Riding the Storm Out!

My name is Michael Ricker, I'm 5'6" with broad shoulders and a slim waist. I weigh 187 lbs. I did well at school and got good grades. I'm a junior in high school 18 years old, most people say I'm withdrawn and a loner, because I prefer to stay in my room and play my guitar. Dad got tired of hearing me practice so he made the basement into a room for me to play my music. So while Mom was busy with her group of friends, they met every week to drink a few bottles of wine and Dad was gone on one of his business trips to 'who cares where', I made a decision to broaden my abilities. I have played the acoustic guitar since I was 6. I could play almost any song from the sixties to the songs playing on the radio today.

My Grandfather bought me my first guitar and taught me how to play. My parents treated me like I was 12. When I was at the start of my junior year in highschool, they complained so much that my Grandfather stopped, Then with the money I'd been saving, and a small loan from him, he took me to the music shop to buy my first electric guitar and an amplifier. soon I was playing it like my acoustic, Mom and Dad didn't talk to Gramps for a month.

They decided to take a vacation, I thought I'd finally have the house to myself so I could try out the backup music machine that I found in the school's dumpster and repaired it myself. Mom shot that idea down and humiliated me in front of my friends like she always does.

"Your father and I are taking a vacation, we'll be gone two, maybe three weeks. You don't have to worry, I've hired you a babysitter while we're gone. you'll be staying with Angie, the 21-year-old across the street."

"Angie?" I replied, "Why can't I just stay here and watch the house?"

"No, that would be too much pressure for someone your age" She replied.

"That's bullshit Mom! She's only two years older than I am, and she's free to do what she wants. So why do I have to have a babysitter?"

"Because we don't think you can handle the pressure of living on your own for that long, all you'll do is play that damn guitar, you need to be outside playing with your friend's little man!" She snapped, "You'll go over there until we get back, and that's final!"

I had enough of being treated like a 10-year-old, "This isn't going to end well, and that's a fact!"

"Don't threaten me, little boy! You need to respect adults, and it's time you should!"

"It's not a threat, it's a promise," I said in my normal voice. She took a few steps towards me and threatened to whip my ass with one of Dad's belts. I stood up and looked her in the eye, "Do it, you won't like what happens! Besides, don't you have a flight to catch? Dad's waiting at the airport for you"

"We'll finish this when your Father and I get back! You little asshole!" She screamed, "Now take my bags to the car"

I just sat back down on the couch, "Those big bags are too much for little 'ol me to handle, and seeing as how I don't want to hurt myself. I guess you'll have to do it, or better yet, why don't you get the babysitter to help you?"

Mom spun around and backhanded my face, her rings left more than a few cuts on my face, and the ornate ring she always wore caught my eye leaving an inch-and-a-half tearing split from the edge of my eye socket to my temple. I recovered from the shock and the pain. I lifted my face to her and when she saw the damage she had done, she was shocked. "Oh, my God! I didn't mean for that to happen, let me clean it up for you" I looked down and saw that the blood from my eye was now running down my chest.

"Don't you EVER touch me again, bitch! Why don't you take a picture so you can show Dad and brag about how you put me in my place? I'm sure he'd be really proud of you and how you handled the situation!" I turned and walked out the door.

"Wait honey, that needs to be treated now" She called out to me.

"I don't need any more of your treatment! I'll find my own, it's safer that way!" She ran after me trying to say something. I just jumped into my beater, backed out of the drive, and left her in tears standing in the driveway. I called my friend Jimmy up and asked if his Mom was home, she is an ER nurse.

Jimmy picked up before it rang a third time. "Hey Mikey, what's up?"

I told him what happened and asked if his Mom was home.

"Yeah, she just walked in, What's happening?" He asked.

"I need her, I'm on my way over. It's getting hard to see and I think I'm getting ready to pass out. Tell her to have her med kit ready, I'll try to make it over, ok?"

"If you don't make it we'll backtrack the streets and find you, just stay awake!"

I was a block and a half away from their house when it got bad. I jumped the curb and parked in their front yard, then everything went black.

Jimmy and his Mom came out. She told Jimmy to run next door and get Mr. Henderson to help carry me inside. I floated near consciousness as Jimmy's Mom's voice came from far away. "My God! Who did this?"

I was laid down on something hard, trying to say, 'Pictures first, pictures first' and I was gone again. Ms. Ortiz took charge of my care and wounds. I came to the next morning on an EMS bodyboard with my arms strapped down, following the tube in my arm I saw it was attached to a pint bag of blood on a makeshift stand.

I tried to move my legs and was able to, but in the process, I kicked something semi-soft. I heard someone talking and then heard Jimmy yell, "He's awake, Mom, he's awake!" Ms. Ortiz was soon by my side wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt.

"Michael? Can you hear me, Michael?" She asked softly. All I could do was nod my head. "Thank the heavens! It was touch and go for a while, finally, I had to call an EMT on duty. He is a close friend so you don't have to worry, he'll keep quiet" She told Jimmy to get me a juice bag from the fridge and let me sip on it, while she checked my face. After she checked my bandages she asked who did this to me, and why I didn't call an EMS, but came here.

"She'd find me" was my reply

"Who would find you? I had to stitch an artery that was breached from the wound at your eye, and you have ten stitches closing the other cuts and 13 to close the eye damage. Can you understand what I said?" I nodded my head again. "So who attacked you?"

"Mother," I said, but it came out just above a whisper.

"WTF?" She said, "Did you say your Mother did this to you?" I nodded my head again. "Michael, I have to report this. If you got here any later than you did, I don't think we'd be talking, the artery at your eye was pumping your blood out at a pretty good pace." She picked up her phone and started punching buttons. I was able to free my arm and put my hand over it.

"No police, no hospital, Please give me my phone" When I had it in my hand I pressed a button to speed dial my Grandfather, "Please tell Gramps what happened and have him come over. We need to talk" I handed the phone to her, "I'm so tired now, I'll take a nap til he gets here. Did you take pictures?" She said yes, I had her send them to my phone, and then sleep took me.

I woke when I heard Grandpa's voice. "Who did this to you?" I felt better so I motioned for something to drink and was given another pouch of fruit juice. When my mouth and throat were lubricated I could talk a lot better. "Your daughter-in-law did" I had never seen Gramps so pissed off, it was like all the heat was stolen from the room, I told him everything that happened, and how I got here. I even showed him all the pictures Ms. Ortiz had taken.

I asked him if Mom was still at the house. He hissed through his teeth, "No, she went on her vacation"

I stood up with some help from Gramps and Ms. Ortiz. She removed the empty pint of blood and removed the IV. "I need to get moving, I have things to do before she gets home" I gave Ms. Ortiz a long hug, "Thank you for being there for me. I'm sorry I have been such a problem"

Ms. Ortiz's face went fire-engine red, "You needed help, I was glad I was there for you" She raised her eyes to mine, there was something different in them. I leaned over to kiss her cheek when she turned her head a bit and my kiss landed on her lips. She had a little smirk on her face, "If you're in need of my help, just call. I'll be there"

They walked us out to our cars, "Don't think you're driving anywhere, Michael" Gramps said, "I don't think you'll be needing that beater either" He had a funny grin on his face. He nodded his head towards Jimmy and his Mom, I got the hint. I turned back to them.

"Jimmy, could you come here a second?" He followed me over to my car. "The car looks pretty clean" Jimmy smiled.

"Mom wouldn't let me help her, so I had to do something to keep me busy" He shrugged, "besides, I couldn't leave it in the front yard" He chuckled.

"I'm glad you got almost all of my blood out of your car, I feel better about that" I grinned.

"You're shitting me! Really? I don't know what to say" He replied.

"How about a 'Thank you' and we'll call it even" I smiled.

He gave me a big hug, "Thank you, my Mom has been trying to save enough money so I could buy my own. But every since Dad died we just don't have the money. This will make her almost as happy about it as I am!"

"Just don't do anything stupid with it, ok?" I was giving him the best smile I could

Karla, (Ms. Ortiz) smiled through her tears. "Thank you for the gift, it will make things easier for Jimmy and me" She walked up to me and wrapped her arms around my neck. Her body melted against mine and she gave me a very passionate kiss and trailed her tongue across my lips. "You come back to me after you do what you need to do. I was always very fond of you, but when I almost lost you, I realized that I was in love with you" She walked over to Jimmy and smiled, leaving me in shock for a minute.

I slowly turned and saw Gramps with a shit-eating grin on his face. "Ready to get going, loverboy?" I was still in a bit of shock when I got in and closed the door. "You've got a good woman there, don't blow it!" A smile came across my face. It hurt, but that was okay. "Let's go get what you need out of that house of theirs, your life is about to change in ways you can't even begin to imagine"

After we got all my stuff out of the house. We got it all secured, Grandpa asked me to send him the pictures that Karla had taken. After driving for a bit, Grandpa said, "I don't know about you, but I need something to eat" We pulled into a diner along the way, it was small but cozy and clean. The waitress came over to get our drinks and when she returned to get our orders, Grandpa smiled, "I'll order for us" then turned to the waitress. "I'll have the manhattan sandwich with an order of onion rings, he will have three grilled cheese sandwichs with an order of fries, be sure to make them crispy on the outside and soft in the middle" She smiled and left to place our orders.

"We're going to spend some time at a friend of mine's place. It's quiet and peaceful, a good place to hold up and get you healed up, plus you can play your music till the cows come home" Grandpa put a $100 on the table and walked out. Once we got into the SUV, I asked him why he did that. He told me to look at our waitress, "See how she stretches her legs out and rolls her feet? She's been on them all day, also if you noticed she still has the indention on her ring finger, but no ring. She's newly divorced. This is probably the only job she can find right now. She could use the money.

I was amazed at how observant Grandpa was, I needed to pay closer attention to things going on around me.

We pulled up to a set of gates across a driveway that led into the trees. Grandpa slowed down a bit, and when we got near the gates opened and we drove through, I looked back and saw the gates close once we passed through. We drove down the driveway for about 15 minutes when I saw the house, it was huge! We pulled up to the front door and got out. As we approached the double doors, a man in a nice suit opened the door. "Nice to see you Sir, welcome home" I about fell over standing in the doorway trying to take it all in... 'home?'

"Mmm, Gramps, this is your house?" I finally got the words out.

"My Great Grandpa built it, been in the family for 160 years, and I hate big houses, that's why I bought my 10-acre farm and live there" He chuckled at the look on my face, "One day it all it will be yours"

"No offense Grampa, I wouldn't take it, all I want is a place to play my music with no one to bother me"

"I felt the same way when my Father said it to me as well" He smirked, "Come on, let's get a snack, then get some sleep"

After we ate, he showed me a large bedroom, the bathroom that it had was almost half as big as the bedroom. "Somebody could almost get lost in here" I laughed.

He chuckled at that, " Well if you do, remember I'm sleeping right next door"

I gave him a big hug as I could, "Thank you for being my rock, Grandpa! I don't feel as helpless as I did before"

"Don't feel that way anymore, Michael. You will always have my support, though you might not see it, but it will always be there for you" He turned and went to his room.

I knew everything was going to change, but it had been a long day and I was dead tired. I fell asleep thinking of Karla, to me she was the most beautiful woman I know. She loved me, despite her being 10 years older than I, and she was mine.

In the morning, the butler came into my room to let me know breakfast was ready, but I wasn't there. He quickly woke Grampa up and informed him. Grandpa had the staff search the house while he steped out onto the porch to look around outside. He didn't have to look very hard, he just followed the music. He found me sitting nearby at the head of a canyon playing Mozart's symphony no. 25. The canyon gave the piece a peculiar embodyment as it echoed down the canyon walls.

He waited until I finished and walked up to me. "What kind of music was that?" He startled me, then I just smiled.

"It was a movement Mozart wrote, there are some parts that are a pain, but it is a beautiful piece of music. Want to hear another one? It's a more modern song, but it will get your feet tapping"

Gramps sat down on a nearby rock, "Play on maestro!"

I reset the backup box a bit, then I started playing Peter Gabriel's 'Solsbury Hill' it got Grampa's feet tapping as well as rocking back and forth. When I finished Grampa stood up and applauded. "You're right, it sounds good enough to dance to!"

"You could build me a small two bedroom house right here, but then I would never leave it, lol!" I grinned, let me play you a song that explains Dad and my relationship.

"One more, then it's time for breakfast" He sat back down. I reset the box and then played Harry Chapin's 'Cat's in the cradle', when I was done I saw the tears in his eyes. "That song tells a message we all need to remember" He gave me a sad smile, "Let's go get some breakfast, and then I have something to show you.

The dining room was spacious. "At the time, there were almost twelve children living here, as well as adults. the food the chef puts out is rather fanciful, but I'm a meat and potatoes kind of guy" He explained as they brought our food, It isn't breakfast without bacon! They brought out biscuits and gravy, bacon, sausage patties, and eggs with cheese mixed in, with a glass of milk and some orange juice. We both just smiled and dug into our food.

"I have a doctor stopping by in a bit to check your injuries, then I have a surprise for you" Grandpa said as he sat back into his seat enjoying a cup of coffee.

The butler came in to announce that the doctor had arrived and was waiting for him. "Speak of the devil and up he pops!" He laughed. We walked into a small room that looked like a small clinic. The doctor had me get on the table and lay back. After removing the bandages he said that the stitches on the smaller cuts had healed and could be removed, but he would have to lance the cut near my eye and release a knot of infection he found. As he removed the stitches I could feel the skin relaxing, then he looked over at Grandpa. "Stop making that face, I don't know how you do it" While my attention focused on Grandpa and my body relaxed. Then the bastard lanced the eye wound.

Grandpa said, "Too soon after breakfast" looking away. While I was in pain from the sudden release of pressure, he lanced another small one.

"You know that those pockets had to be lanced, and I'm not a sadist btw" He patted my shoulder. All I have to do is clean it out, and then I'm going to stitch it up again. It's not healed enough to leave it be, but they'll be removed in a few weeks. Then he about killed me when he put something on the wound to help him clean it out. "Well look what I found" He pulled one of the stones that went to Mom's ring out of the wound, "It would never heal with this thing still in it, You're going to heal more quickly than I thought with that removed"

He cleaned up everything then had me sit up on the table and told me to just sit there. He went over to his bag and then filled a cup with water. He gave me a bottle of pills, "Take two now and then again in the evening. They'll keep any more infection from building up and they'll help with the pain as well" He put the implements he had used back in his bag, "Be careful when you first start walking around till you get used to it. I'll return in a week for those other stitches" Then he pulled a cigar out of his bag and lit it up.

I jokingly said, "Hey doc, I heard smoking isn't good for you"

He blew out some smoke and then looked at me with a grin, "Son, the rule of thumb is this, 'What were once vices are now habits'. Besides, I love my Cuban cigars" He looked at Grandpa, "It's time for me to get going, you all have a good evening" Grandpa walked him to the door and thanked him for stopping by.

He came back and said, "How about we take that bandage off for a bit and let some air help to heal it" Then he gave me a sly look, "My Father and I rebuilt old cars. That's how we bonded, he was so busy with his work that this was our escape. Sometimes we'd work through the night, it pissed Mother off to no end" He had a far away look in his eyes, and a fond smile on his face. "They were the best of days then"

He took me over to a good sized building attached to the other end of the house and unlocked the door, to say I was stunned was an understatement! There was a 1940 VW, a 1965 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow with suicide doors, a Ferrari Spider, He even had a 1950 VW type 2 van with 32 windows and a split windshield, to name a few that I saw, and I haven't stepped inside the building yet!

"Not too shaby of a collection, eh?" Grandpa said with a smile that seemed to cover his face.

"I'd almost be afraid to drive any one of them" was my reply.

"They're just cars, Michael. They were built to be driven" He said as he leaned closer to me. "Not to be sitting in a collection afraid to drive it untill it starts pissing oil underneath it" I could see the pride of these cars in his face.

"I have a surprise for you, I hated seeing you drive that old beater all the time, even though you earned the money by yourself to pay for it, but your parents forbid me to interfear. Well, that shit ends today!" He walked to the back of the building to a 1964 mustang two door fast back, white with two blue stripes going down the middle of the car. "Now this is the car for you, I can't let the maestro driving around it a rust bucket" He elbowed me, "The keys are in the ignition, take it for a spin!" I was in awe as Grandpa openned the garage door behind it.

I was in love before I twisted the key!

"In the morning, you're going back home to spend time with your lady friend. I'll be there the day after, I have some loose ends to tie up, then I'll join you"

That night there were storm clouds in the sky with a few flashes of lightning. I told Grandpa I wanted to step out to play some music, I'll back before supper. I took my electric guitar this time. I started playing Freebird by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Then as I felt the rain begin, I turned everything up to the max, and then I rocked the canyon with Riding the storm out, by REO Speedwagon. Then the storm rolled in so I went back inside. I walked into my room to wipe the guitar down, but Grandpa called to me to have a seat in his study, he was sitting there with another man in casual clothes.