"I can't believe I let him talk me into this." Valerie said as they rolled into a small driveway. There was a small beach place in front of her. She got out and looked around.
"Not bad for a shack." She observed as she got out of the car. Mike picked out his house key from his set. "You live alone?" She asked as she got baby Tommy out of the car seat. Along with the now decimate laundy bag, it was the only thing they could rescue out of her broken down car. She recalled with "Mike", if that was in fact his real name, offered her on the parkway.
"I want to make you an offer." He said.
"Easy mac, do I look like that type of girl?" Valerie said.
"Well you already have a baby..."
"Its not my baby!"
"Yeesh, we're kinda high strung!" Mike said. "You never did tell me your name by the way."
"I thought you knew already, since you seem to be so good at reading my mind." Valerie said. Mike looked at her She shifted under the weight of the baby. "Valerie Parker."
"Mike Nesmith." He said. "Now we're officially introduced."
"Whats this offer?" Valerie said reminding him.
"One of my friends knows all about cars." Mike bragged. "What we do is we go to my place..."
"Not on your life..."
"Easy there, shotgun." Mike said. "I'm not that type of guy either."
"So you say." Valerie sniffed.
"I do." He said. "I will help you with your friends baby and take you whereever you wanted to go for the laundry. In fact, you can do it at our place. There is a coin laundry down the way."
"Tommy, thats the babys name, is going to Poughkeepsie Sun Day Care." Valerie said. She looked at him. "Why are you doing this?"
"I feel like I owe you for the laundry bag and for throwing myself between you and the street." He cracked. "Its what I do, and if you took a little time to find that out, you would see that too."
Valerie sighed. "This is the only way I'm gonna get things done. So be it. You can drive me." She said. At the very least she could forget about this guy once this friend of his fixes her baby, the car, and lets her drive home and out of this mans life. She looked at him. He had a certain cuteness about him. Well not cute but its not like he had road gravel for a face. She blinked fast. Don't get pulled in by the eyes. Its what happened last time.
"So how about it? Am I helping or am I leaving you? Hopefully godspeed would send you the next helpful motorist down the pike. That might be what, an hour or so?" Mike asked.
"Ok, you can help. I'll get the laundry bag this time." Valerie said handing Mike Tommy.
"Hey there little pardner." Mike said with this strangely soothing voice. "Don't worry, we'll have you at day car as soon as...." The baby made the same familiar whorfing sound. Valerie looked up and tried hard to surpress a giggle. Whatever Chris had fed the kid that morning, he seemed to have plenty of it. Tommy had sprayed Mike, from the neck up, with the same green stuff that he had barfed on her earlier that morning. He looked over at her, his face with a slight "ewww" expression. "...possible."
"I gotta admit." She thought. "I like the kids instincts."
At the house Mike opened the front door while balancing Tommy on his hip. He pulled the door open. Valerie walked through the door with the laundry bag in hand. Valerie looked around. It was a large place. She wondered how a struggling musician, like Mike and his friends might be, would be able to afford a place like this.
"Once in a while we get lucky and we pay for several months in advance." Mike said reading her mind. "But right now we're behind a month because gigs have been lacking."
"Oh." Valerie said.
"So Val, can I call you that?" Mike asked looking at her. "Okay, Val." He said with a small smile. "My friends are around here somewhere. Hey guys we've got a guest!" He yelled.
Three guys in shorts came in from the outside. Valerie, from where she was standing, could see a large beach stretching out as far as she could see. If she got another place, this would be a ideal place in her mind.
"Too bad I have next to no buckage to afford it." She thought.
Mike went over to the guys. "The curly headed one is Micky Dolenz. He plays percussion."
"Hiya babe." Micky smiled a friendly smile at her.
"The short one is Davy." Mike said. Davy gave him a glare. "He sings, and plays tambourine. Micky sings as well. And this last guy here is Peter. You name it, chances are he'll play it."
"Hi." Peter said.'
"You ARE quick Mike, gone ten minutes and you already got a kid and a wife."
"I am SO not his wife." Valerie objected. "And this isnt my kid either."
"Let me explain here." Mike said. He explained quickly about the incident at the apartment and the broken down car.
"You want me to take a look at that?" Micky asked Valerie. Valerie thought for a minute. I need my car but do I trust this guy that has a scrubbing loofa for a hair-do let me touch my car?
"Sure, what the hell. You can't do any worse than I did." Valerie decided.
"Let me get my tools." Micky said.
"We'll see how much the car needs to be fixed, then we can decide what the other moves are." Mike said. "We gotta be fast though. I came back from a potential great month gig at the Beach Par-tay Shac-kay." Mike explained. "It even has a pool."
"But Mike we got a great huge pool outside our window, called the ocean." Davy said.
"Yeah but not many girls are coming seaside this year." Mike said. Micky came bounding back with his tools."I'm ready."
"I'll go wait in the car." Valerie said. She put the laundry down and took the baby. She looked at Tommy for a second. Tommy had a strange face. It seemed he was as unsure about the foursome as she was.
"I'm with you kid." She said walking out the door.
Micky looked at Valerie as she left. "Shes cute."
"She's all right, but she doent like me." Mike said. "Not exactly the nicest girl I've known."
"And she didnt even notice me. EVERY girl notices me." Davy said. "I must be getting soft in my old age."
Mike rolled his eyes. "I don't know what her problem is, I was nice to her." He said.
"Give her time." Peter suggested. "She'll warm up to you."
"Yeah, right. It's like the Titanic warming up to a iceberg. And you know what happens right?" He asked. "It gets sunk, every time." He said. "Come on. Let's get her car fixed, and get her on her way."
They were back on the parkway. Micky had the front hood to the car open. Tools were scattered all over the ground. Micky was muttering to himself. He didnt say anything to Valerie and Mike. They said even less to each other. They sat on the curb.
"Is he done yet?" Valerie asked.
"I have no idea." Mike said as he looked at a black car passing by. "Cool car."
"Classic camaro." Valerie sighed. "'66 I think."
"67, actually. I almost was able to afford one of those last year, but something happened."
"What?" Valerie asked.
"I had an accident at one of the small club shows. The club owner thought it might be cute for me to try to dance. I got two left feet and one got in the way. Since we didnt finish the gig we had to use my car money to pay for month and medical bills. My leg still feels funny sometimes. My boots havent fit the same way since."
Valerie looked at him sympathetically. "Thats not good." She said. Mike looked up at her. Their eyes connected. She looked into his eyes and thought she saw something there. Some maybe wonderful person who had been hurt before and maybe was afraid of being hurt again. But wait, was she looking into his eyes, into his soul or into her own?
There was a long pause. Micky stared at them and shook his head. He put two fingers to his mouth and whistled. Mike and Valerie snapped to attention.
"Are you done?" She asked rising from the curb.
"Theres more that needs to be done on the car. I can't do it here." He said. "We're gonna have to push it home."
"Can it run at all?" Mike asked.
"Sure, but only to our place. From there I can do more work without these jerks driving by us. Very distracting." Micky said.
"Oh no!" Valerie said. "What do I do now?" She asked. A sad look crept onto her face. Mike looked at her and nodded at her. Valerie looked at him and expression of steel overtook the sad look she had. "Ok, you drive me to the day care center. I have to drop this baby off or they will wonder if its been kidnapped or something." She said. "Can you do that?"
"Sure." He said. "Can you drive the car home Mick? I'm taking the Monkeemobile with me."
"Monkeemobile?" Valerie thought. "So thats what the funny looking logo says."
"I can make it. It will be hard but I will try. This car shoulda been junked a long time ago." Micky opined.
"Hey watch what you say about my baby." Valerie said.
"I didnt talk bout the baby...." Micky said. "Oh the car is your baby. You are just like Mike in that way. Every car is your baby."
"Just like Mike? I don't know what to think of that." Valerie thought.
"Come on, lets go." Mike said getting in on his side.
"But what about the baby things?" Valerie said.
"I'm sure a day care center will have plenty of baby crud for the baby to play with." Mike said as Valerie passed the baby. "Is he gonna throw up on me again? I might have to change this shirt."
"I think hes empty, for now." Valerie said. "Its almost munch time there." She said getting in.
"Terrific." He said passing the baby over. "Though all this passing back and forth can't be good for the baby. He's gonna think hes a football before the days up."
Valerie smirked a little as the car pulled away from the curb. Micky waved as they jetted down the pike. "I wish they knew how cute they look together. Now if only they liked each other."
