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Chapter 1
Winter break in Detroit with one week until Christmas, and the snow had been falling on and off since Thanksgiving. Thanks to global warming, it had melted and there had been a few days of nice weather. But it was back. Jason Karas had the pillow over his head to try to sleep past eight, but it was hopeless. He threw the pillow off and sat up in bed, reaching for his phone to see the time. Seven thirty. The phone beeped, scaring him, and he yelped before answering, laughing. It was his father.
“I know I woke you,” John Karas said.
“Dad, I’m up. What’s up?”
“You know I wouldn’t ask unless I was desperate.”
“I know, what’s up?” he asked again, knowing he probably needed an extra pair of hands at the station.
“Two call-outs. Do you feel like driving a tow truck today?”
“I’d be glad to,” Jason answered. “I’ll get ready and come in now.”
“Thank you, son. I’ll make it up to you.”
“There’s nothing to make up. I’ll see you in an hour.”
After a week off for winter break, he was getting bored enough to crack a textbook, so going back to work would be good for him. Getting up to shower, he thought about how different this break from medical school had been, far different than any other break since he’d been in school. None of the activities he used to do appealed to him. There were the same parties, the same bars, the same clubs. That first week, he’d tried, but it bored him to tears. Literally, he yawned so much, he had tears rolling down his cheeks.
“Karas needs to get home and get some sleep,” his best friend, Paul, had said. “Go ahead, go back to your apartment alone again.”
“Paul here thinks he’s going to get lucky tonight,” Jason’s brother, Ted, said, and they all laughed.
It was the last time he’d meet them for darts and drinks. Something was missing from his life, but he was too busy trying to successfully finish medical school to search for what it was.
Looking out the window of his third-floor apartment, Jason saw the familiar sights of Greektown. The casino was right across the street, and in the morning gloom and snow falling, the bright lights jarred.
Taking the stairs down because the elevator didn’t work, he nodded to a homeless man sleeping in the lobby. A caring resident had let the man in, a well-known character in the neighborhood. It was the price of living downtown. Hopefully, his car would be intact after leaving it on the street when the driveway to the underground parking garage had not yet been plowed. Pressing a button on the key fob shut off the alarm. All was good. He reached in the backseat for his window scraper; the work of cleaning the snow off the windows helped to keep his mind clear.
Straight brain waves felt good after the autumn he’d had. In his last year of medical school, it was the most difficult. In three months he’d know where he would be spending the next four years of his life doing a residency in emergency medicine. Hoping it was going to be right there in Detroit, he wouldn’t waste one second worrying about it. If he had to move out of state, it would be an adventure at the very least.
He navigated his car through Greektown, merging onto the highway toward the suburbs. The streets were treacherous, and rush-hour traffic was at its peak. Getting off the exit always brought back memories and the push-pull of home. Some days he thought about moving back to the town where he grew up with all its familiar places and faces. Driving past his family’s house in time to see his mother, Poppy, walking to the garage, he beeped the horn. She waved, smiling and pleased to see her son, an occurrence that would make her day. The station was less than a mile from the house, and his father was there, already on the phone with a customer who was stuck in a snowbank.
“Here comes my tow truck driver now,” John said into the phone. “He’ll be right there.”
“Hi, Jason,” he said, handing him a piece of paper with a location and phone number printed on it in his neat handwriting. “Thank god you’re willing to come in. Ted is already out.”
Ted Karas, Jason’s younger brother, pitched in too, having a snow day from his teaching job.
“Okay, see you later,” Jason said, taking the keys for the truck off a key rack. Three trucks and two sets of keys left. “Did you find anyone else to come in?”
“Your sister is going to answer the phone, and then I can go. She has to get the kids to a sitter first.”
“Gotcha,” Jason answered.
His father could leave if any calls came in as long as Maria was there to man the phone. The pumps were self-serve like all the other stations in Michigan, and his mechanic was busy being a mechanic.
The trucks were outside, but snow-free after spending the night inside. Jason got into a bright red vintage tow truck, the pride of John’s Towing. The other truck was a beautiful, brand-new rig only John drove. That meant that Ted had the biggest one, a black monstrosity that could pull a semi out of a ditch.
Looking at the location while he pulled his seat belt on, he saw it was close by, across from the high school. He pulled out of the station and headed south. The cab blasted with music when he turned the radio on, and he quickly lowered the volume.
“You’re getting old,” he said out loud, frowning.
The snowfall picked up in intensity, and he switched the wiper blades on. Up ahead, he saw a bright yellow bug up in the snow by the high school football field. He maneuvered the big truck in a U-turn and pulled up to the curb. The driver was still inside and the car was running.
When he approached the car, the window came down, and a familiar face looked up at him.
