Читать книгу Nathaniel's Chorus - Gary Lightfoot - Страница 8

The TV inside the “Big Donut” in Long Beach is tuned to FOX News as Nathan and Neil walk through the front door. Susan from behind the counter calls out to the brothers,

“Hey Neil, you’re on TV.”

Neil walks over to the counter and says, “Well hello to you too Susan.”

Susan points up to the TV on the wall and says, “Neil, look, you’re on TV, or at least a picture of you is on TV.”

The Foot brothers turn to look up at the TV; it’s the Intelligence Committee hearing. Chairman Branch has just held the old poster up for the camera. As the camera zooms in, the image becomes clear. Nathan recognizes their faces and says,

“Holy Balls, that’s us, how did he get a hold of that?”

Susan stops Nathan, “What are you talking about Junior, I thought that was a picture of just Neil?”

“Nope, that’s all three of us. The two masked guys throwing the pies are Nathaniel and me; the guy getting hit in the face with the pie is Neil.”

As Susan takes the brothers’ order, Nathan begins to explain to her about the poster,

“Well Sue, you know that we went to military school up until I was a senior, Neil a junior and Nathaniel a freshman, right?”

Susan hands the brothers their two coffees, one with cream and four “honey glazed” doughnuts and says, “Guys, I know all about that, so?”

Neil continues with the story,

“Well Sue, Junior here thought that we needed a way to stick together and help each other out. So what we did was form something we called the Phi Pi Psi.”

Susan giggles at the brothers and says, “the flying pies sign?”

Nathan, un-amused says, “no not the flying pies, the Phi Pi Psi.”

Susan still smiling says, “but Junior, the fly pie doesn’t make sense, look at the poster, they’re throwing pies. Get it, flying pies?”

“Oh, I get what you’re saying,” Neil understanding what Susan’s problem was says, “You’re saying it sounds like fly pie.”

Nathan completes Neil’s explanation by spelling out what they’re saying,

“It’s actually Greek, you know the P-H-I, P-I, P-S-I.”

Susan understanding now says, “So that’s where they get the P, P, P at the top of the poster.”

Nathan proud of his instruction in Greek says, “Right, three P’s, Phi Pi Psi.”

Neil drops his coffee, “What did you just say? Three P’s?”

“Yeah, so?” Nathan responds.

“Ah bro, ah nuts, why didn’t we see this before?”

“See what?”

Neil grabs his brother’s arm, “Junior, they’re trying to say that our old Phi Pi Psi is the new tri-P. You know three P’s, tri-P?”

Nathan looks up at the TV in the Big Donut, and then back at Neil, “How is that possible?”

“I don’t know Junior, but that looks like what they’re going to try and do.”

Nathan looks down at his watch, “When did you say Chris was getting in?”

Neil snaps his fingers, “Well crap! We’re just walking around like idiots aren’t we? We better get going!”

Susan laughs at the brothers as they run out of the Big Donut and jump into The Burb.

Φ Π Ψ

In the hallway outside of the Intelligence Committee hearing room in Washington, Shea Noble’s cell phone rings,

“Hello, this is Shea Noble Fox News, who’s this?”

“Shea, this is Robert Jolly, Washington Bureau Chief.”

Shea recognized his voice, but hadn’t had time to meet him in person since she just arrived in Washington this morning. He was the man who had pulled her off her story in Mexico and had her fly on the “red-eye” to Washington.

“Yes Sir, what can I do for you, Mr. Jolly?”

“Shea, just call me Bob.”

“Okay, Bob, what can I do for you?”

“Shea, I want you to fly out to Southern California and find Senator Foot’s brothers.”

“Sir, I mean, Bob, you just had me fly into Washington to interview Senator Foot.”

Robert Jolly’s voice becomes more authoritative, “Miss Noble, I know what I just had you do.”

“I’m sorry Mr. Jolly, I’m a little on edge.”

“I understand Shea, don’t worry, I didn’t take offense. What I need you to do is to make contact with Foot’s brothers. I seem to recall that you went to the same college as one of the brothers.”

“Yes sir, I knew the brothers, but that was a long time ago.”

“Shea, I choose you for this story because you knew them. Now don’t worry, I also drafted you onto my team ‘cause you aren’t afraid of anything. Hell Shea, you stood up to the Mexican drug cartel and even sent pictures!”

“Yes sir,”

“Now jump on the next plane and get me more pictures.”

Shea thanks the cameraman that was with her for the few hours she had in Washington. She then calls the FOX News travel agent and books her flight to Los Angeles.

Φ Π Ψ

As The Burb heads toward LAX the brothers start putting the pieces together. Nathan begins thinking out loud,

“Okay, so let’s think this through, Senator Branch is trying to link the tri-P to Nathaniel.”

Neil joins in, “And they’re going to say that the tri-P is our Phi Pi Psi all grown up.”

“Right, so that would connect Nathaniel to the tri-P.”

Neil looks over at Nathan, “Junior, you don’t think it’s possible, do you?”

Nathan glances back at Neil, “what, that our little bro is tri-P? No way!”

“No I didn’t mean that, I meant that the tri-P started out as our Phi Pi Psi.”

Nathan laughs back, “Bro have you gone all conspiracy on me now? Next you’ll be saying that we’ll all end up in Roswell New Mexico, blaming everything on the aliens. Ha!”

“Come on Junior,” Neil points at the airport sign, “don’t miss the turn.”

Nathan jerks the wheel to the right and slides across 3 lanes of traffic. Behind them a van slams on its brakes and nearly hits the car in the next lane. The brothers look behind them to see several cars lockup their brakes, causing tire smoke to obscure their exit from the freeway.

Neil grabs the dashboard of The Burb and says, “Dude! You want me to drive?”

Nathan snaps back, “No way, that van was all over my tail, you’d think he was trying to hit us or something.”

“Really? Who’s gone all conspiracy now?”

The brothers discount the near accident to California traffic and continue on to the airport. Once at the airport, Nathan parks The Burb close to where Asela had told them was a safe place to wait for Chris to come out of the airport. While they wait, Neil tells Nathan about the old Pontiac that followed him out of Guadalajara and how he thought he lost them just outside of Hermosillo. Nathan tells Neil about how the police car, that was following Neil as he came around the corner in front of the Big Donut, was taken out by a black van running a red light. The two brothers begin to rethink their conspiracy theories when they remember that the van that was just on The Burb’s tail was a black van with heavily tinted windows.

Nathan pulls out his cell phone and calls his wife, as she answers he says,

“Hey Nancy, how you doing?”

“Fine Junior, what’s going on?”

“Could you do me a favor and turnoff the computers and then unplug everything?”

Nancy’s voice begins to show her concern as she answers, “What’s going on?”

“Don’t have time, just help me out okay honey?”

“Sure thing.” Nancy hangs up the phone and begins turning everything off.

Neil asks Nathan, “What do you think? We’re being tracked, or what did we used to call it? Oh yeah, you think we’re being pinged?”

“I don’t know Neil, I just think we better take a different tack on this.”

The two brothers sit silently as they wait for Chris. Several quiet minutes pass when Nathan breaks the tension by saying,

“I don’t think anyone in their right mind, would use an old Pontiac deep in Mexico to follow anybody.”

“No man, seriously, I tell you she had a big block in her, sounded like a NASCAR stocker rolling by.”

Nathan laughs at Neil’s defense then points toward the exit,

“Hey isn’t that Chris there? You think he’d show us his tattoo?”

Neil thinks for a second then says,

“Well, it is tradition, and Chris is a traditional kind of guy.”

The brothers move The Burb closer to the exit and yell out,

“Hey PJ, show us your Jolly Greens!”

Chris was a Pararescueman, a PJ, during his time in the Air Force. The brothers met Chris years ago when they all were members of Team Tiger. The tradition that started in Southeast Asia in 1971 was for a PJ to have a tattoo of the Jolly Green Giant’s footprints placed on their buttocks. The tradition has it that when asked about the tattoo, the PJ would turn an about-face, drop his pants and display his “Jolly Greens”. So when the brothers called out to see his “Jolly Greens”, Chris came to attention, turned an about-face, dropped his pants and proudly displayed his butt, and his “Jolly Greens”.

Neil jumps out of The Burb and runs over to Chris laughing, “I get a kick out of that every time.”

Chris turns around and gives Neil a big hug. Neil pulls back and says,

“Hey Chris, you better pull your pants up before we get arrested. Ha!”

Chris straightens out his airline uniform, tucks in his shirt and then hugs Neil again. “Neil, it’s good to see you. I’ve been following the news about your little brother. Doesn’t sound good, how can I help?”

“Well Chris, that’s why we’re here.”

Neil grabs Chris’ flight bag and walks him over to The Burb. They load up and start to head out of the airport. As they drive, they bring Chris up to speed on everything that’s happened since the two brothers each watched the news coverage on Nathaniel’s hearing and Neil had called Nathan. Chris, who had been riding in the second seat, scoots up in-between the two brothers. Putting his arms around the two brothers shoulders, he says,

“Guys, this is going to be a blast. What an adventure, Team Tiger reunited to battle all odds, to bravely go into the teeth of danger and bring out your baby brother.”

The three friends drive onto the Southern California Freeway system and begin heading toward Chris’ house. As they drive, Chris pulls out of his flight bag a CD that he made with some of his favorite tunes on it. He hands it to Neil,

“Neil throw this in the player and select track 3.”

Neil takes the disc and puts it into the player, “What is it?”

“Just do it, you’ll love it. Turn it way up.”

The Burb begins to eerily build into a pounding sound causing the drivers in the cars next to them to glance over in shock. The three slightly graying men begin playing “air guitars” and “invisible drums” while they sing at the top of their voices along with the music blaring from The Burb’s sound system as “Magic Carpet Ride” by Steppenwolf plays in The Burb’s CD. The song was a favorite of Team Tiger, Chris used to play it over their headsets as they flew into missions.

The Burb creeps along in bumper to bumper traffic as Neil yells over the music,

“Man this would be so awesome if we were really moving.”

Φ Π Ψ

In the backroom of Footboards Nancy is sitting on the couch watching TV. Before Nathan called to have her turn off everything, Nathan’s computer had finished printing out the results of the search that he started before driving to the airport to pick up Chris. She knew he only meant the computers so she thought she was safe watching TV. As she’s surfing through the channels to see if she can find any additional coverage of Nathaniel’s Senate hearing, a News Flash breaks into the major channels,

“We interrupt this program to bring you an urgent message from the President of the United States. We now join an emergency broadcast from the oval office.”

“My fellow Americans, it is with a heavy heart that I come before you today. We have just been informed that an assassination attempt has been carried out within the past hour, here in Washington D.C. The target of the assassination attempt seems to be members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. We are working now to ascertain the whereabouts of all Senators and their staff. As soon as the next of kin of the victims have been notified, we will release their names to the media. Unfortunately I will be unable to take any questions at this time, given the security nature of this event. When we have more concrete information we will break in again and bring that information to you. I ask now that you join me in prayer for the families of the victims of this horrific action. I promise you that we will not rest, until we have brought the perpetrators of this horrific and cowardly action to justice. God bless you and may God grant us wisdom as we hunt these terrorists down. Thank you.”

The screen changes to an outside view of the Senate, on the steps reporters jockey for the best position in front of a bank of microphones that were already setup for the Senate Majority’s response to the President’s announcement. The Chairman of the Intelligence Committee is standing at the lectern and waiting for the crowd to quiet. The Chairman nods his head letting the reporters know that he is now ready to begin his statement.

“Ladies and Gentlemen of the media and to the great people of these United States, I am Senator Jeremiah Branch and I will be delivering our response to the President’s statements which you have just heard. This is again an example of the inept way in which this administration has attempted to protect us in these times of attack against our way of life. This administration has too many times let down their guard and allowed evil to inflict harm upon our interest. Now it is evident, that we are no longer safe, not even in our own country. These atrocious actions of these terrorist organizations have most definitely infiltrated our society on all levels, even into the halls of government. We must take bold action and seek out these evil doers, even if they are in high office, maybe even the highest of offices.”

The reporters begin to yell questions toward Senator Branch, who only waves toward the camera and turns and walks away from the lectern.

“Senator Branch! Senator Branch, are you saying that this might involve the White House?”

Branch turns and looks into the eyes of the reporter who asked the one question he was hoping for, “What I’m saying is that no one is outside of our investigation.”

Nancy frantically fumbles with her phone attempting to call Nathan, as Nathan answers she says,

“Honey, quick turn on your radio!”

“What is it?”

“Junior, they tried to assassinate some Senators in Washington!”

Nathan reaches for the dash and turns off the CD, he waves for Neil and Chris to be quiet,

“Guys, there’s been an attack in Washington.”

The Burb instantly goes silent; Nathan’s voice becomes strained,

“Nancy, did they say who was the target? Did they mention Nathaniel?”

“No, but they’re saying that the tri-P is claiming responsibility.”

Nathan disconnects from his wife as he asks Chris for any shortcut directions to Chris’ house. Nathan then swerves to the emergency lane of the freeway and accelerates The Burb. Chris calls his house but only gets a busy signal. The Burb exits the freeway and begins weaving in and out of traffic.

When they arrive at Chris’ house, Chris runs inside calling for his wife.

“Asela, I’m home honey. Where are you baby?”

Asela answers from upstairs, “Up here babe, I’m trying to get this stupid computer to work.”

Nathan and Neil follow Chris upstairs, as he enters their bedroom, she says,

“Hi Feet’s! How you boys doing? It’s been forever since we saw you Nathan.”

As Asela first hugs her husband then Nathan and Neil, Chris asks about the computer,

“What’s wrong with the computer? Why aren’t you watching the TV? Didn’t you hear about the attack in Washington?”

Asela answers, “That’s why I turned on the computer.”

“What?” Chris puts his flight bag down on the floor as Asela returns to the computer,

“Someone from dispatch called and asked if you were on the schedule for today. I had to pull up your shift to see if they changed anything for today.”

Chris pulls out the printout of his shift from his shirt pocket and then says,

“Wait a minute, why would dispatch call you to ask if my shift had changed?”

Asela, still trying to get the computer to work says, “I know! That’s what I asked. They said that the emergency in Washington was causing the system to act up.”

Nathan bends down to look at the computer,

“Do you mind if I take a look at your computer?”

“Sure, help yourself. It was working fine this morning, then went weird and now I can’t get it to do a thing.”

Nathan slides into the chair and begins typing on the computer. As he does he notices a glitch then the screen wobbles then the mouse moves on its own. He slides the chair,

“They’ve pinged Chris’ computer.”

Neil reaches under the computer desk and pulls the cables out of the back of the computer. Nathan looks over at Chris and asks,

“Do you have wireless on this computer?”

“Sure Junior, everybody does, don’t they?”

Nathan doesn’t respond, but lifts the computer up off the desk and smashes it to the floor. Asela slugs Neil in the shoulder and says,

“You told me Junior was some sort of expert, looks to me like he has a strange way of fixing computers.”

Neil stops Asela from hitting him again and says, “Don’t hit me, Junior’s the one who just fixed your computer.”

Nathan doesn’t apologizes for the computer, but lays out a few orders,

“Asela, grab what you can, you guys aren’t safe here.”

“Chris, are there any other computers in the house, laptops, or anything that might be linked to this computer? If so, bring them here.”

Asela and Chris stand motionless for a second then head off in separate directions in the house. Neil begins to pick the phone up, but stops and looks over at Nathan,

“Junior, you really think that whoever is after Nathaniel would also be after Chris?”

“I don’t know Neil, I saw this same type of thing a little while ago, someone’s looking through Chris’ files.”

Neil whispers to Nathan, “Junior, is there something you’re not telling me?”

Nathan grins at his brother, “Just like you’re supposed to be making money painting sceneries in Mexico?”

Chris comes walking into the room carrying his laptop from his flight bag and his iPod,

“Junior the only thing that I can find would be my laptop that I carry with me on my trips and my iPod I run with.”

“When’s the last time you turned them on?”

Chris thinks, and then says, “I ran this morning, so the iPod this morning, and I was on the computer last night surfing the net to see if I could find any info on Nathaniel.”

Nathan begins to think out loud,

“I didn’t start the program until this morning so, if it’s what I think it is, they wouldn’t have had your info until then. I think your laptop will be okay for now, just don’t turn it on. Tell you what Chris; pull the battery out of it now.”

Chris turns the laptop over and begins to remove the battery. As he does, Asela comes into the room carrying her bag and dragging Chris’s military bag. It looks freshly packed and locked with a new military padlock. Neil looks at the bag and then motions to Nathan to look at it also. The brothers smirk at each other as Neil says,

“Chris, is there something you’re not telling us?”

Nathan breaks in and says,

“Guys, we’ll have time to share later, we need to get going now. We don’t know what we’re up against yet, but I bet they know all about us.”

With that, they load up into The Burb and head out of Chris’ neighborhood. The low rumble of The Burb’s 454 cubic inch Chevy big block is the only sound they hear. They merge onto the freeway and head back toward Footboards. As they’re driving Nathan asks Neil,

“Hey bro, what other info was on that thumb drive you gave me?”

“Well Junior, let’s see, the only thing on there was the contact info of old buds from the service.”

Nathan looks off into the distance as he thinks back on opening the thumb drive before initiating the program to run through the lists.

“Neil, I think I remember some other folder on there.”

Neil asks for a piece of paper and begins to sketch out the image that would be displayed on screen when the disk was opened.

“Did it look like this?” Neil holds the sketch up in front of Nathan.

Nathan glances over to the sketch and points at a folder in the bottom right corner,

“What’s this?”

“Oh crap, I forgot about that.”

Asela asks Chris, “What’s going on?”

Chris explains to Asela that Neil has photographic memory and can sketch or paint anything he’s seen but can’t always remember what the elements in the image were. Nathan on the other hand can remember names, numbers, basically anything he reads or hears. Together the two are like having a video camera recording everything seen or heard.

Asela looks to the front seat and watches as Nathan and Neil together work through what was on the thumb drive. She whispers to Chris, “Remind me never to play Pictionary with those two.”

Nathan and Neil figure out that the other file on the thumb drive was an old file that Neil had been working on with Nathaniel before he went to Washington. Nathaniel had been researching people who might be interested in supporting him during his campaign for the Senate. Within the file was a list of the original members of the group the brothers started, the Phi Pi Psi. Nathan starts asking questions of Neil.

“Hey Neil, did you make a backup to the thumb drive?”

“Sure Junior, I always make a backup.”

“Did you bring it back from Mexico?”

“Nope, I never took it down there, thought it would be safer here.”

Nathan looks over at Neil, “Where did you put it?”

“Safest place we know. I went by there last month on my way out of town.”

“Well nuts,” Nathan quickly makes a U-turn.

Chris grabs the seat and holds onto Asela, “Where we going now?”

Neil holds on and then tells Chris their new destination, “Signal Hill.”

“What’s in Signal Hill?”

Nathan checks the mirrors and then makes another hard right turn, “Our old school, or what’s left of our old school, SCMA.”

Neil leans into the backseat and tells Chris, “Southern California Military Academy. The school isn’t there any more, someone bought the school and turned it into a series of rentals; artist shops and apartments.”

The Burb pulls up to a series of studios and apartments. Nathan and Neil get out of The Burb and ask Chris and Asela to drive The Burb around the block a few times. The two brothers head out of sight while Chris drives away.

“Man Neil, I haven’t been back here in years.”

“Yeah, brings back memories doesn’t it?”

They walk past several new buildings then enter one of the art studios, which used to be the barracks that the brothers lived in. As they walk past the storefront a clerk comes up to them,

“Can I help you gentlemen?”

“No thanks we’re just here visiting.”

They head to the back wall and start counting bricks, first away from a brick with a mark on it and then down. Once they find the right spot, Neil hits it hard with the heel of his hand. The brick moves, he then takes a knife out of his pocket and digs the brick out. He reaches into the slot and pulls out a plastic bag. Inside the bag is a similar thumb drive. Neil quickly puts the drive into his pocket and tells Nathan they’ve got to get out of there.

Nathan starts toward the exit but is stopped by the store manager,

“Is there anything wrong?”

“Nope, just looking, we’ll be right back.”

The two brothers begin walking and then when they hear the sound of The Burb coming down the street, the brothers break into a full sprint.

“Neil, what’s wrong?”

“Junior, that’s not the thumb I left there.”

As The Burb stops, the brothers jump through the third door and into the back seat and tell Chris to drive on. Chris pushes the gas pedal all the way to the floor. The 454 engine roars to life as The Burb spins the back wheels. Nathan wasn’t completely in the second seat and begins to roll over the back of the seat and falls into the back luggage area. As Nathan hits the floor he yells from the very back of The Burb,

“Whoa Chris, easy on the GoodYears!”

Chris answers, “Tires? You’re worried about tires? I’m watching for AK-47’s to be swinging out at us, and you’re worried about your tires?”

The Burb weaves in and out of traffic as they drive out of Signal Hill and toward Long Beach. Nathan climbs back into the second seat and asks Neil for the thumb drive.

“Neil, what’s wrong with the thumb?”

Neil pulls the thumb drive out of his pocket and turns it over in his hand,

“This is the same type, looks the same, but the one I left didn’t have the cover.”

Nathan exams the end cap cover, pulls it off and exposes the plug end of the thumb drive, “Looks okay, why don’t we plug it into something and see what happens?”

Chris looks into the mirror at Nathan, “Don’t be putting that thing in my laptop, I saw how you fixed my home computer!”

“Don’t worry Chris, let’s find a computer store.”

The Burb exits the freeway on their way to Footboards. It’s close to sunset and the sea breeze begins to cast a slight mist of salt spray into the air. Nathan directs Chris to a computer store that is in the same parking lot as the “Big Donut.” Chris turns into the parking lot and parks The Burb.

Chris asks, “Hey guys, I haven’t had anything to eat yet. Would you two mind if Asela and I hang out at the donut shop while you guys break, I mean fix someone else’s computer?”

Nathan answers, “That’s funny Chris, tell you what, could you pick up a cup of coffee with cream and two warm honey glazed for me?”

“Sure, no problem, Neil you want anything?”

Neil doesn’t answer but only waves “no thanks” and continues to walk across the lot. The two brothers walk into the computer store while Chris and Asela walk into the “Big Donut”. Nathan walks up to the counter at the computer store and asks the salesperson to show him to an inexpensive computer. The salesperson shows them to a demo table where the brothers sit down and plug the thumb drive into it. As the computer begins to boot up, Nathan asks Neil,

“Did you tell anyone else about our hiding spot at SCMA?”

Neil stares at the screen and then says, “The only other person that knew anything about it was when I shipped out on my first deployment overseas. I told her that if anything ever happened to me, to go there and take whatever was inside and give it to dad.”

As Nathan moves the mouse over the icon for the drive, he hesitates, then says,

“You ever talk to her?”

Neil shakes his head, “I wouldn’t know how to get in touch with her.”

As the icon for the drive opens there’s only one file inside and its labeled,

“Love always and in all ways”.

Nathan sits back in the chair and says, “Well bro, we’ve got to find her now.”

Neil reads the label and says, “I think she already found us.”

The brothers unplug the thumb drive, thank the computer salesperson and then walk across the parking lot. They climb inside The Burb and wait for Chris and Asela.

Asela exits first carrying a box of doughnuts, Chris follows behind with a tray of coffee, he waves at the brothers in The Burb and says,

“Susan says hi and to slap you two for not coming in.”

“She’s a sweetheart,” Nathan says as he starts The Burb. Chris and Asela begin to open the third door and climb into the second seat, as they do, a black van pulls up behind them and nudges the bumper of The Burb.

“What the heck?” Chris starts to get out of The Burb.

Asela points across the street and says, “Look at that, any other time and we’d be waiting forever for a cop to show up.”

They look across the street to see a police car turn on his lights and pull across the street and into the parking lot. The van that nudged the bumper of The Burb quickly reverses and squeals out of the parking lot. The police car stops in front of The Burb, the policeman gets out and walks up to the passenger window. Placing his hand on the windowsill he says to Neil,

“We have a report of this vehicle being involved in an altercation.”

Neil begins to argue, “There is no way that you got a report on what just happened.”

Nathan corrects Neil, “I think he’s talking about the other day when a police car was hit here in the intersection.” Nathan motions toward the policeman, “Was that you?”

The policeman begins to speak but is interrupted by a radio transmission heard over the microphone attached to the policeman’s uniform. The policeman responds to the call and begins to pull his hand away from the door. As he does, Neil looks down at the fraternity ring on the policeman’s hand,

“That’s an unusual ring, where did you go to school?”

The policeman pulls his hand away quickly and replies, “Sir we’re watching you and this suburban, best you be careful, and I would suggest that you take care of your brothers and stay out of trouble.”

The police car pulls out of the parking lot and drives down the street. Nathan begins to pull out, then stops and says,

“Wait a second, what about the van that pushed on my bumper?”

The brothers jump out of The Burb and run to the back to inspect for damage. Neil bends down and feels the bumper, “Bro, other than this black paint left behind, I don’t think it hurt it one bit.”

“That’s good,” Nathan sighs. “Do you know how hard it is to find a bumper for a 1972 3-door Suburban?”