How To Save A Life

Chapter Sixteen

Since my in-school suspension started, my dad makes me drive straight to his work after school so I'm not home alone. Apparently, he doesn't trust me to stay home alone during my grounding. Who could blame him? I'm pretty sure he doesn't like having me there. He's probably wondering whose punishment is it. Sometimes, I hate being the least favorite child. Basically, all I do while I'm there is sit in a chair in front of my dad's desk and watch him do work. He gets snacks from the vending machine for me when I first arrive but I think he feels oddly uncomfortable while I'm just sitting there staring at him while eating like I am watching a movie. He doesn't want me there as much as I didn't want to be here.

It wasn't any different when the weekend arrived. My dad woke me up early and took me to his work. He said we would go out for lunch sometime around noon. He told me to bring my book bag so I can work on my homework while I'm there. This is the only time my dad and I actually spent the whole day together. Even when we hunt, all we do is leave in the afternoon. Today, I had to spend the whole day with him and I could tell he wasn't amused by it and neither was I.

While I'm there, my dad sometimes gives me unpaid work if I finish my homework or don't have any to do. He'd usually have me help by working with the other workers. They trained me for what I needed to do. I hated it. Sometimes, I'd try to be slow on my homework just to get out of doing it. But, sometimes my dad said he needed some peace and quiet in order to work on paper work and other crap. He'd usually get his worker, Jerry to guide me through everything. My dad has said many times that if anyone catches me slacking then I'll be given clean up duty which is worse than trying to fix the engine of a car.

My dad would usually check up on me in the work place every once in a while, to make sure everything was going well. He was usually pleased. I'm a quick learned so I was able to pick up all this fast. I think this is the first time my dad has ever been somewhat proud of me. But, should he be? I used to help out at my dad's work all the time in middle school so it wasn't like this was really a new thing for me.

My dad would hand me his work shirt that he wears when he's fixing cars or out on the tow. He never is working at the same time as I am so he was okay with letting me wear it. I wear my hat on backwards while working. I wear my hat as often as possible. And, it wasn't like I was alone. A good amount of the other workers wore hats. Theirs though with the logo of the auto body shop.

This weekend, my dad had me fix an engine. Jerry was in the front seat of the car waiting for me to tell him to start the car to make sure it worked. After a while, I leaned back and examined the engine to make sure everything was in place. "Start it up now," I called out to Jerry. He did as told and started the car. The engine sounded smooth and started up right away like it should. "It's good."

My dad walked out of his office at that time with a cup of coffee in his hand. He smiled at my work and patted my back. "Nice work, Colin. Maybe you should think of getting a job here."

I grinned and shook my head. "No. All I want right now is to focus on graduating. Maybe this summer."

He nodded. "Okay. We'll talk about it after Easter."

"Okay." I watched as he made his way back to his office. I tell people that I have no plans after high school but I always say that I'm going to graduate and see we're my life heads after graduation. Talking about graduation makes it less obvious about my plans for May. I've always been good at hiding the truth. The only person who ever notices when something is wrong with me is my brother which is why I'm not looking forward to him coming home for spring break. When he's home, I really have to keep on the down low. He'll notice something is going on when I carry a gun bag out the front door. He tries to spend as much time with me as possible so I would not be able to get away from him long enough to go do my target practice.