If ever there was an unexpected treasure hidden behind a plain exterior, this is it! Anyone who has lived in Richardson, Texas as long as I have will remember the building on Campbell and Nantucket as the original Sterlings catalog store. After that, it was offices. Recessed off Campbell, is a nondescript building, except for the fact that there are now huge letters on the front that say Classic Cars, Banquet Rooms and NTX. Again they slow down, then stop, look about, they hear the water slapping the bank from the Great Lake again, but can not see it. The breeze from the lake is picking up, as the window is rolled down they can feel the breeze, there is a chill to it, so they roll it up a bit more. Trees are swaying.

The Internet was an invaluable tool, used in our restoration project. The new engine was found, and ordered online from a company in Arizona. He found the best buy on "Fatman" suspension by being able to shop all over the country, with just the click of the mouse. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Equinox Slowly they drive a little further up the road, find an area along the road side, they can turn around the truck; --cliffs being on one side and an embankment on the other that lead down to the lake itself. As they make their turn, they straighten out the wheel, press hard on the gas and get the hell going to the strangers house. Li-Li led me into a corridor leading to an office in the back of the building. There she introduced me to Mr. Nguyen van Duong who wasted no time in getting to his questions. Duong was an ugly man, small and fat at the same time. His hair was thin for a guy in his 40s, and he used a pomade to plaster it to this head. The skin on his face had an oily sheen to it. His lips were fat and reminded me of raw liver. There were three major car manufacturers. Ford, General Motors and Chrysler. Each manufacture had a following. Arguments could erupt over which car was the best. A man's Dodge pickup was a source of pride. Sunday morning the family would dress in their best clothes and get into a Buick for the trip to church. The Cadillac represented power and money while the Ford and Chevrolet represented the working people. People that lived in the country had a buy truck paint. It was a working truck and on Saturday's the kids jumped in the back for a trip to town. My experiences at the Shadow Bar occurred more than forty years ago, but I still wonder if I should have reported the incident when I returned to Engineers Hill. It all came back to her then, how he'd lain sobbing in his room across from hers while the man raged in the livingroom, how she'd slipped into his twin bed with him and wrapped her arms around him until he was finally asleep, how she'd read chapters of "Charlotte's Web" to him each night, how he'd raced on his bike through the dark streets the night they'd finally made their escape. She'd let him in on it early on, told him all about her plan to find a new place where it would be just the two of them and how he wouldn't ever again have to lie awake at night afraid of what was going on in the livingroom or of what he'd see in the morning as he headed out for school. He'd told no one. It was their secret. Teddie grew up, started his own family and moved away. The man died of some terrible disease, but Charlie lived on. Twenty years and several more trims later, he was still going strong. She sometimes sent Teddie photos of the plant, if only to remind him of that time in their lives. She always hoped he'd see in those pictures what she was really trying to say. She'd have to remember to mention it someday.