Free Suffer II by E.E. Borton Page B

fingerprints on another man’s truck. From where he was standing, he could see the entire dashboard had been replaced and that all the instruments were new, but were made to look like the original parts. He took a few steps back to bring the entire truck into his field of vision. He didn’t notice everyone had come outside to join them.
    “This is amazing,” said Dawson. “This guy really went all out.”
    “He did,” said Hank. “You can tell he cares about her.”
    “That paint job just pulled it all together, didn’t it?” said Dawson. “I appreciate you bringing it over here so I could see it one more time, Mr. Hank.”
    “I knew you wanted to have a peek before she was gone forever,” said Hank, reaching in his pocket for the keys. “All right, that’s enough eyeballing. I need to get it back to the shop before it closes.”
    “Hank Pierce!” said Karla, stomping her foot.
    “Okay, baby, okay,” said Hank, widening his grin.
    Suddenly Dawson noticed everyone standing in a line on the lawn with the same wide grins. The only exception was Karla, who was covering her mouth with her hand. He could see that she was crying. A strange tingle formed in his stomach as he turned back to Hank.
    “Happy Birthday, son.”
    Instincts took over as the keys arched in the air towards him. His fist closed around them when they hit his hand. The tingle turned into fireworks.
    “What?” said Dawson, grabbing his stomach with his free hand.
    “It’s not our truck anymore,” said Hank. “It’s yours.”
    “Mr. Hank, you mess with me all the time,” said Dawson, feeling his legs tremble. “I know this isn’t my truck. It can’t be.”
    Karla couldn’t contain herself anymore and came bouncing across the driveway. Her face was red after the release of tension of having to hold a secret for months. He had never felt a hug so tight.
    “It’s always been yours, sweetie,” said Karla. “Since the first day you two started working on it. Hank came to bed that night and asked me when your sixteenth birthday was. He didn’t say anything after, but I knew right then it was yours. I had to pray every night that God would give me the strength to keep my mouth shut.”
    “No, no,” said Dawson. “This is too much. I can’t take anything from you.”
    “Nonsense,” said Hank, moving closer. “You’re not taking from us. You worked your tail off bringing this old girl back to life. Do you realize I didn’t have to ask you one time for help? Not one time. That’s being a man. I’m not giving you this truck; you earned it.”
    “That’s not what I mean, Mr. Hank,” said Dawson, losing his fight to hold back tears. “You and Ms. Karla took us into your home when ours stopped being one. You do everything for us. You feed us, take care of us, make sure we have what we need, make sure we stay out of trouble. You do everything. You’ve never asked us for nothing. I can’t take this from you. I owe you.”
    Karla stepped to the side as her husband reached out and took Dawson by the shoulders. Hank was losing his fight to hold back tears as well. The last time he had cried was the first time he held Emily in his arms.
    “You have no idea, do you, son?”
    “About what?”
    “How strong you are,” said Hank. “How proud I am of you and how much you mean to my family. You look out for everybody but yourself. You take care of your brother like a father should. You get him to school every day, and you do your best to take care of your dad. I know it’s hard for you when you’re over there. I know you miss your mom, and you’re hurting something terrible inside.
    “In spite of all that, you wake up every morning and you do what needs to be done. You do it without asking anybody for help. We do what we do because we love you and Tyler. Do you hear me, boy? We love you. We love both of you like you’re ours.”
    “I love you too, Mr. Hank.”
    “The only thing you owe me is to live a long life and be happy.