Santiago frowned. It was obvious that there was something on his mind. Danny didn’t know what it was, but he suspected that he was the source.
“Everyone is feeling the holiday stress this year. Mary is going crazy straightening up the house. We’re having my family up this year,” said Danny, to see if he could change the subject.
Santiago smiled. “That will be very nice. You won’t have to drive, and your daughters love it when their cousins visit.” Then he sighed and frowned again.
Danny exhaled slowly, and tried another approach. “So, you’re really letting Charlie do the Gusterfield? I am a little bit surprised, actually.”
Santiago shook his head. “Yes, but that is a story for another day. I will tell you how it comes out. But don’t worry; I wouldn’t let him do it if I thought that there was any chance of something going badly.”
Santiago shuffled through the alluvial stack of papers on his desk as if he was looking for something in particular.
“So, what are your plans for your drive across the country? You’re not going to leave while your family is still here, are you?” Santiago paused and gave Danny a direct look. “And how does Mary feel about this?”
“It’s a little bit complicated, but here’s the plan in a nutshell. Saturday the twenty-sixth, I leave at the crack of dawn. I drive across the country, arriving in San Jose on or before January third. My friend drives me to San Francisco airport, that night, and I take the red-eye home, and I’m back at my desk on Monday morning the fourth. Approximately three thousand miles in nine days of driving; an average of three hundred and thirty-three miles per day. Six hours or so behind the wheel each day. It’s achievable.”
Santiago clicked his tongue disapprovingly. “It’s going to seem like you’re doing nothing but driving. You’ll have no time to stop and see anything. The days are short at this time of the year. All the daylight hours will be spent driving. I think you will regret it.”
Danny smiled. “I know. But I’m not going to drive only during the day. There’s a full moon on the thirty-first; it will be good driving conditions at night, as long as it doesn’t snow, and I should be able to get a lot of miles in at night. You know I’m an early riser. I should be able to get at least a hundred miles in before most people start their breakfast. I can do three hundred miles before lunch, no problem.”
Santiago was unconvinced, but knew that arguing numbers with Danny was futile. “But why not take more time? There is so much to see.”
Danny’s smile returned. “It was all the time Mary would give me!” He laughed. “The girls are great, but it’s a lot of work to take care of them alone, especially when they’re not in school. She’s going to get a little vacation of her own sometime next year.”
“What’s she going to do?”
“I don’t know yet. She’ll let me know.” Danny smiled.
Santiago laughed. “She’ll probably think of something better than sitting in a car for a week. You know, I have always thought that she is the smart one.”
Danny laughed, but with a hint of annoyance. “Yes, I’ve heard that too. And it’s probably true.”
“But you must have something planned. People you want to see? Places you want to visit?”
“A few. Not too many. And I am making it clear to everyone that I am at the mercy of the weather. I want to visit some friends in Denver, for example, but if there is a problem with snow, then I’ll take a more southern route.”
Santiago perked up. “If you stop in Denver, I hope you will have an opportunity to visit my god-daughter Jenny Dalton. I’m sure you remember her, and she would love to see you. She has turned into quite a young businesswoman, and I am delighted that she has taken my advice and decided to follow in my footsteps.”
“She is a mechanic?”
Santiago forgave the unintended insult without even a grimace, but could not let the point escape without comment.
“Danny, you know that I am not a mechanic, no more than you are a mathematician,” Santiago began, recalling a previous conversation in which Danny had complained, in a way that Santiago had found somewhat ridiculous, that his job did not utilize his training and gift, such as it might be, for mathematical insight.
“I do know something about repairing, improving and enhancing automobiles. Perhaps more than some of the so-called garage mechanics plying their trade on unsuspecting motorists. But I am not an expert; I hire experts to handle that aspect of the business, and I make sure that they keep up with their training so that they are always at the vanguard of their field.”
Santiago paused, having corrected Danny. Danny did not rise to the bait of what he believed to be false modesty; he had seen Santiago at work with his team. Even though Danny wouldn’t claim to know one end of a wrench from the other, he recognized the respect and attention that the other mechanics gave Santiago. The other mechanics watched everything that Santiago did with the eyes of students, hoping to learn a new trick from a master.
“What I do is very simple,” Santiago continued. “I make the problems of my customers my own. My customers know that my staff and I will not be happy until they are happy. Any good garage follows this philosophy, but perhaps we do it slightly better than most. Our rates are fair, and we treat our customers well, and so our customers are happy and loyal. Automobiles inevitably need repairs, and therefore we are both successful and profitable.”
“So, Jennifer is running a garage?”
“No, although it would make me happier if she was.”
Santiago paused before continuing, still leafing through the papers on his desk. “She runs a small funeral home. A very interesting line of work.”
“I can’t say that I know much about it.”
“You will, someday.”
Danny shrugged his shoulders and both men exchanged a look. Both men shook their heads. At their ages, they knew that it was inevitable that they would be making arrangements for their parents in the not-to-distant future, and this had been a topic of previous conversations. Danny made a mental note that he really needed to buy a black suit. Funerals were becoming more frequent events on his calendar than weddings and he knew that the balance would only shift farther and farther in that direction. Eventually, he’d need a dark suite to be buried in. He’d be damned before he’d spend eternity dressed in tweeds or a blazer left over from his brief career at the chalkboard.
“Aha!” announced Santiago, fishing a heap of yellowing paper from the forgotten strata near the wood of his desk. “Some notes I made from my own travels, many years ago. I drove around some of the country for a while, exploring. A little aimlessly. Not like your dash from sea to shining sea with little more than pit stops along the way.”
He handed Danny the pile. He did not mention that for several years after his travels, he had imagined writing a travel guide based on his experiences. He hadn’t made it much farther than choosing a title: “Drive through your midlife crisis!” had seemed like a winning choice.
Santiago gave Danny a careful look, as he remembered his own travels. He laced his fingers beneath his chin.
“Now Danny, we must talk about the girl at some point. I think there may be more that you want to tell me about her, or maybe even more than you realized. You said that the story is complicated, but not in the usual ways, and this piques my curiosity. I enjoy complicated, unusual things. And, who knows? Maybe it will not seem as complicated, once we’ve talked about it.”
“Perhaps.”
Santiago did not press the point. He knew that it would be best to let Danny tell the story his own way, when he was ready.
“But now, Danny, I would like your advice about something.” Santiago leaned forward, with a conspiratorial tone in his voice. “Did you notice anything about the Accord that came in just after you? The young man driving the Accord, I mean.”
Danny confessed that he had not even noticed the man, but he did not confess that he hadn’t really noticed anything because he was so preoccupied by his worry that Santiago would call him into his office.
“Perhaps this will jog your memory. The young man came in, and sat across from you, next to an attractive woman with curly red hair, and blue eyes, wearing in a green sweater.”
“Yes, I remember her.”
Santiago had expected that her appearance would have been memorable.
“A very nice young woman. Just moved to the area a year ago.” Santiago gave a short sigh.
Danny did not ask how she had been able to jump the waiting list and become a customer of Santiago in a year, because such a question would be horribly rude, but Danny knew that it had nothing to do with her looks.
“She is very involved in her career. The details are unimportant, I think, but the fact is that she does not know many people here, and she is single. I believe that her family lives in Ohio, and she doesn’t see them much. In any case, the story behind the young man is in similar situation. Young, single, career-oriented, lonely.”
“How can you know this about these people?”
“Please, Danny. She drives a used Prelude! Is there anything else that I need to say about her? And I’ve seen the cabin of his automobile. The evidence is overwhelming.”
“You really go through people’s stuff?”
Santiago looked embarrassed. “Perhaps I exaggerate my forensic skills again via implication. To be honest, I should also mention that I have had conversations with each of them.”
Danny smiled. He wondered what Santiago was thinking.
“In any case, such information is only the background for the events of this afternoon,” Santiago continued. “To make a long story short–they have been having a cordial conversation almost since the moment that he sat down. In fact, this conversation is the high point in each of their days so far. I would say they are, perhaps, simpatico? Would you agree?”
Danny nodded. He could remember watching them talk. He had idly thought that they might be old friends meeting again after a long separation, rather than people who had just met.
“But he is a chowderhead when it comes to women,” Santiago continued, “And she is too traditional. Her automobile will be ready soon. In fact, it’s been ready for several minutes. I am giving him some time, but I can’t hold her here forever. I told her that her automobile would be ready at 4:00, and so, in about ten minutes, at 3:52, Cherry will tell her that it is ready.”
Santiago paused again, then pushed the intercom button on his desk. “Cherry, has their been any change in Mr. Green’s situation?”
“As far as I can tell, no change,” answered Cherry’s muffled voice.
Santiago looked disappointed. “You see, a chowderhead. Smart, nice, polite, but lacking certain elements of a practical education.”
“I’m afraid that I’m missing the point,” Danny said, after a short pause.
“The point is that if they don’t exchange phone numbers or email addresses or something in the next nine minutes, both of them are going to let a wonderful opportunity slip through their fingers.”
Danny was relieved. “For a moment, when you said that her family lived in Ohio, I imagined that you were going to ask if I’d drop her off in Ohio, or something like that.”
Santiago was unfazed. “Danny, you must learn to focus on the problems of the people around you, and not always on your own. And anyway, why would I ask you to do such a thing? Would you have considered doing it?”
“No. I don’t think it would be a good idea to sit in a car for all those hours with a complete stranger. Risky. We might not get along.”
“I think the two of you would get along fine. You both know how to get along,” answered Santiago. “But I wouldn’t ask you to do such a thing. For your trip, it makes no sense. Do you know that old Billy Joel song? About the stranger? My friend, when you drive alone across the country on this personal adventure, I think that the stranger will be sitting next to you for the entire time.”
Danny was distracted by his own thoughts, and the implication of Santiago’s prediction didn’t sink in until several days later.
“So, they’re both Honda drivers. Do you foresee them buying an Odyssey in a few years, and filling it with kids?” Danny joked.
Santiago gave him a sour look, quickly transitioning to one of forgiveness; Danny was kind-hearted but innocent, and could not have known what he was implying. “No. The fact that she drives a Honda is the outcome of a long string of irrelevant events, not an conscious and voluntary choice. He is a Honda man, but she is not. No, I see him in an Acura, and her in a Volvo v70 Cross Country. But first things first. As the poet said, ‘For all sad words of tongue and pen, The saddest are these, ‘I didn’t get her number’, or something like that.”
“But what can you do? How can you make sure that they exchange numbers?”
“I will infer from the fact that you ask the question, and your choice of phrasing, that you agree that it should be done. And so I shall do what I can, but there is no time to explain.”
Santiago pressed the button on his intercom again. “Cherry, please perform a ‘forget-me-not’ on Miss Reilly. If that doesn’t work, please send Mr. Green in to see me. Do not release Miss Reilly’s automobile without my OK.”
Santiago turned back to Danny. “Please excuse me now. I have some work that requires my attention.”
Danny rose and started toward the door, but Santiago stopped him.
“I almost forgot. The automobile of your friend–it is now a Santiago automobile. But in return, I hope that you will do me two favors: first, I never want to see that car in my lot again, and second, that you will tell me all about your trip in February, when you will bring in your Saab for its 60,000-mile tuneup.”
Danny and Santiago smiled at each other.
“I will tell you everything,” Danny replied. “Goodbye, until then. Happy holidays!”
“Yes, happy holidays! Best to you and the family, and give Mary an extra hug for me.”
Santiago turned back to the papers on his desk and Danny exited the office, closing the door gently behind him. The waiting room was somewhat less crowded than it had been, and Danny found an empty chair across from Mr. Green. He was still talking with Miss Reilly. Danny could overhear most of their conversation; they had been comparing notes on the best places to get bagels in Brookline, but while Danny listened the discourse pirouetted gracefully but unexpectedly in the direction of apple-picking and farm stands in Concord, a subject about which both speakers seemed knowledgeable and passionate.
Danny pretended to read a year-old copy of ‘People’ magazine while listening. In a moment, he saw Cherry approach Miss Reilly, carrying a clipboard.
“Miss Reilly, I have some good news; your car is almost ready,” began Cherry. “You’ll be on your way very shortly. But first, could you do me a small favor? The computer is having a problem. I can’t find your contact info. We like to have your contact info, so we can follow up if there’s any need. Could please you fill out this form and bring it up to me when we call you to tell you that your car is ready? Thanks.”
“Do I really need to fill out all of this?” Miss Reilly asked.
“Oh, no, honey”, answered Cherry. “I’m sorry; I should have said so. Just your cell phone number, or however you prefer to be reached. The important thing is that we have some way to reach you. We don’t want you to just drive away tonight and never be able to reach you again,” she added in a kidding voice.
Danny thought Cherry was overplaying it a bit.
Cherry walked back to her desk.
The clipboard had several copies of the form, and two pens. Miss Reilly wrote down her name and cell phone number and put the clipboard down on the table in front of her.
“You know, I was thinking…” began Mr. Green, somewhat bashfully, “Would you mind if I gave you my number?”
Miss Reilly smiled. It was a warm and honest smile. “No, not at all. And let me give you mine.”
As he pretended to read about alleged celebrities of which he’d never heard, Danny smiled too.
