Bus stops and Auto shops

Tiny ten year old Zack watched out the bus window, swinging his feet in time to the faint music pouring from the headphones of the girl in front of him. Beside him, his unusually tall, rail-thin 14 year old brother sat hunched over a newly acquired used Chilton's master repair manual, memorizing details and taking copious notes in the margins in the tiny, indecipherable glyphs he and his brother used as their own private language. The bus pulled over, taking on new passengers from the front doors as those who'd reached their destination exited from the back doors, then resumed it's trek, over and over, while the boys rode, neither certain exactly when they'd exit. It wasn't as if they really had anywhere specific to go. The bus pulled over again, and a heavy-set bald man stumbled aboard, plopping into the seat beside the headphone-wearing girl. As the trip resumed, he put his arm around her, leaning to whisper drunkenly in her ear.

"Hey!" she cried out, drawing away from him quickly. "What the... Get off me!"

"Come on, honey, don' be like that," the man slurred, leaning closer to her.

"Leave me alone!" She said louder, trying hard to draw away.

"Whose gonna make me?" the man taunted, playing with her auburn hair.

Zack frowned. Didn't he hear her tell him to stop? "Leave her alone," he spat at the man. "She said she don't want you on her."

The man spun on him, his eyes narrow with fury. "Who do you think you are?" he demanded, reaching out to push the tiny boy, leaning toward him at the same time as if to intimidate him. "Sit there and shut the he..."

The tall boy stood up then, grasping the man's wrist before the reaching hand could make contact with the tiny blond child. "Don't." the tall youth warned in a voice surprisingly deep and authoritative for all it's lack of volume.

The girl looked from one to the other and smiled slowly. "Guess he is," she smirked in answer to his question, though her voice still wavered slightly with fear.

The tall boy slowly released the man's wrist, ignoring the bruising his hand left behind. "Get off." he ordered very quietly.

The man rubbed his wrist, looking from one of them to the next, then all but ran off the bus the moment it stopped again. Only then did the tall boy sit back down.

"Thank you so much," the girl smiled gratefully at the boys. "I hate riding the bus."

"Us too, but the car we had got stolen and..." the young boy began, only to be stopped by a look from his brother.

"Car?" the girl laughed. "How old are you guys?"

"I'm 10. He's..." Zack started to answer.

"eighteen," the older boy finished quietly but firmly, ignoring the surprised look from his brother.

"Right..." the girl snorted, unconvinced. Deciding to let that one go, she offered her hand to the younger boy. "I'm Annabelle Chase. What's you're name?"

"I'm Zack ..." the boy began only to be cut off yet again by the slightest shake of his brother's head. "er...yeah. Just Zack." he finished lamely.

"Well, hi, Just Zack. What about your guardian here? Does he have a name?" She asked facetiously.

"Nope." Zack laughed, deciding it was better to make a joke of it than an argument. "he's not really here."

"End of the line," The bus driver called out for the benefit of the riders who, like themselves, had only climbed aboard to get out of the cold to remind them that if they wanted to ride back the other direction, they'd need pay the fare again.

"Obviously," she giggled. "Well, Zack, and mister nameless very young looking adult on the bus, thank you very much for rescuing me. Where are you headed? If it's not too far from my dad's shop, maybe I can walk you there." Noting how thin both boys were, the taller one almost painfully so, she added. "Maybe I can buy you lunch or something to say thank you."

The older one shook his head again, but this time the youth ignored him, "That'd be great." he answered, standing and gathering his few meager belongings. The older boy rolled his eyes and gathered his things as well, stooping to pick up the items the younger one dropped as well. He moved off the bus quickly, confident the youth would follow, hoping against hope that if they moved swiftly enough they'd lose their newfound 'friend'. The last thing they needed was someone else the police could show their picture to. At least for a little while. He really was tired and almost desperate for a chance to stay somewhere at least a few days. He caught his brother by the arm, towing him along the sidewalk as quickly as his long legs would carry him and his brother's short ones could hope to keep up.

"Joshua Garrity," a voice called behind them.

The small boy stumbled. "Slow down a little," he pleaded. "I'm sorry. Please...."

"JOSHUA," the girl's voice called again. A hand came down upon his shoulder, prompting him to jump. Spinning toward it, pushing his little brother protectively behind him as he did so, he was surprised to find the girl from the bus, holding out a heavy camouflage army jacket. "That's your name isn't it? Joshua Garrity? It's on the tag of your jacket." she held it out, clearly pleased with herself at having discovered the 'nameless one's' name. "You left it on the bus."

The tall boy and the youth exchanged a look before the elder reached out for the newly purchased thrift store jacket.

"Yup," the youth grinned. "That's him. My brother. Joshua Garrity."

Much to the older boy's discomfort, the girl accompanied them down the street. "Wait here," she said when the reached a surprisingly clean shop. "I just want to check in with daddy, then we can go eat."

She hurried in to talk to a burly, mustached man in blue coveralls, leaving the boys at the door. The elder turned to leave, and quickly, but the younger clearly had other ideas, following in behind her instead. Sighing the older boy took a step into the shop. To his left, a well built young blonde man in those same blue coveralls worked on a large SUV. He tried to start it. Nothing. He adjusted something under the hood. He tried again. Still nothing. Swearing, he adjusted some more. The older boy moved to examine the engine as the blonde man tried again to start it without success. Holding up a hand to indicate he should stay where he was, "Josh" began making adjustments of his own. After a few minutes, he signaled for the other man to try again. This time it started right up.

"My daughter says you saved her on the bus today," the mustached man boomed from behind him, making the older boy jump. "and now you fix Mister Florentine's big old car to boot. Looks like you're a handy young man to have around."

Josh shrugged, keeping his eyes on the floor. He supposed he could be. Maybe.

"Tell you what," the man said to the boy, noting his defensive posture and lack of eye contact with some concern. "Come back here tomorrow. If you can do that for a whole day, I may be able to use you here." He paused, waving off the application the girl attempted to hand him. He knew full well the boy wasn't really 18 as he'd apparently told his daughter. Despite his height, he was obviously young. Too young to hire legally. But he also, just as obviously, needed the work if he wanted to feed himself and his little brother. "Under the table, if you're okay with that," he said, trying to make it sound like he'd be doing him a favor, and not the other way around. "I can't afford all those taxes and I don't need another employee on the official books, but we could use the help. What do you say?"

Josh paused, considering the offer. He knew the man was offering the job under the table for their benefit, and not because it did him or the shop any particular favors. Still, he needed to work. Zack needed things. Clothes. Food. A safe, warm place to stay. It fell to him to provide that. Knowing this, he nodded to the mustached man without looking up. Sure, he agreed silently. We'll be here.

"Great," the girl grinned. "I'm famished. Let's go eat..." and with that, she led them both away...

Annabelle laughed when the younger boy, Zack, ordered half the Denny's menu, then frowned when the elder, Josh, ordered only coffee.

"That'll stunt your growth, you know," she'd told him, only to be reminded by Zack that he was already six foot tall. "Yeah, well, he'll never make it to seven drinking that stuff!" she'd replied, prompting a gale of laughter from the younger boy.

She finally convinced him to order more, but only after ensuring each item was served on a separate plate and that even like items on each plate didn't touch one another. She wasn't sure what to make of it, but she left a big tip for the waitress who made certain it happened, nonetheless. She'd learned very little about the boys during the meal. Despite the younger one's tendency to chatter, the elder caught him quickly with a slight shake of the head whenever he began to share anything personal. Finally, she'd given up and just let them walk her back to her father's shop.

"Don't forget to come back tomorrow," she reminded them before heading inside to start her homework. "Daddy and Mac really could use the help around here."

The elder boy nodded and the younger waved, bidding her farewell before vanishing quickly in the rapidly descending darkness.