Copyrighted 2022
All rights reserved. No part of this story may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Author: The Lazy L
The Jeep
All rights reserved. No part of this story may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Author: The Lazy L
The Jeep
We arrived late last night and not surprising dad was waiting. He pushed the overhead garage door up as he motioned us to park inside the garage. In the moon light I could see the frown on his face as he saw the missing grill and crumbled fender. Our drive from Chicago hadn’t gone as planned.
My recent promotion and the resulting salary increase put our family budget to the “light at the end of the tunnel” stage. And that’s why we didn’t bug out when we should have. Hard to leave my job behind for an uncertainly. And when the uncertainly became a certainly it was almost too late for us.
We had the SUV almost loaded when the parking garage elevator stopped working. Do I have the kids stay with me as I guard the SUV leaving Marie to bring the last of our supplies down? Have Marie guard the van and the kids come with me? We decided to leave the SUV unguarded and the family stay together. Kids were oblivious to the situation. All they knew we were heading to Grandma and Grandpa’s in Indiana. That worked until we reached the suburbs when someone rolled an industrial metal dumpster into our path. Their timing was off. Instead of us hitting the dumpster head on I clipped it’s corner. Dumpster spun off into the darkness along with pieces of my plastic grill as I sped up. As soon as we thought it was safe we pulled over to calm the kids down.
We made it to the Indiana Toll Road before the next problem. Gary Indiana has a smell. We had just pass though when we thought we smelled something burning. It’s just Gary we thought until we saw smoke coming from under the dash. We can’t lose this car! I pulled into the berm and shut the engine off. Marie pop the hood release while I grabbed some of our bottle water. By the time I got the hood open the smoke was thankfully gone. The damaged metal of the fender was rubbing against the headlight wiring. Obvious burnt and melded wiring. Why it didn’t blow a fuse I don’t know, more damage somewhere else? I cut the wires with my knife and gray taped the ends so they couldn’t short out again. Now if the SUV will start…it did. While we were stoped I should have check the tire to see if it was damaged from the dumpster too. I didn’t. Too much on my mind.
Just before the South Bend exit there was a rest stop with service road. This is where we get off the Toll Road and stop pushing our luck. Bolt cutters made short work of the padlock gate. Back roads from here on out. We where so close to mom and dad’s when the low tire pressure warning started chiming. Put the donut on. Relived when we pulled into the driveway and saw Dad lifting the garage door. Folks help carried their sleeping grandkids off to their beds. My parent’s house was be a rest and restocking stop before we convoy to our Bug Out Location, Marie’s Grandparent’s farm in Ohio. With the damaged SUV how would this now be possible I thought as I drifted off to sleep.
Marie was telling me it was time to get up. My open eyes were greeted by sunlight streaming though the windows. “Maria where’s Dad?" “He’s out in his shop. He wants you to come out after you’ve had breakfast.”
Kids were awake and every toy they could find were spread all over the family room. Mom was preparing eggs and bacon on the gas stove. “You’re the last one to eat. How many eggs to you want sleepy head?”
As I walk with a full stomach out to Dad’s shop I could barely hear the generator running. With the SUV questionable we couldn’t take the generator with us and Dad must have gasoline to spare. “Might as well run it while we have the chance.” I was thinking as I opened the shop door.
“DAD WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”
As long as I was old enough to remember Dad has wanted a Jeep. He would see a used one along a road with a “For Sale” sign in the windshield. We would stop and Dad would give it a look over. Sometimes the Owner would come out to ask for questions or offer a test drive. Dad would shake his head no, “Just looking.” Dad said he fell in love with Jeeps when he saw Nellybelle on a Roy Rogers western. I didn’t understand at the time why he didn’t buy one. Dad’s are rich, I thought.
I was in the third or fourth grade at the time. Sunday evening church was over when I heard Mom tell Dad that some of the families were meeting at Dairy Queen. Man! We rarely ate at a restaurant! Sister and I were nodding or heads “yes” but Dad was slowly shaking his “no”. Mom said she already told the other families we would be there are we a going. Dad whispered something to mom to which she said “No she didn’t”. And off to Dairy Queen we went! Mom told Dad she wanted a Hot Fudge Sunday. Couldn’t hear what Dad ordered for us. Boy was I disappointed. While our friends had Cheeseburgers, fries, onion rings pop and ice cream cones my sister and I had to share a single bag of French Fries. I wasn’t happy and O told Dad what I thought. Before I knew it he was steering me by the back of my neck out to the parking lot. He had my back pinned up against our car. As Dad poked me repeatedly in my chest with his finger for drive his words home, “If you would stop thinking about yourself for a bit you would notice that your father is eating nothing. I spent all the money I have for the fries and a Sunday. Now I don’t want to hear any more whining from you.” After a final poke to my chest we marched back inside. Sister surprisingly had saved my half of the fries. I kind of got Dad’s point at the time. I didn’t fully realize until I had a family of my own that true Dads make personal sacrifices in order to provide for their families. That’s why I was so happy for Dad when he emailed. After wanting one for sixty years he had bought a two year old Jeep Wrangler JL two-door in red his favorite color. Must fun he said driving a vehicle since his 1970 Nova. All of this flew though my mind after I had said, “DAD WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”
There was Dad’s Jeep. What was Firecracker Red was now rattle can camouflaged with flat browns, greens, yellow and gray. Dad had just finished camouflaging the Chrome wheels. Not a bit of red or chrome was showing. Dad even purposely over sprayed the glass too. Dad just ruin his Jeep for…and then I understood as Dad threw the Jeep’s fob to me to catch. That afternoon the Jeep lead the way with my family followed by mom and dad in their car.
A true father doesn’t sacrifice because of need but because of love.
The End
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