Blasting Away

 

                                                    Blasting Away in the Neighborhood

In my previous post I wrote about our neighbor across the street – the one who has a monster fish aquarium in her living room. Her son Austin is a nice young man, but he has a pick-up truck that is not so nice. He has customized it in a strange way. His mother parks her car in their driveway, and he parks his truck in the grass between their driveway and Sam's lawn. One evening when Sam and I were sitting on his porch, regaling each other with anecdotes about events that occurred 60 years ago, I was suddenly scared out of my wits by what sounded like a cannon firing right behind my back. I jumped up a couple of inches, and then flopped back down, still shaking a bit. Sam was as calm as a cucumber. He chuckled, and explained, “That's just Austin starting his truck”.

“My stars!” I said, “How do you stand it? That's right beside your house. Doesn't it bother you and Denise?”

He shook his head, “Nah. We've got used to it”.

I don't think I'll get completely used to it. If I see Austin come out of the house, I can prepare myself for it, but if not, it becomes a traumatic experience. It really does sound like the roar of a cannon. I don't understand how or why he altered the gas-air mixture and the muffler to make it do that.

But now, I've gradually begun to see the humor in the situation. I can imagine Sam's experience when he saw me jump up, shaking. And it's become a kind of source of amusement for both of us. When we're on Sam's porch, we keep a watchful lookout to notice when Austin comes out and heads for his truck. Then we check to see if anyone is walking, jogging, or biking along the street, so we can enjoy their reaction to the sudden blast. Once I saw a little girl almost lose control of her bike, but she was able to check it without falling off. People who are walking or jogging just freeze, and yank their faces toward the source of the noise. But if two people are walking together and chatting, I can tell by the expressions on their faces that the explosion has become their new topic of conversation. Once a truck was cruising slowly up the street, with the windows rolled down, when Austin blasted off. The trucker looked around quickly, with a look of terror on his face, as if he expected a cannonball to be headed toward him.

I don't know anything worth mentioning about automobile mechanics, and maybe Austin knows what he's doing, but I wouldn't be surprised if the hood comes flying off that engine some day when he fires it up.

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