Chapter One
The Big Bang Truck Stop, Alienn Arkansas
“No. Absolutely not.” Diesel Grey regarded his elderly aunt Dixie Grey with a disbelieving eye. She’d really gone too far this time. As thin as the proverbial rail, his auntlookedharmless, but attitude alone made up ninety percent of her body weight. “We have a certain reputation to uphold and—”
Aunt Dixie cut him off. “Stop right there.” She fixed a sardonic stare on him as her palm lifted parallel to his chest. “First of all, this is a truck stop not the Vatican. Our standing in the community could use a little upgrade, if you ask me.
“Second of all, I wear a silver lamé skirt every day of my life with my hind end hanging out for all the world to see at the Cosmos Café. Do not preach to me about our reputation.” She lifted the other hand to put air quotes around the word “reputation” as if she didn’t believe they had a good one. He noticed her long, decoratively lacquered, over-the-top nails. They were hard to miss.
The Nebula Nail Salon, located on Main Street in downtown Alienn Arkansas, was known for its far-out, celestial designs. Currently Aunt Dixie had a swirly, sparkly lavender, white and green base design mimicking a galaxy with tiny 3-D planets affixed to the end of each nail, making it seem like ten little planets revolved around her fingertips. For a moment, he couldn’t take his eyes off them, but needed to respond.
He took a deep breath. “First of all, what you’re proposing doesn’t even come close to qualifying as an upgrade to our current standing in the community. And second of all,youwere the one who cut eight inches off your skirt, making it shorter than the uniform of any other waitress in the cafe to show off your assets, as you so expressively call them, much to my dismay. Do not act like I made you do it.”
Eyes flashing, Aunt Dixie said, “Hey, the shorter the skirt, the bigger the tips. Everybody knows that.”
“Fine, whatever. But your hind end hangs out every day because of your choices, not mine. You can’t throw that on me.”
“Sure I can.”
“How do you figure that?” He resisted the urge to cross his arms over his chest, guessing it would make him look too preachy. He also purposely stretched his fingers to keep from making fists. Balling up his hands would definitely make him look hostile, a look he knew wouldn’t help this situation in the least.
Diesel watched as his aunt searched the ceiling for a moment as if it would give her the perfect sarcastic retort to make her point. Her head dropped briefly, then slowly lifted as her expression hardened. “I am your elder, Diesel. Elders are to be respected. That means my word is law.”
He lost the battle of not looking hostile. Rolling his eyes, he dropped his gaze to stare at his aunt. “I do respect you as my elder, Aunt Dixie. However, a wet T-shirt contest at the old folks’ home to promote the Big Bang Truck Stop is a bad idea on so many levels I can’t name the top ten contenders in a logical order. And hear me when I tell you that I won’t allow it.”
She drew a big breath to continue the argument, but he leaned forward across his desk.
“Contrary to your views on elders,Iam the one in charge here, somyword is actually law. Therefore, you may not use our truck stop logo T-shirts in this manner. Nor will I donate them for any project of this nature. Think of something else for your new fundraiser. I know—how about a nice bake sale?”
“Killjoy!” Aunt Dixie turned and stomped off toward three other elderly women waiting just inside the open door to his office.
“Sorry, girls, the wet T-shirt contest is a no-go, thanks to Mr. Spoilsport over there.” A ringed-planet thumbnail shot over her shoulder to gesture in his direction. “We’ll have to think up another fundraiser for the old folks’ home, and it willnotbe a stupid bake sale.”
“Boo! Hiss!” the other ladies all hurled in his direction. Mrs. Green even stuck her tongue out. He didn’t take it to heart. He knew they wouldn’t hold a grudge…well, they wouldn’t hold it for very long. He hoped.
Diesel had never expected to be popular as the one in charge and he’d been right. In the here and now with a foursome of elderly ladies booing and hissing him, he could only do his best not to laugh. He pasted on a tolerant smile as they filed out of his office. There were days when his most difficult chore was not rolling his eyes every five seconds at a task or problem facing him.
As soon as his “elders” exited, his brother entered with a piece of thick, gray message paper in his hand. “Guess what?” Axel asked, staring down at the page he carried.
“No.”
Axel looked up sharply. “No? Why? What’s your problem?”
“You just passed them on the way in.”
His brother laughed. “So you officially turned down the wet T-shirt contest at the old folks’ home, huh?”
Diesel shouldn’t be surprised, but asked, “How did you know about that?”
Axel shrugged. “They asked me first. I told them they had to ask you.”
“Why?”
“They knew for a fact you’d turn them down. I’m a softer touch. They always come to me first. Didn’t you know that?” Axel’s brows curved inward as if he were puzzled by Diesel’s complete lack of understanding as to the way things worked.
“Yes, I knew that. But why would you do that to me, Bro? Next time, it’s your turn to nix their outlandish idea of the day.”
“No, thanks. That’s why you get the big bucks.”
