“Take a smoke break, kid.I’ve gotta make a quick call.”
She answers on the second ring.
“What’s up?”
I get right down to business.
“Quick question: I have to head to a junkyard near Kettle Falls this week to pick up some parts for an older vehicle.It’s going to require some disassembly, and I was thinking it might be good experience for Remi since he seems to be interested in older vehicles.”
“He is?”
She sounds surprised.
“Yeah, he mentioned his dream is to find an old Chevy pickup to fix up.The junkyard I’m going to may have one.I don’t even know if it’s salvageable, but it’s something we could look at.I’d be happy to help him work on it.”
I’m met with silence on the other side, so I prompt her, “Tessa?”
“I had no idea; he’s never mentioned any of that to me.But then, he rarely talks to me at all anymore.”
The last was not said with any sharpness, but rather a pained realization.
I get the sense I’m wading into a mine field again, so I proceed with great caution.
“I won’t bring any of this up with him, if you don’t want me to.”
“No, that’s not what I’m saying.I’m just….”
She lets the sentence drift off, and doesn’t volunteer anything to fill the silence that follows.
“You know what?Why not?Tell him.As long as it’s outside school hours or on the weekend,” she concedes.“At least I’ll know where he is.”
I got my way, but I don’t feel very victorious listening to the defeated tone in her voice.But before I have a chance to say anything, the line goes dead.
Half an hour later, when the Subaru’s engine is safely resting on blocks for Kyle to work on, and I’m trying to diagnose an engine tick in a GMC Sierra that just came in, my phone starts buzzing in my pocket again.
Two texts; the first from Remi, who I messaged after talking to his mom.
Sure, I’ll come.When?
I respond right away.
Pick a day this week when you don’t have much homework.
Come here after school and be prepared to get dirty.
He immediately comes back with,
Thursday.
I send him a thumbs-up.Then I turn to the second message.This one is from his mother.
If they do have an old pickup you think he’d like to fix up, find out how much they want.Remi’s 16th birthday is next month.
I thinkI understand why she’d want to do this for him, but I get the sense it’s important for the kid to do this himself.Buy his own vehicle, fix it up himself.I just don’t know how to convey that to his mother without rubbing an already sensitive spot.
I fire back a thumbs-up to her as well.
I’ll wait for a better time to voice my concerns.
