Once the food was delivered and I walked in with the warm coffee. The aroma wafted around the cool shop bringing with it a waking vitality that refreshed the soul.
And, wouldn't you know it, a few moments later Layla lifted her head and looked around grogily.
I walked over and handed her the coffee while saying, "Good morning, it seems like you were up late."
Layla took the coffee and answered, "Mmhmm." Before she took a sip of the coffee and said, "Aah~, that's some good coffee."
"Well I'm glad you like it."
"Mhm, thanks. What time is it?"
"Umm, it is 12:32."
"At least it is earlier than I thought it would be."
"What time were you expecting?"
"Like, 2:00."
"What time did you go to sleep?"
"I don't know, 4 or 5?"
"Gee. Well, did you get a lot done?"
"Oh, yeah I did. I managed to fully clean the engine. I also repaired a few small cracks and replaced the hoses. I used my old hoist to get the truck bed into the fabrication machine but it was a tight fit.
I don't think it was designed for full truck beds to be placed inside. I will have to keep that in mind for the next car by staying away from trucks. Anyway, I got it lasered, but there is a problem. The truck bed has a few rusted holes that need to be repaired."
"What does it need, aluminum or steel?"
"Aluminum. Could you imagine steel? That would be a few hundred pounds of steel, the truck is old but not that old."
"Just making sure. Aluminum plates aren't expensive, so it's not a big deal."
"Yeah, honestly I'm surprised the truck actually didn't need that much work. It has some bad gas which is making it struggle but the parts that are rusted are not structurally affected. Just a bit of cosmetic work. Which will cost a bit of money to get it painted."
"Yeah. But, I know a guy. He is friends with my uncle and he has his own paint shop. He would let us use it or he would do the work for a good price. But, because he is cheap he has a lot of work. So there could be a wait time."
"He would let me do the work? Really?"
"Yeah. I don't see why he wouldn't."
"Can you see if he would let me do it? I really want to do as much of this as I can by myself."
"Sure. Oh, right. Look at this. While you were asleep I got an AI video editor and had it make a few different versions for you to look at. So, while I make a call you can watch what you have so far."
"Ok, cool."
I stepped just outside the door to stand under the eaves of the roof to keep the rain from falling on me. The metal building can affect the reception so standing outside can help.
I called my uncle to ask for the paint shop guy's number, once I got it I hung up and called the guy.
His name was Clyde, and was a real salt of the earth old timer.
When I called Clyde and told him who I was and what I wanted, I found out that he had hurt himself and wasn't currently using the shop. I got the conditions to use the shop and agreed.
Once the call was over I went back inside.
I started to tell Layla what I had heard, "So, I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news, Clyde, the paint shop guy hurt himself. The good news, he isn't using the shop so we can use it."
"That's not good. How did he hurt himself?"
"From what I heard, he was trying to kill a rat and accidentally shot himself."
"Umm. What?"
"So apparently, Clyde saw a rat in his house, so naturally he grabbed his 45 revolver, and started shooting at the rat. While doing so he blew a few holes in his house, and at some point tripped over something which resulted in him shooting himself in the foot."
"I'm so confused. Why was that the natural course of action?"
"Look, all I know is that to use the paint shop we only need to bring him a crate of beer."
"Uh, ok?"
"Yeah, I think I'm going to bring him a bottle of something stronger too."
"Thats probably a good idea."
"Anyway we can go and get the keys whenever we want. Just have the booze when we do."
"Well, let me down this coffee and we can go right now."
"I also got you an egg and bacon biscuit in the package over there."
"You're a life saver."
"I know. I also got some food in there so don't steal it."
"I'll try."
We sat and ate while watching through the other videos Layla had yet to see.
…
Once we finished Layla got up to get ready to go before realizing.
Layla said, "Wait. We can't go now. I forgot I still have to fix the bed before I can paint it. Wow, I got way too ahead of myself."
"Thats alright. Is there some place where we could quickly buy some aluminum plates?"
"I don't know. I'll look it up right now."
Layla looked it up on her phone and said, "Yeah, we can get what we need from any home improvement store around us."
"Really? Man, they have everything."
"Yeah. But, it looks like it's a bit more expensive there than at a metal retailer."
"Well, convenience costs money."
"True, and a few bucks for a faster turn over is worth it."
"Ok, then let's go get it."
We both hopped into the car and headed to the home improvement store.
I asked, "So, what did you think of the videos? Were they any good?"
"Yeah, they were alright, I want to tweak some things but otherwise they were good. Especially since I don't have to do any extra work."
"AI is definitely convenient."