A deluge of rain continued to fall in front of Revival Auto Repair as it had the entire morning. Alice absent-mindedly finished the sweeping tail of the smiling crocodile she’d been doodling on the foggy bay door windows facing the street.
There’d been a quick rush of customers early: commuters minding the bells and lights of their dashboard, just knocking one thing off the to-do list on the way into work. None took any notice of Alice.
“Just an oil change, I’ll wait in my car thank you very much!” they inevitably said before returning to their Starbucks and looking back into their laps, faces lit by the ghostly blue glow of their phones.
One after another she’d drained their oil, topped off fluids, and sent them happily on their way. Her father worked in the repair bay next to hers and she could see his experience today had been the same. She knew he wasn’t feeling well because he didn’t engage in her chiding him for being a slower technician than her. Most days he’d puff out his chest at such an accusation and challenge her to a race on the next customer, whereupon he’d inevitably beat her so soundly that he would personally walk over to her bay and install the oil filter on her own customer’s car.