Past/Present/Future- The Mentor

    Micheal looked out the window of the school bus as it pulled through the gate of Last Chance Auto Ranch. His shop class was on a special trip to visit the area's largest auto salvage operation to learn hands on from the mechanics in the repair shop. The trip was part of a youth outreach program in which students who made good grades in their shop class could sign up to visit the Ranch. Micheal took note of the red Peterbuilt tow-truck with silver glimmering wings parked near the gate. He had passed this local icon a few times before, but never paid any real attention to it. His parents, like many other locals, used the winged truck as a landmark when navigating the otherwise boring landscape. As the bus went down the long driveway towards a steel garage he saw signs along the drive, some meant to be funny, others meant to provide safety warnings. He snickered at one which read, "Caution, road slippery when wet." It was a tongue-in-cheek safety warning, which was also meant to be humorous. He saw another sign which read, "Motorized carts in use." This statement was supported by the sudden appearance of a man on a small three-wheeled cart pulling a trailer with boxes of who-knew-what stacked on it. The driver of the cart was wearing bright tie-dye, Micheal watched him until he drove the cart with it's load into one of four dock doors which stood open on the face of the garage. The school-bus slowly came to a halt with a squeak and a hiss in front of the building. Micheal disembarked along with twenty other students from his school. He looked up at the large steel structure, which bore the message, "It it ain't broke, don't fix it. If it is broke, bring it to us and let us fix it!" He smiled to himself at the witty wordplay. He followed his class inside one of the open bay doors and saw vehicles of all kinds in various states of dismantle and repair. There were even a few big rigs, and one school bus which he could see being worked on.
     A honking horn draws the attention of the students, Micheal saw the tie-dye clad man from before; he is still on the little cart, but no longer has the trailer attached. The little man speaks, "Welcome to Last Chance Auto Ranch!" He makes a sweeping gesture to encompass the whole place, waving his arms above his head. Smiling he continues, "You know what you are here for. I let you guys choose what you want to see. If there are any questions, and I do mean, ANY questions at all- Don't be afraid to come up to me and ask them, I don't bite- I promise!" The other students broke off into groups to go with some mechanics who were standing around waiting for them. Micheal felt the urge to go up to the strange little man on the cart, a question burned in him that he probably didn't have the courage to ask. Finally after he was the only one left standing he felt the pressure to move and do something. He walked up to the tie-dye clad man, who had pulled out some book and started reading. Micheal paused next to him, "Excuse me..." he said tentatively. The man looks up, his glasses reflecting the lights of the garage and the bright light coming in from the outside. The man's hair was pulled back, he had dreadlocks that draped down beside him that probably went below his butt when he stood. The book in his hands was dirty and worn, it's colourful cover was faded with age and constant reading. He closed the book and giving his full attention to Micheal, who studied him so closely.
   "Yes?" He beckoned. Micheal swallowed, "Uh, I wanted to say something..." He looked around nervously, "I don't know where to start..." The small man smiled, an expression which illuminated his entire face, "Why don't you start with the beginning?" He said gently. Micheal, realizing he should probably introduce himself said, "My name's Micheal..." He offered a hand to the man, who does not take his outstretched hand, instead he offered a closed fist, and said, "My name is Kacey." Micheal closed his fist and exchanged a 'bro-fist' with the odd little man. Micheal grinned, "So... we can ask you anything...?" Kacey nodded, "Sure, that's what I said isn't it?" Micheal nodded, "I guess so.... So, can I follow you around... see what it is you do here?" Kacey nodded in reply, "Sure thing, would you like to drive a tugger?" Micheal squinted at him, "A what?" Kacey pointed to the cart he was sitting on, "This." Micheal nodded, "Sure, that looks like fun, can I?" Kacey pointed to a wall near the last bay door, "You can't drive this one, but you can drive one of those." Micheal saw four more of the carts lined up along the wall. Kacey looked at Micheal and beckoned for him to follow as he engaged the power on the cart and moved forward. He keeps pace with Micheal, who remains quiet as they go over to the wall. Micheal could see the carts were plugged in to the wall, charging. Kacey pointed to the one on the end, "Take that one, it should be done charging." Micheal went over to the wall, and tentatively gripped the power cord by the plug, he noticed that he was shaking a bit from nervousness and excitement. He removed the plug from the socket and laid the cord on the deck of the cart, curling it neatly so that it didn't drape off the back. He glances over at Kacey who is still smiling. Micheal sat down on the seat and looked at the controls; He then looked up at Kacey, as if to ask, 'what am I doing?' Kacey understood his silent question and answered, "Engage the power, there's a toggle switch." Micheal looked down at the control panel, seeing the silver toggle-switch he flipped it to the "ON" position, he looks at the battery charge indicator, which shows a full battery. Micheal looked up at Kacey, who held out his right hand to indicate Micheal's left side, "On your left is the electric clutch, you have to engage it in order to engage the accelerator." Micheal looked down at his left foot and saw a pedal, he pressed it and pushed the accelerator pedal at the same time. The cart didn't move, "It's not doing anything." Kacey stifled a snicker, "Oops, I forgot to tell you to engage the forward gear... there's a black switch that has three positions, push it up." Micheal pushed up on the switch, and tried the accelerator again, this time the cart jerked forward.
    "Take it easy, it's just like a car, don't floor it when you're taking off." Kacey said, He put his tugger in reverse and it made a high-pitched keening note that continued until he changed gears again and pulled forward. Micheal slowly pressed the accelerator, moving forward smoothly this time. Kacey said, "Follow me and try not to run anything over." Kacey turned and exited through the open bay door. Micheal stayed close on Kacey's tail, taking note of the bumper-stickers affixed to the back of the tugger Kacey drove. One read, "Life is about the Journey, Not the Destination." Another more playful one read, "I brake for interesting cloud formations." Micheal laughed aloud when he read one that proclaimed, "I dream of a world where chickens can cross the road without having their motives questioned." Snickering a bit he asked Kacey, "Hey- did you put funny bumper stickers on all of the carts?" Kacey laughed out loud, "No. Just the one." Micheal asked, "Why only the one?" Kacy paused as he indicated a turn off, and followed the road toward a smaller steel building with a porch overhang and a single bay door, "This was my first tugger, I put those stickers on there ages ago." Micheal nodded to himself and slowed down as Kacey braked turning onto a concrete ramp going up to the bay door. Kacey spoke, "This is the parts shed, I have everything I have pulled off of our salvage cataloged and stored in a particular order. Makes it easy for me to find parts when they are needed." Micheal, curious, asks, "So what part are you looking for now?" Kacey stopped. He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, "I've got two written down, one I know I will have to order... the other is a door for a Ford Explorer." Kacey folded the paper up and returned it to his pocket. He turned down an aisle, motioning to Micheal for him to stick close.
    "The doors are kept along the back wall." Kacey said, pulling over to a cart sitting empty near a rack of wheel rims. He hooks it up and pulls away, the cart clanking as it trails behind the tugger. He stops along a wall lined with doors from all makes. A few semi truck doors are carefully leaned against the wall beside the rack of standard vehicle doors. Kacey got up from the tugger and moved over to a computer sitting on a desk, he pulled up a program which contained his catalog system for the parts. In the directory he looked for Ford models, and looked up the number for the part. Mumbling a number to himself he stepped away from the computer. The racks were numbered, he went to a set of doors and looked them over, pulling on tags which are attached to the doors. He finally located the right number and pulled a chain off the bar in front of the door. He pulled the door out, an awkward endeavor. Micheal was about to jump up to help when Kacy freed the door and slid it out of the rack. Lifting it up on his shoulder through the open window he maneuvered the door in position to lift it onto the cart. He carefully placed one edge of the door on the cart, and slid it onto the cart so that it leaned against the interior wall of the cart. He looped a strap through the open window and secured the door to the rack on the cart to prevent it from moving when he pulled the cart back to the garage. Kacey got back on his tugger and pulled away carefully, turning his head and looking over his shoulder at the door to ensure it wasn't going to move. Micheal slowly followed Kacey as he navigated the somewhat close quarters of the parts shed. Kacey led Micheal back down the path to the garage and they rode in silence until they passed through the huge bay door to enter the garage. Kacey towed the cart with the door to the back and unhooked it, he honked at a big burly man who was head first in the engine compartment of a Ford Taurus, "Buck, I got that door." Buck ducked out from under the hood of the car, his hands and face covered in grease. Buck grinned a gap-toothed grin as he saw Micheal sitting on a tugger. He laughed, "Kacey, I can't believe you let one of them kids drive your machine." Kacey grins and retorts, "I can let whoever I please drive my machines." Buck went over to the cart with the door and looked it over, "Do you have the white paint ordered yet?" He asked. Kacey nodded and replied, "Yeah, there's a cart over there with boxes of paint canisters. Samantha was going to get the sandblaster hooked up and start the paint job on that Mazda today."
    "Hey Kacey, you better not be talking about me behind my back." A tough-looking woman taller than Buck, stands in paint stained coveralls holding a small package out toward Kacey, "Not sure what it is, UPS man said it was for you." Kacey looked down at the package, and nodded, "I know what this is. It's for my wife." He placed the package on the front of the tugger, sitting back down on it and pulling forward he pauses a moment, "Hey Sam, tell everyone that lunch will be here in about thirty minutes... I ordered a catered lunch since the kids were going to be here today. I'm going to run this inside to the wife." Kacey pulled away leaving Sam and Buck to go about their business. Micheal called out to Kacey, "What can I do?" Kacey replied, "Follow me!" Micheal trails Kacey toward the opposite end of the garage. They reach a set of sliding doors set into a wall. Kacey presses a button and the doors retract into the wall quietly, revealing a large open room with a long couch and some chairs centered around a huge stonework fireplace. Windows comprise much of the wall surrounding the fireplace, except for the wall where the kitchen is. The area with the fireplace is adjacent to a dining bar, which is a long granite counter with bar-stools tucked under it. Kacey drove the tugger into the room with the fireplace, Micheal hesitantly followed, looking around. He saw the open spaciousness of the rooms, the open kitchen and open lounge area. There was enough space for the workers in the garage to each have a place to sit, yet the room didn't seem expansively huge.
    "This is a nice break-room..." Micheal commented casually. Kacey looked over his shoulder at Micheal, "This is not a break-room," He said. Micheal paused a moment before he realized that this was actually Kacey's home, "This... is your house?" Kacey nodded. Micheal looked around at the odd things on display in cubby-holes all around the open rooms, where there wasn't wood paneling, stonework, or glass windows, there were shelves full of odd nick-knacks. Micheal looks back at Kacey, who is still perched on the tugger. "You just drive the tugger into your house?" Kacey laughs, "Sure why not?" Micheal felt a strange kinship with the odd man, "You are living a dream." he said playfully. Kacey nods to him, laughing, "You have no idea." A door slides open and a blonde-haired woman steps out of the bedroom, wet hair plastered to her face. She brought the earthy scent of lavender and patchouli with her when she walked up beside Kacey and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. Kacey grinned to her, "You look like you just had a nice soak." She nods, "Yeah." Pointing to Micheal she asked, "Who is this, your new disciple?" Kacy laughed and said, "Maybe." Micheal looked at them, smiling. He shrugged at Kacey's joke.
    "Actually, Micheal, if you are interested I can take you on as an apprentice this summer." Kacey said, grinning. Micheal paused before replying, "I'd love to learn your ways, you seem like an interesting person." Kacey laughed again, "So do you Micheal." The blonde-haired woman, introducing herself as Anna, spoke then, "Micheal, what got you interested in coming out here?" Micheal squirmed internally a bit, and shifted nervously in his seat. An awkward silence passed, "I like machines... like... I like to fix them, see how they work..." Anna laughed, "You are in good company." Micheal held his breath before he found the courage to speak again; he felt he could trust these people with his secret. The same secret that left him feeling alone inside because he felt he must hide it from everyone, friends and family alike. Suddenly he felt something break loose in his mind, and the whole story came pouring out. He glanced nervously over his shoulder and noticed the sliding door to the house had been closed. Relieved that no-one else was listening to their conversation he told them of his experiences as a child. He told them about how he had fallen in love with a car his grandfather had, an El Camino. He told them about how horrible it made him feel when his grandmother scrapped the car after his grandfather died. He didn't talk about these things with his family because he knew they would make fun of him, or else tell him he was being immature or silly. He spoke of the passion he had for that car, and the empty void that was left when it had disappeared from his life. He decided then that he wanted to learn how to fix cars, and he discovered the Last Chance Auto Ranch by serendipity when he joined shop class in highschool. Finished with his story, he looked at Kacey, who was still smiling, "How did you get to where you are today?" He asked Kacey.
   "I had an experience much like yours when I was about your age. It changed the way I looked at the world. A whole new spiritual experience was born from the journey that followed." Kacey looked at his wife before continuing. "It was when I was working for FedEx that I began having visions that lead me to where I am now. I was still working for them when I bought this tugger... I was also writing and drawing comics back then. Long story short, it was the beginning of a long wild ride, and Anna was there along with me for much of that ride." Micheal suddenly was reminded of a certain comic book character, Kacey's smile was familiar to him, and he suddenly realized why. Micheal looked at him, and said, "You remind me of Kononame from KuroManga." Kacey and Anna both looked at each other and started laughing, "I guess I would..." Micheal looked at him, one brow cocked. Kacey paused and cleared his throat before speaking again, "I wrote KuroManga. It was the revenue from those sales that helped to fund this place." Micheal's eyes went wide, "No... freaking... way..." Kacey snickered, "Yes freaking way." Kacey leaned forward and picked up the worn book he had been reading earlier from the front of the tugger, he plucked a card from it. He scribbled a number on it, and signed it with his artist's signature. Holding the card out to Micheal, who could see that it was a business card bearing the Fifth Dimension Studios logo, he said, "If you want to be my apprentice, I will gladly share with you whatever knowledge I have."
Micheal took the card, "Thank you, I think I've found the mentor I've been looking for."
   "I only wish someone could have been my mentor when I was your age." Kacey says with a distant look in his eyes. "It was a rough road traveling in uncharted territory."