PICS and IT DIDN'T HAPPEN

13. The Cars

Like a thief consulting his associate during a burglary, Tony pulls me to the side and says, "Can you please take my place at two o'clock tomorrow?"

My lips go sideways in disappointment. Tomorrow is Mueller Avenue's annual charity sale.

Each year residents in our society put up stalls and offer services, the collection from which is donated to the Celest Children's Hospital.

Tony's house is a corner house so they do car wash - more parking space. My mom and Raylan's mom run a sweet stall. Us kids are forced to assist wherever we are needed.

Until our older siblings were still living with us they were the ones who had the honor of assisting in the sale, but after they've all left their nests to hunt and survive in the real word, the burden has befell upon us.

Most often, I don't have anything to do in the sweet stall. But when you are sitting there idle you become a prime target for outsourced help.

Last year I was sent to help Mrs. Thickett from the opposite house. I'd to pack hundreds of homemade pickles all day long.

Which I wouldn't have considered very hard if she wasn't hovering over me constantly. If she wanted the staples at 45 degrees towards right, then she should've packed the parcels herself.

This year I'm hoping to avoid a situation like that again at all cost.

But car wash volunteering isn't exactly what I'd in mind.

"No," I say and turn to leave when Tony grabs my hand.

"I'll give you 100 dollars," he quickly says.

He should've started with that. I stop and face him. I reach out my hand, palm facing up. "Pay now."

Tony takes out his wallet and starts to stack together all the bills.

"I've 75 now. I'll give you 25 later."

I shake my head. "Full payment now."

He looks around. "Raylan!" He shouts and runs to his best friend. Soon Tony comes back with the full 100 dollars and hands it to me. "There," he says, "Don't forget, two o'clock."

I nod towards Raylan. "What's he doing?"

"He's going to be at the sweet stall," Tony says.

Like hell he'll be. What kind of blackmailer I'll be if I let my victim get away with an easy job while I sweat under the sun washing cars. "Tell him to be at the car wash at two," I say.

"I'd already asked him. He refu-"

"That was before. Now there'll be two of us. Tell him I asked him to be there. He'll be there," I confidently say and leave hundred dollars richer than I was a minute ago.

---

Gloves. Check. Couple of buckets. Check. Hose. Check.

I'm sure the car wash corner will have all the tools. But if there's anything I've learned from helping out at the stalls all these years is that nothing will run smoothly if you don't have at least three backups for everything.

I reach the curb in front of Tony's house, and see a car already pulling up for wash.

When the window rolls down, I'm happily surprised to see my first customer.

"Hey. Wiona!"

She's from the next street, and one of the coolest older kids in our block. She's the same age as Victor and Iris and had around the same time as them left home for college. "Semester break already?" I ask.

"No. Came for parents' anniversary. Thought I'd stay for the Charity Sale, too."

"You thought good. I'll give you extra special service."

She laughs and steps out of the car. "I'll help, too."

"Oh, no. You just sit down and relax. I have an assistant for that."

I look left and right. My hand subconsciously reaches for my phone. But he's here.

"Wiona!" Raylan says.

"Hey, Ray! How's Victor by the way? That jerk never replies."

Raylan laughs. "More reason for you to not bother yourself with that jerk."

Wiona understandingly nods. "It's good to see you today. You seem to have grown even more."

"Yeah, he's gotten a little fatter now," I say, making her laugh.

"You two are still the same, I see. Which makes me realize, how are you two working together?"

"We are replacing for Tony," Raylan says.

"Oh yeah, where's that one?" Wiona says.

"He has something with his girlfriend. He'll come here later," Raylan says.

Glancing at Raylan sideways I start filling the bucket. What's the deal with him and Lara anyway? From what I saw at the parking lot that day, Raylan doesn't seem interested in her. Even so, is it really okay to leave things be the same between Tony and his girlfriend?

But then again I don't want Raylan to courage up and tell Tony what happened. I'm not ready to let go of Raylan yet. I'm sure he'll come handy in the future as well.

We soon start washing the car.

After this one, another one comes. We start washing that.

Then another.

Around four o' clock thankfully Tony arrives and joins us. Somehow in the evening the cars arriving have doubled.

I didn't realize the car wash corner was this popular. No wonder each year Tony's parents always deposited the most collection.

If I'd known I'll be stuck here for this long I would've asked Becca and Tess to join me, instead of spending the last couple of hours with Raylan who had purposely hosed me while pretending like it was an accident.

As a revenge I would've dumped the buckets of dirty water on him, and I wouldn't even need to pretend it was an accident, if it weren't for the fact that I doubted if he leaves to get changed I'll be stuck with washing all those cars by myself.

Two more kids from the block help us out. Tony, Raylan, and I take our much deserved break and sit down.

My mom appears with coffees and muffins.

"You kids did good job today," my mom praises.

I stare at Tony who's stuffing the muffin into his mouth. I should've asked him for 200.

"Raylan, your mom told me you could leave for home early if you want. She doesn't want you to pull an excuse to avoid tomorrow's date," my mom says.

"Date?" I say wide eyed. "What date?"

"Nina had volunteered Raylan for a group date to accompany one of her friend's kid. This is his punishment for skipping on dishwashing duties last week," my mom says.

I laugh. Raylan in a blind group date? That's hilarious. Unlike the boys their mothers sure are awesome.

That day Raylan called me desperate for having coffee with a stranger, tomorrow he'll be having meals with a group of strangers. It's karma.

I'm not going to let this one pass that easy. Let's see... what can I do about it?

End of chapter

A/N - New week is up. See you tomorrow :)