Fixing Things

Who: Mickey and Shoshannah
Where: the garage
When: early afternoon

It hadn’t been the easiest of days for Mickey. He hadn’t slept well, having thought too hard on what he’d talked to Eily about, which boiled down to December over and over again. There was no way out of it, not just waiting for her to not shut him out for life. And Mickey hated that.

Waking had come with harder news. For some reason he’d not put December’s Eric together with Eric Martens. He knew Eric Martens. Not well, but everyone at the garage knew the old soldier who ran the junk yard. Mickey wasn’t friends with him, but he was in the business of fixing things on the cheap and Eric was always well priced when it came to spare parts. That left him feeling sick something he had to fight off to get to where he was, smiling gently at Shoshannah as he held up the piece of the engine for her to see. “So this...is the carburetor and essentially why the car runs.”

Shoshannah had dressed for the occasion, wearing a pair of jeans and a black button down blouse that she didn't like much anyway. It was too big, but it was something she was willing to get dirty and get rid of so she'd worn it here just in case. "Carburetor, check," She said with a nod, studying the piece. "...So if my car dies, it's because the carburetor died? Not that I have a car, it'd be too dangerous for me to drive."

Laughing lightly, Mickey shook his head, rubbing at his cheek and leaving a small smear of grease there. “It’s just one of many reasons why it could have died. Really it’s not always the problem. If it floods then that’s an issue, but that’s more in when the car starts.”

"Ok..There are so many parts to cars. I don't know how you can keep them all straight." Give her a painting and she'd gladly discuss possible meanings all day, but this? This she wasn't great at understanding. "Cars can flood?"

“Well I’ve been working on them for a lot longer than most people,” Mickey said with another smile. “Well without a flood, no, but the carburetor can. If too much fuel gets into it, it’ll flood and the car won’t start. It’ll just sputter.”

"Poor car." Shoshannah smiled again, leaning into the engine to look down at the parts again. "What's your favorite part about working on cars?" Maybe if she understood why Mickey enjoyed it so much, Shoshannah could see herself enjoying that too. Otherwise she felt she might just stare at the parts all day and still not understand.

Favorite part? That was actually a simple answer, one that was harder to admit to with the current state of things with December. “There’s always an answer. There’s almost always a way to fix something. Sometimes you have to rebuild something, but it’s a fix.”

"That's a nice thought, that there's always a fix here." Shoshannah reached out to touch some of the pipes in the engine, just because she could. "I like to think there's always an answer. It makes you a bit of a detective, going in to figure out what the answer is. It's fun to imagine you in a Sherlock Holmes' cap and pipe."

“Well it’s not that sort of finding. I mean detectives do far more interesting things. Far more important things.” When she described the pipe and hat though he did chuckle. “I’d look ridiculous. That’s why it’s fun to imagine.” He shook his head a little then looked back at the car. “Feel like you understand it a little better?”

“A little,” She said with a smile, pulling back to look up at Mickey. “So tell me again what exactly this car needs done? I can hand you tools, be ready with a towel, whatever you need.”

Mickey smiled, putting the carburetor back where it belonged and securing it into place. “This car needs a tune up. Just a check up to make sure everything is tightened down and running smoothly. Plus I’ll change the oil.” Having an assistant would be helpful and he nodded past her. “Hand me that socket wrench?”

“Socket wrench, socket wrench...” She brushed back a piece of hair as she looked over at the wrenches, picked one up them put it back down in favor of another one. Holding out the socket wrench to him, she smiled. “Socket wrench,” She said in the kind of voice she assumed the nurses would say to a surgeon.

It was kind of fun watching her work like that, studying the different tools until she had the right one. Once she gave it to him, Mickey gave her a smile and a nod of approval as he went to work, tightening things down.

"So when did you decide you were going to work on cars?" She asked, coming back to his side to peer around him and see just what he was doing. "When did you learn all this about cars?"

Mickey thought about it for a moment, working while he thought, lower lip between his teeth. “I don’t know if I ever really made a decision to start working on cars. I’ve always liked fixing things and when I needed a job, I managed to get this one.”

"You're good at fixing things," Shannah said, smiling again. "But why cars? Just because you got the job or is there another reason?" He had to like the cars enough to want to work with them, right? "You had to have some knowledge of it before you got the job."

He’d had minimal knowledge at best, but he’d been rather charming when he convinced his boss to hire him. “Cars are the best job when it comes to fixing things. There’s not a ton of money in being a handy man or at least not with the work I do. My boss liked me and I picked it up quickly enough.

"Well, if I had a car, I would only bring it to you." She smiled again at him, happy getting to stand here and observe. "So...if you weren't working on cars, would you rather be doing something else?" She felt fine asking, since the place wasn't as populated as she expected first and she had kept her voice down.

“That’s good to know in case you get a car or I decide to open up my own shop.” That had been December’s idea and it was still there, at least lingering a little below the surface. “Something else?” Mickey echoed, pointing towards another tool for her to hand him then shaking his head. “I’m not sure what else. Hadn’t thought past this much. Would you do something else beyond running the gallery?”

"At one point, I wanted to," Shoshannah reached for the tool and handed it to him, a soft smile on her lips. "When I was younger, I wanted to be a photographer for The Echo. But things change and my life went somewhere else, somewhere I wouldn't ever want to change. The people you meet lead you down many different roads than the one you thought for yourself. What's so interesting is seeing where your dream and your path collide."

Dream and path collide. That sent thoughts back to December as well, lecturing Mickey for not having a dream. He looked at the car instead of Shoshannah, thoughts a myriad of things, none of which he felt able to explicitly explain. “You still take pictures though?” he asked, remembering something about that and keeping her on the topic of herself before she started asking about his dreams.

"Yes, sometimes. I haven't lately, but I should again." She leaned against the car, smiling down at the jumble of pipes and metal in the engine. "It was more like..a catalogue, I guess. A way for me to know what I'd seen and not seen. When I was younger, my...condition was a lot worse so the only real sense of time I had was reading The Echo. And so when I started taking pictures, it became a way for me to make sense of things. I wanted to be able to provide that for someone else, someone who might also be like me...Who might need a touchstone."

Mickey nodded slowly. “I understand that I think.” It wasn’t something he could fully understand not having her condition, but people connected to things when times got hard. Just like Mickey had connected to fixing things. “That’s very thoughtful of you to think such a thing.”

"I'm not so sure it's thoughtful. It's one thing I like to do and I thought I might be able to do it as a job. Thinking back on it, I'm sure my photos wouldn't have worked for The Echo but it was a nice dream." She said with a smile. "And I couldn't be happier where I am right now. The gallery is so important, I can barely think of doing anything else. I'm fortunate to be able to do what I do there.”

Mickey switched out tools again and gave her a look, sitting down on the rolling backboard he used to go under the car. “Can you hold that light down here?” he asked then rolled himself under the car. “Why do you think you’re stuff wouldn’t be good enough for the Echo?” he asked from under the car.

"Oh, sure," She said, holding the light where he'd asked her to and then shrugging a little, until she saw it moved the light and she stopped. "I just think that they're different from the photos they use. I'll show you my pictures sometime if you'd like to see them."

“Tell me how they’re different while I’m working down here,” He said opening the right port to change the oil on the car. “Gives me something to listen to.”

"They're not exactly...I don't think they'd make sense for everyone. They're what I see and I think they're interesting, but I'm not sure they would be broad enough for everyone." She thought back immediately to the shot of the library she'd taken on her first day away from home. The overpowering, towering library that had made her seen so small. She somehow didn't think it would match with an article of the library.

Mickey thought about that as emptied the oil into a drip pan. “What makes you think that people don’t see things the same way you do?” Though she did see art and beauty in his garage to maybe not.

"Oh..I'm not sure that's what I meant. I guess it did sound like that. I just think they'd want something else, something that I wouldn't be able to give them. Newspapers are supposed to be pretty straight forward, right? I think I'd have a hard time taking a straight forward photograph now, without any sort of bias on it."

“If you ask me,” Mickey said then rolled back out from under the car. “I think The Echo could benefit from something other than straightforward from time to time. Might make it more interesting to read.” He grinned and reached for a towel by her and wiping his hands off.

Clicking the light off, Shannah ended up sitting down on the floor near him so she was closer to eye-level, smiling. "I think it's plenty interesting to read as is," She said, a little laugh on her lips. "But thank you. We should go take some pictures sometimes. It'd be nice to get the camera out again."

“Just so long as they aren’t pictures of me,” Mickey said with a smile then got up again, holding out hand for her.

“Why are you so opposed to having pictures of you taken? I’m sure you’d make a pretty great subject in some photos actually...” She took his hand, hoisting up with his help and dusting off her pants out of habit. “You can decide what we take pictures of if you let me get a picture of you, sound fair?”

“Now I really think you’re making things up,” he said shaking his head. He wasn’t a great subject for photos. He was sure of that. Reaching for an oil can he refilled the oil in the car. “I think I’m the last person who should be deciding what we take photos of. You’re the artist.”

“Oh come on, Mickey. It’ll be fun, trust me. Let’s give it a shot and if you aren’t having fun, we’ll just do something else.” Smiling again, she brought the light back and clicked it on, hoping she got where he needed for the assistance.

Mickey smiled a little, especially when she brought the light over. He’d done this so many time he didn’t really need it, but it was good to get the help still. Giving her a little look, he sighed like he was really giving in. “Alright next time, I’ll play along.”

Shoshannah smiled again, leaning against the car still. “Good. I promise, it’ll be fun. And if it isn’t, we’ll just change tactics and do something that is fun.” At least she had more plans to spend time with Mickey like she was doing today.