Author warnings for my incorrect Portugese. Native speakers(particularly Brazilians) feel free to send me corrections and I will re-post!
****
"No, no, no," Sanaii begged as her car started a horrendous rendition of death rattle and hum on the express way. " Not here."
Oh yeah baby, right here it seemed to taunt as the sound became louder and louder under her right wheel.
She was forced to turn off on the next exit. It was getting dark, and she had no idea where she was. She reached into her bag and grabbed her hand held navigation system. The little gadget had saved her on more than one occasion.
"Ah ha, there- ok, ok." she said excitedly working the buttons trying to find the nearest mechanic.
She found one 2 blocks to the left. She managed to pull the loud lurching car in front of a large driveway loaded with cars. There were a couple of burly looking mechanics, black, white and everything in between in greasy overalls fixing and prodding this and that inside the huge car carcasses. She could see a dingy white office building just off to the left of the garage.
She opened the door to get out and then remembered.
"Oh no," she cursed looking down at herself. She had just come from the studio. At 5 months pregnant she was still petite. Her minor in music theory had been invaluable in helping her transition to the production and choreography piece as she started to show and couldn't perform on stage.
She was wearing miniscule boy shorts and a tight long sleeved knit shirt that stretched over her small round belly. She was immediately self-conscious. She sat back in the car and nervously nibbled her nail.
"Go already, they look busy. Probably won't notice you anyway." she scolded herself.
After taking a deep breath she opened the car door. Nobody did seem to notice her to her relief. Stepping around the piles of tool and metal, she opened the office door. There was an older black man sitting at the desk talking to a younger, caramel-colored man who was leaning inside the doorframe. They spoke fast and clipped in a language that sounded like Spanish but not quite. Portuguese was her guess.
The discussion looked heated and the black man had a tired expression on his face as she knocked on the door.
"Can I help you, miss?" said the older man in heavily accented English.
"Hi. My car broke down. I think it's my tire."
"I'll check it out," said the younger man, his voice as deep and gruff as a bear sounding none to happy. He also had a thick accent.
She noticed he was much, much taller than her 5'3' inches. His short sleeved shirt showed all kinds of ropy muscle and tendon.
His face looked permanently locked in a scowl, and she stepped back a little intimidated.
"Where is it?"
"Over there, sir." she pointed hating the little girl squeak of her voice. It still had a tendency to sound that way when she was nervous.
Sanaii walked in back of him quickly to keep up with his long stride.
"This it?" He queried, arching one dark eyebrow. It was black as midnight like his straight, closely cropped hair.
"Yeah."
He bent down and inspected the wheel and wheel well.
The scowl returned to his face and he declared, "You need a new tire. In fact you need all new tires. These tires are a piece of shit. Lucky they didn't blow out on you. Didn't you hear about the recall?"
" No, can I just get some help changing this one for now. I'll get the rest later."
He stood up and looked at her oddly for a moment as if he had just noticed her.
"No."
That caught Sanaii off guard, and put her own the defensive.
"Excuse me?"
He popped the trunk on the car.
"It's not safe for you and the little bit to be driving around on these. I want you to get these tires changed now. You don't have to pay it all today if you can't." He added almost as an afterthought.
That was almost sweet, thought Sanaii even though he said it like he was mad at her.
She smiled, "I-it's ok. I can pay. Thanks for offering, sir."
"Sir? Name's Jared." he scoffed stepping around to her trunk, "Good god, little girl what the hell you got in this trunk? Everything except a good spare."
Embarrassed, Sanaii came around to stand next to him to peer into her filled to the brim trunk.
"It's like supplies, in case of an emergency."
"Well you had an emergency. Did any of this help you?"
"Guess not."
He laughed and turned to her with a smile. His teeth were perfect and white. Amazing how a smile could change a face. If he looked mean and intimidating with a scowl, he looked like an angel when he smiled. She felt immediately warmed and comforted by it.
"C'mon. Why don't you go wait in the office with Bill while I change these? I'm sure he'd like that."
His last statement was accompanied by a sweep of her legs. Immediately, she pulled at the hem of her boy shorts.
"Can I just wait out here with you?"
He shrugged, "Ok. Be right back. What's your name?"
"Sanaii."
"Sanaii- ai- ai ye" he sang softly accompanied by a few lilting Portuguese words as he walked by her with a second glance.
She thought about him while she waited. He was very attractive in that Vin Diesel sort of way.
Jared soon came back with a long blue man's dress coat.
"Here put this on." He handed her the coat. "You looked cold."
"Thanks," Sanaii groaned gratefully. It smelled familiar, a little like her father's favorite sweater.
"See that car over there?" he pointed to a black Acura with big shiny rims. "Why don't you go sit down?"
