys up for disappointment, because I don't know what I'm getting rid of right now," Tor frowned, speaking very carefully and making certain his words came out clearly. "Once I know for sure that I have all the bits and pieces I need to complete the coupe, whatever is left over will be superfluous to my needs, but until I'm sure I'm hanging onto all of it. I was hoping to trade any extra parts and material for help and advice in building my project, with the idea of finishing it by June 1st of next year.
"The problem is I have little if any knowledge of autobody work, in fact I have very little knowledge of mechanical work of any kind, and no knowledge at all of either upholstery or spray painting. However, I'm willing to learn and will apply myself to the job, so what I'm looking for are teachers and some assistance in this venture."
"Tor, I'd offer my help, but I'm not exactly the best man for the job," Rick said quietly. "I'm not sure how Jax feels, but don't let his actions discourage you, he just puts on the dumb black act to wind people up a bit. Actually, he's very intelligent and a much better body man than I am."
"You weren't supposed to tell the young smart ass that, we're still negotiating a deal here," Jackson Larocque said sharply.
"No we're not negotiaating a deal, Mr. Larocque," Tor said quietly, because he felt he'd had enough crap thrown at him and wasn't going to take any more. "Either you want to help or you don't and it sounds to me like you don't. It looks to me as if this set up was meant to be a big joke on me, only I don't find it funny. So there are no deals to be made, no negotiations to go through, no nothing! I don't care to be called a young kid by a man who is attempting to sound uneducated in a blatant attempt to get me to show prejudice. I don't feel any prejudice toward you, but I do feel contempt for people who try to trap others into displaying feelings which aren't there. On top of that, I really hate being called a smart ass, especially by a guy who has just proven that he is one. I don't deal well with drunks, or guys who act drunk, and I don't make business deals with them either!
"Now I worked my ass off this morning cleaning up a space where I could build something out of this junk, but it looks like I might have wasted my time. That hard work this morning made me tired and perhaps a little touchy, so while you four guys have had your joke and succeeeded in laughing at me, that joke has backfired and made me angry. So angry, that I'm thinking of using the bulldozer to shove all this crap out into the field, running over it a few times to smash it flat and useless, then burying it – deeply! At the moment though, I'm going for a swim to cool off and think about what the hell to do, because you guys seem to have killed my best chances of having a car for my sixteenth birthday. Oh and don't follow me either. I'd like to be alone while I'm thinking of a way to tell my father that I just had his gift to me ruined by four jokers who thought they were being funny."
With that Tor turned around, walked out the door and headed for the swimming hole. He was about fifty feet away from the building when he heard Rick Chance's bellow. "No! He's absolutely right, you just proved that you are an ass, and you two idiots aren't any better, not after getting me involved in your bullshit plans to tease him. He's acting more like a grown man than all three of you childish assholes are!"
Tor hurried then and managed to get far enough away not to hear what else was said. In fact he was practically running when he got to the swimming hole where he could be alone . . . only he wasn't going to be alone, since Alva was there already. That surprised him, since he was sure she'd left with his mom or his dad. It didn't matter though, he was going for a swim to cool off anyway.
"Hey bro," she waved when she saw him, but didn't move. "Come to have a swim or do you want to talk?"
"Swim," Tor growled, throwing down the towel he'd been carrying over his shoulder since he'd left the house.
"Didn't I see you with Björn, Kai and a couple of other guys, going toward the equipment shed just when Mom and I came home?"
"You probably did," he started stripping off his clothes.
"What's wrong? What happened?"
"Practical jokers piss me off!" he snapped, "And practical jokers usually screw things up for anyone else. Björn and those guys did a great job of setting me up to be teased and made fun of, then I lost my cool, which means my chances of ever building that car just fell to about zero."
"Oh shit!" Alva sat up to ask what had happened, but Tor was diving into the water already.
By the time he swam to the far end of the pool and back, Alva was gone. Tor only stayed in the water for a short while, but found that he wasn't really in the mood to swim anyway, so he got out, dried off, put his clothes back on and walked back to the house. The only person he saw on the way was his mom, who was head down, working in her garden, but he heard the murmur of angry voices in the equipment shed. Considering the mood he was in, he didn't go inside to see who was arguing though, because he was certain his presence wouldn't help matters.
Once he got back to the house, he hung his wet towel in the back porch and went inside, hoping Alva wasn't there. At least there was no one in the kitchen or the stairway, which suited him just fine right then, that way no one asked him anything and he didn't have to explain his mood to anyone. He headed upstairs to his room, flopped on the bed, still fully dressed, and thought about what had happened . . . in fact he went through the whole episode over and over again. He went over it so many times that he must have grown bored of rehashing the same happenings time and again, so eventually he grew tired and dozed off for a second time that day.