“Back to Work”

by Atonia and Stacey

Dominic Maloney finished his first cup of coffee for the day it was good to be back home in the old ramshackle house he rented. It was a fish farm owned by a family over in Nana Glen. The house had stood empty for quite awhile and the owners were happy to have a tenant on the property. Dom had nothing to do with the fish farm business, he just lived in the house.

He was going back to work today and was actually looking forward to it. He didn’t like to be idle; two weeks in Sydney had been long enough. Colin let him know the coast was clear, he’d talked to Arthur and Adam.  He guessed he’d meet Adam this morning and see Arthur. Poor kid, he didn’t mind Arthur so much unless he came out trying to tell him how to work on a car, like he knew anything at all about mechanics work.

Dom pulled up beside the garage and went inside checked his tool box making sure it was still locked up and went into the office to see Arthur.

Arthur had been going through the day's work orders when he heard the office door open. Without looking up he said, "Good morning, Dom, you're late as usual I see. I trust you had a good holiday?"

Dom looked up at the clock, one fucking minute, the minute it took him to walk from his car to the office. “Yeah, Arthur had a great time and ready to get back to work, whatcha got for me this morning?” Dom walked over to the coffee pot and poured himself a cup and leaned over Arthur’s shoulder.

Arthur cocked an eyebrow at him, frowned, then handed him a short stack of invoices, "Mr. Meridius' vehicle takes top priority here. He's out of the hospital now and I'm certain he'll be needing it back soon. Adam has been... tinkering... with it for a couple days now, though I doubt he has the actual skills required to actually get the thing up and running. Besides that, you'll find several other minor repair work to be done, nothing you can't handle, I'm sure. Adam's already out in the bay, you might try shifting him to the lighter work... oil changes and the like."

 “Okie dokie,” Dom took the paperwork and scanned down Meridus’ problems and walked out into the garage. Adam was bent over the engine and he walked over, “Hiya you must be Adam I’m Dominic, Dom for my friends. Mind if I take a look at this one?”

Adam looked up, managed a slight smile. "Be my guest," he said, handing off his wrench to Dom and standing back out of the lad's way. "Engine's shot to hell, carburetor’s busted, too. Tracked one down in Coff's, was gonna have it delivered, but they won't so I figured I'd just run by and pick it up myself on my lunch hour. I'd ask Arthur to do it, but, you know..."

“Arthur wouldn’t know a carburetor from a gas tank, you say they’ve got one in Coff’s?” Dom looked at the wrench in his hand and wondered what Adam had been using it on, it certainly didn’t fit anything holding the carburetor on, “Tell you what how about going now and see if you can’t pick it up, there’s a rush on this vehicle and we want to keep Meridius happy, I can hold the fort till you get back.” Dom handed him back his wrench. 

Adam looked at his watch, thought for a moment. Shit, he was expecting a customer to meet him at the garage in an hour. If he hurried, he might be able to make it back in time. He nodded, set the wrench aside and wiped his hands. "Got a friend of mine stopping by shortly," he told Dom, trying not to sound too nervous like. "If he gets here before I’m back, have him wait, alright?"

Dom went over and unlocked his tool box pulling out the correct sized wrench, “Sure thing Adam, hey and um make sure you get the bolts and gaskets for the carburetor I like to replace everything, make a good job of it.” Dom smiled a little and walked back to the vehicle to removed the carburetor. “Thanks mate.”

"No worries," Adam told him, walking out to his car. He looked back at Dom - the bloke was already up to his20elbows in grease. Good, he thought to himself, maybe he'll keep busy and not go snooping around while I'm gone. He started the car and peeled out of the drive, spraying gravel up everywhere. He had to really get a move on if he was going to be back in time before that bloke came to pick up his 'package'. Hopefully, Dob had clued him in to the fact that another mechanic might be working and to ask for Adam by name, otherwise the shite would hit the fan for sure.

While he was gone, Arthur decided to check up on how things were going with Dom and Maximus' 4x4. He came lurking out of his office, walked slowly up behind Dom, peering over his shoulders as the man leaned into the engine. "Where's Adam off to then?" he asked, startling Dom.

“Bloody hell,” the wrench went beneath the car, “Arthur see if you can fish that wrench out from under the wheel, “I sent Adam to Coffs to pick up a carburetor. He already talked to some bloke about it and I didn’t see any reason to wait around for his lunch break to go get it.” Dom leaned on the fender waiting for Arthur to come up with his wrench. “He’s a nervous kinda bloke ain’t he?” 

"Nervous?" Arthur asked, bending down to get a better look at where the wrench had fallen, "Bit of a tosser if you ask me. Try and give the lad a little direction and he flies off the handle. Can't even talk to him. Not that I'm one to complain, but most days I just stay clear. Oh and you should see the types of customers he's been bringing in here, too. Real ruffian-types. not from around here, I'm certain. You might want to keep an eye out, Dom, I'm sure more of the likes will be around here shortly." Arthur grimaced, then rolled up his sleeve and reached under the vehicle and pulled out the wrench. He smiled proudly as he handed it to Dom.

Dom took the wrench back, “you say the customers are not from around here?” The short time Dom had worked there he knew most of their regular customers. “Maybe he’s a good mechanic Arthur, brought his customers with him that happens you know. What garage did he work at before he came here?”

"That's the thing," Arthur told him, brushing the dirt and from the front of his jacket, "None of these new customers have really anything wrong with their vehicles. Mostly just want an oil change or a tune-up and the like. Colin told me Adam hadn't really worked much in a garage before, mostly just helping his dad out here and there, maybe the odd job from time to time. And I'd hardly call him a good mechanic, just look at the state of Mr. Meridius' 4x4 here and you can see."

Dom looked at Arthur, “I’ll keep an eye out Arthur, something not quite right about this and you’re right he hasn’t done a damn thing with Meridius’s vehicle other than strip out a bolt.” Dom scratched his head, “you know I hate to be suspicious of the lad I just met him this morning and he’s Colin’s brother in law but something stinks here. Plenty of garages in Coffs for oil changes and the like. Yeah, I’ll be paying attention.”

Arthur nodded, "Thank-you, Dom. Now, if you will excuse me, I'll just be getting back to the office and let you get back to your repair work."

Dom chuckled, had Arthur just said thank you! Dom looked over the garage bays for a moment and then ducked his head back under the hood. He couldn’t think what Adam was up to, but it was something.