(Nearly all of my stories have pieces of truth. This one does also. There is also a tiny bit of fantasy. Which portions? You get to decide.
Today as I write is the 22nd of January, I just got back from a long trip.
What was I doing and why?
I make the trip every year and have for years now.
At the end of the story you will understand.)
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Dan was not yet 30 years old the day the accident happened. It was a stupid mistake, he was showing off.
The day was hot, far hotter than normal. Dan looked up when the big flatbed truck backed up to his garage doors. He stared for a moment as the woman got out, she was absolutely beautiful.
Picking up a nearby rag, Dan wiped his hands and went out to greet the lady, doing his best to not stare at the obvious dark circles showing clearly through the simple white peasant style blouse she wore.
The shorts were cutoff blue jeans, her well tanned legs looked like they went on forever. She appeared to be a bit older than he was, one of those women that probably never left their bedroom until their makeup was on, hair perfect, everything offering a certain look.
Dan had seen a lot of beautiful women in his life, and was even lucky enough to score a few of them. That isn't that hard to do when a man is young and strapping strong, owns his own business and home, has some money in his pocket.
Few if any affected him the way this woman did, he was glad that the work pants he wore were on the loose side. He felt his breath catch in his throat for a moment.
"Hello! I am Cindy, my husband Barry sent me down to pick up his engine. Is it ready?" She flashed a smile that added to the situation. Of course she was completely aware of the effect she was having on him.
"Yes, ma'm, it is. Come on in." Dan turned and led her into the tiny office of the converted older gas station he had built into a machine shop.
"Please call me Cindy." He heard her say sweetly.
She glanced at the bill, then reached into her purse and handed him cash. It was quite a bit of cash, doing the machine work on the huge 460 cubic inch Ford engine had taken him all week.
His customer obviously had money, he never flinched at all when Dan quoted him some figures. Most customers did not, his reputation was well established and if someone wanted an engine that was special, then they came to see Dan.
So for nearly a complete week he had carefully sized and fitted each piece of it, knowing it was going to be special.
"How are you going to load it?" She asked, looking at the big engine block. The crankshaft and heads lay there on the bench, the big empty engine block sat in a plastic bag on the floor.
Dan simply reached down, picked up the block and rolled it up to his chest. It was very heavy, yet Dan was young and strong. But the flatbed rear of the truck was high. Dan had to lean back slightly to make the lift,struggling at the very last but he managed. He did feel a slight tug in the small of his back, thought nothing of it. Then he went and got the two heavy heads and the rest of the parts and loaded them, strapping everything down securely.
Cindy was standing right there next to him, watching. She reached out and touched his bicep, smiling. It was like an electric shock.
"My, you certainly are a strong young man!" She told him. Dan couldn't help himself, he puffed up his chest at that.
He watched as she got into the big machine and drove away. He never saw the woman again, but he always remembered her.
She was the key to the entire rest of his life.
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Dan was resting at home that evening when he felt another tug in his lower back. He got up and ran a hot bath, soaked for nearly an hour, then went to bed. The clock read 3 AM when he woke up, feeling the shock of stabbing pain in his back and hips.
There was no more sleep that night.
That morning it was to a point that nearly cannot be described. By afternoon he could no longer stand it, he stopped at a store and purchased a back brace.
That helped, but just a little. Ordinary pain pills didn't appear to have any effect. Dan forced himself to do his work, each motion was a struggle.
The next week he listened as the old Doctor explained what he thought was wrong. Some bones in his back were rubbing or something from having been damaged. The last very heavy load had been the final straw, over a half dozen years and many other heavy lifts things had piled up.
"I am only 29!" Dan protested.
"It happens, keep up what you are doing and you will be disabled." The old man told him. Then he prescribed prescription pain pills, and told him to do no heavy lifting of any kind, to take it easy.
"In fact, it's best that you don't do any work at all." He said.
"Great!" Dan thought. He was self employed, barely making the rent and bills and his house payment. He had to go to work or lose everything.
The next day he didn't go in though. In minutes after taking the medicine he began to feel very woozy. So he sat in his chair and stared at the walls. At one point he realized his head was hanging off to the side and drool was coming out of the corner of his mouth.
No way could he take those pills and still function. There was nothing he could do but put up with the crazy pain.
By weekend he felt this was not going to work, he went to see a Chiropractor. The man felt around, then twisted and turned his body, creating monstrous pain. Later, he handed Dan a small bottle of pills.
"Take these, they will help. Then I need you to come back tomorrow."
"What are these?" Dan asked, now in so much pain he could barely speak.
"Vitamins, they will build up your bones." The man said.
Dan never went back.
A month later he sat in another Doctor's office as the man explained that they needed to go in there and take a look.
"About three to six weeks in recovery, then you should be feeling pretty good!" The Doctor told him, patting him on the shoulder. That sent a stab of pain through his back so severe he nearly passed out.
Later, in the parking lot, he thought about it. They appeared to not know what was wrong, not for sure. So their answer was to cut him open and "take a look?"
Somehow that just did not sound right to him.
He never went back to see that Doctor, either.
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It was a few months later when an older man named Walter that brought in work regularly was there in his office.
Another customer had just picked up a job.