This side of town looks normal, pristine lawns and well-kept buildings fill the space but as I drive closer to the south side it all changes. It physically makes me sick knowing my family is the problem here,I’mthe problem, but what do I do? How do I change this?
If my father is looking to develop this area it’s not for the good of its residents or businesses. He’ll use them as steppingstones and then discard them when he’s done and what will be left for them then?
I slow the car as I drive through the school zone, my window down to listen to the kids playing in the nearby school playground. What happens to them when the school is knocked down to make way for a mall?
The condos they build won’t be for the families in desperate need for accommodation, so what happens to them?
Knowing my family, they’ll disguise it as opportunities for new employment and housing but won’t make it possible for any of these people to get it. In my father’s eyes, if you don’t have money, you don’t have anything. They’ll be priced out of the only area they’ve ever known.
I turn down a side street and head toward the main street where cafes and restaurants, filled to the brim with customers, enjoy coffee or cocktails in the afternoon sun. The buildings are crumbling, the roads and sidewalks littered with potholes and cracks, but they don’t seem to care. They look comfortable,happy even and I really wonder how anyone in my life can look at this and think it less than.
No, what we have is less. This looks like life to me.
I stop at a crossing to let a couple walk over and once it’s clear, I move to pull away only for the car to sputter.
Frowning, I look down at the dash, but nothing is flashing so I try again only for it to do it once more, and then smoke is suddenly bellowing out of the hood.
“Oh my god!” I yell, struggling with my belt to get out of the car. I finally free myself and jump out, the smell coming from the engine trying to choke me. There are clouds of smoke pumping out from under the hood.
Shit, I left my phone at home. Grit bites into my feet since my shoes are also in the car and I have no idea if it’s about to go up in flames.
A silver Ford pulls up behind mine and the door opens a moment later, my nerves settling only a little when I see who it is.
Jake, the guy Zara’s been texting nonstop since she met him at the carnival, walks toward me, cringing at the smoke coming from my car. It’s a little less now, thinner but still coming.
“Well shit,” He whistles, “That ain’t good.”
I stare at him, unamused, “Well obviously.”
With a chuckle, he yanks open the door and leans in, grabbing the release to open the hood.
“Is that a good idea!?” I yell but he’s already in front of the car and is opening it up to release plumes of smoke that curl into the blue sky. He coughs a little and waves his arm but there’s no flames, thank god!
“You got breakdown?” He asks.
“Um,” I cringe, “I don’t know.”
He stares at me for a beat and then shakes his head, pulling out his phone before scrolling and hitting the screen. I watch him make a call, but he walks to the other side of the road and speaks low enough I can’t hear him.
“I’ve got a truck coming,” He tells me when he returns, “They’ll be here in ten.”
“What’s wrong with it?” I chew my lip.
“My guess is the gasket is blown,” He shrugs, “The engine is overheating.”
“Right,” I nod like I know what he’s talking about.
“Don’t worry,” He says as he heads back to his own car, “You’ll have help in no time.”
“Wait!” I panic, “You’re leaving!?”
“Gotta pick up my daughter from school,” He pauses, “He’ll be here soon, just sit tight.”
Chapter Four
“It appears you have a damsel in distress on your hands,” Jake says the moment I answer my cell having just rolled out from beneath the car I was working on.
“The fuck are you talking about?”
