Hate And Heresy

Meek lifted the sectional door with a good shove and the springs pulled it into place along the railings. The walls of the garage were lined with tool boxes and containers of random things. Lots of rubber hoses and hundreds of nuts and bolts. Meek fancied herself a mechanic, but she didn't do much mechanic work.

Sitting in the middle of the garage was Meek's convertible car. An ancient thing by any comparison, the black two-door vehicle of heavy metal and rubber tires was an uncommon thing, even on their particular world of mostly simple folk. There were still paved roads for traffic, but cars of the age hovered above the ground and were powered by battery cells. Meek's vehicle ran on alcohol burnt in an internal combustion engine.

"You treat this car better than your own health," Moya said. "But, I suppose that's to be expected of a woman with no children."

"Does that mean there's something you treat better than yourself?" Meek asked. "Or do you have children somewhere that you abandoned?"

Moya gave an angry glare.

"Let's just hurry up and get there so we can get the meeting over with," she said.

With the women sat in the old leather seats Meek used her skull-shaped key in the ignition. Like a monstrous beast brought back from the dead, the exhaust pipes behind them roared and the intake sticking out of the hood greedily s.u.c.k.e.d in air. For just a moment it lived before going silent.

"Come on, wake up, girl," Meek told the car.

"You should have got her going before we had to actually leave," Moya said. "Let's push her outside if you're going to be cranking her over and over."

As the women pushed the metal monster slowly to rest on the driveway, the old man across the street came out to his easy chair on the porch while the children ran over to see the beast. The handful of foster kids looked after by the old man in his old steel house led simple lives, and seeing Meek's car was always a treat.

As the blonde got out to close the garage, the five children from across the street ran around the car and the little girl, Sheela, sat in the driver's seat. Sheela always seemed to love the car more than the other kids. Perhaps even more than Meek.

"When I get older, Meek is going to give me this car," Sheela told Moya. "I'll take good care of it."

"I know, Sheela," Moya replied. "You say that every time this monstrosity comes out."

"You don't like the car?"

"Like the car? I'm in love with it and irritated. Meek won't let me drive her."

"Maybe she thinks you'll run away if you drive."

Moya considered explaining that her collar had a set distance it could be from Meek's bracelet before it would choke her, but decided it wasn't something she should mention to a child. The four boys running around the car had to be calmed before Meek could deal with the little hopeful owner. Seeing the kids play around with the ladies across the street always put a smile on the old man.

"Jerry, why don't you keep a leash on these rodents of yours?" Meek called over to him.

"What's that?" the old man answered back with a wave.

"I can never tell if he really can't hear or if he's ignoring me," Meek said with a sigh. "Come on girly, out of my seat. Your time hasn't come."

Sheela pouted big and held firm to the steering wheel.

"Fine, then give the engine a turn," Meek gave into her. "She needs to wake up. Been sitting around cold."

The little girl happily turned the key and the car once again roared to life, holding onto a growling idle.

"You can give her a few presses of the pedal for fun," Meek told Sheela. "When this needle moves over here then she's awake."

"I know!" Sheela replied, pressing her little foot down to let the car shake and yell.

"It's a good thing we still have a little bit of extra time," Moya said with a yawn. "Sheela, have you guessed the car's name yet?"

"Makka? Jezebelle? Mary?" Sheela guessed. "Rebecca? Kassandra?"

"I think you may have guessed those already," Moya replied. "All wrong. And you already burned through your five guesses."

"Hey neighbor!" a familiar voice called over to them.

"Oh, no," Meek said, not looking towards the voice. "Is that Fred?"

"Of course that's Fred," Moya replied with an unseen smile. "He doesn't miss a chance to talk to his attractive neighbors and pretend to know anything about anything."

The friendly but bothersome Fred came over with his white collar office outfit and slicked black hair. There wasn't anything wrong with Fred, but he just wouldn't take the hint that Meek and Moya didn't want to be friends. Fred did accounting work in the small office he rented next door. He didn't harm anyone or get in the way, but no one could convince Sheela of that.

"Fred, go away!" the little one called out as best she could over the engine. "We're doing important things here!"

"Oh, hi there, little Sheela!" Fred replied as he made his way over to the car. "Taking the beauty out for a ride, huh?"

"Yes, Fred," Meek answered. "We have work stuff in the city."

"How's work going, Fred?" Moya asked, irritating Meek by introducing conversation.

"Oh, great!" Fred replied. "I just got a couple new accounts and their books were a big mess, but I got them straightened out in a week!"

"Nice!" Moya cheered.

"Okay, okay, the engine is good to go," Meek hurriedly interrupted. "Sheela, go back to Jerry. We have to get to work. Talk to you later, Fred. Nice job with the accounts."

"Oh, okay," Fred replied. "Well, my offer is still on the table, if you need someone to look after your paperwork!"

"Okay, bye!" Meek answered quickly.

With the kids safely across the street and Fred backed away out of fear, Meek hit the throttle and the metal beast roared as it spun the rear tires. White smoke spread into the driveway and followed the car from the burning rubber as they slid into the street and found traction. The women raced down the street with the engine shaking windows and setting off a few car alarms.

The outskirts where Meek and Moya lived was quiet and right on the edge of the open plains. Streets had random assortments of housing and family businesses. Not many people came out to their area, but Double M had built a reputation over time for being very capable as hired muscle.

The drive into the city was always a thrill for Meek and Moya. Between the scattered buildings of the outskirts and the condensed metropolis of Kadence, a long road allowed the loud car to roar as much as it pleased. All vehicle owners enjoyed the stretch through the mostly-empty countryside. Especially fond of the road were owners of vehicles like Meek's, of which there were a handful.

Even with their abuse of speed, it took nearly a half hour of driving before they touched the city. As they always did, Meek and Moya pulled into a chemical station to fill up the car's tank. It was a quaint little building of wood and stone, aiming to attract the attention of certain types that still did machine work. It was never an incredibly busy place, but Meek and Moya had managed to catch another enthusiast filling his large yellow coupe with alcohol.

A big man of muscle and plaid shirts, Jake's huge stance was only dwarfed by the incredible black beard that made it down to his c.h.e.s.t. As Meek backed her car up to the front of the station, Jake turned towards them and smiled big.

"That car is more badass every time I see it," Jake said, with a heavy country accent.

"Hi, Jake," Moya greeted him. "What brings you to town?"

"Oh, I had a date, but she canceled," Jake replied. "At least the drive into town is always fun."

"Still looking for love on that phone dating app?" Meek questioned, grabbing an alcohol filler hose from the side of the wooden building.

Retractable reels of hose leading to different tanks lined the station and displayed prices per gallon above them. The owner of the establishment heard the girls coming and came outside to greet them, looking as out-of-place in the city as ever. A skinny old man in overalls who chewed on long bits of grass.

"How's it going, girls?" the owner, Evans, asked. "You done anything new to the ride? Felt like I heard you clear across the planet."

"Hi, Evans," Meek replied. "No, just running hard and fast. Have work to get to and didn't want to be late. You been well?"

"As well as ever, I guess," Evans answered. "When you gonna get with this fella and make some pretty babies, Meek? Idiot ain't never gonna to find anyone on that damn phone of his."

"Evans, come on," Jake said. "You know we're just friends. That road's been explored and put to rest."

"Ain't no sense in being as pretty as you two and single," Evans said. "Need to hurry up and find somebody before old age catches you. Don't want to end up alone and angry."

"Is that what happened to you, Evans?" Moya asked.

"Hell no," Evans replied. "I had me a bombshell of a wife for a time. Had two kids. They had kids of their own. I did all that shit already. I'm just waiting on the reaper now, filling the scarce needs of folks like yourselves."

"Wow, how come we never heard of your successful life before?" Moya questioned.

"Well, you never asked before," Evans replied, spitting off to the side and taking a glance inside the building. "Jake you owe me thirty-two eighty and Meek, twenty-seven fifty-two."

Jake fished for his wallet as Meek took out a couple bills of paper money.

"I'm telling you, Evans, hire a tech to set this place up with wireless checkout," Jake said. "Then we can just pay you with our phones and there won't be no work on your end."

"Just shut up and give me your plastic so I can run it," Evans replied. "And I'll be right back with your change, girl."

"You know I don't want the damn change," Meek argued.

"And you know you're getting it anyway," Evans replied. "Just wait a minute."

Evans walked back into the station with a groan and a clacky bounce from the spring-held door. Jake sighed and leaned against his vehicle.

"I don't know what we'll do when this old bastard bites the dust," he said. "My neighbors will have to go a lot farther for propane too."

"So, what were you guys going to do on this date?" Moya questioned. "Something romantic?"

"It was just burgers," Jake replied. "You don't go all out on the first date, right? Don't want to scare them away."

"Maybe she got someone else to feed her lunch so she canceled on you," Meek suggested.

"What?" Jake said. "That's dumb. People don't do that, do they?"

"Yeah, they do," both women said in unison.

"Damn it," Jake cursed, rubbing his face in embarrassment.

With a chuckle, Evans came back outside and handed over the card and change.

"Boy, you've got a lot to learn about the wiles of the female," he told Jake, to the laughter of Meek and Moya.