Runaways (Orphans 5)

"The freeway to the Golden Gate?" I asked. He laughed.

"Lefty's joke. He names the corridors and if you've been here enough times as I have, you know what he's talking about. This is the freeway. And this," he said turning right and slowing down to a crawl, "is the Golden Gate." We went over some sheets of metal that had been placed there to navigate over some deep ditches.

Cars were piled two and in some places three high on our right and left. We both looked and suddenly, I spotted it.

"There!" I said, pointing to my right, a few yards in from the corridor.

"Good work," he said, impressed.

The vehicle I had spotted had its roof bashed in, the windshield and side windows shattered and the driver's side door ripped off.

"Looks like it rolled," Todd said after stopping. We got out and went to the wreck. He tried to open the hood, but it was jammed shut.

"Going to take some doing," he said.

"Will Lefty help?"

"Here it's find what you want and get it yourself. Then you go up to the gate and bargain with Lefty for a while. I have some tools in the trunk," he added and went back to the car. I studied the hood and saw where the latch had been jammed. While he walked around the car, I took out his rubber hammer and a chisel and began pounding the tooth of the latch. To my surprise it broke free and then I stood up, put my fingers under the hood and pulled. He stood by, smiling with amazement when it went up.

"Need a job?" he asked, half-jokingly. "Actually, yes. We're pretty low on funds." "I'll bet. Traveling isn't cheap."

"Especially when you get robbed," I said.

He shook his head, still not sure whether or not I was making it all up. Then he leaned over the engine, located the water pump and studied it for a moment.

"It looks good," he said.

I stood by and watched him remove the pump. As he worked, he talked a bit more about himself and the area, but occasionally, he snuck in a question about our lives in the foster home.

"So," he said just before pulling out the pump, "your foster parents aren't looking for you?"

"Oh yes. By now they surely are."

He nodded and then pulled out the pump. I helped him put back his tools and we started out of the yard, pausing at the gate to show Lefty what we had taken. He studied it a moment.

"Twenty dollars seems fair," he said.

"It seems fair," Todd replied, "but it's not. I got a ten that's fair." He showed the bill.

"You're robbin' me," Lefty grumbled.

"Wouldn't be the first time," Todd told him. Lefty laughed, just a silent chuckle.

"Your dad taught you well," he said, taking the ten. "I feel generous today."

"Thanks, Lefty. See you."

"Tell your dad hello," he called as we started away.

"Thanks for being such a good negotiator," I said. He laughed.

"It's just a game Lefty always asks twice as much as he'll take. Everyone knows it. You were a great help," he added.

"Will your your father be upset that you're spending so much time with us?" I asked him. He shook his head and was silent for a while.

Then he took a breath.

"My father doesn't do all that much with the station anymore. He's got a bad leg, diabetes," he explained. Then he turned to me and added, "He spends most of his time with a bottle."