Jake started working for Doc at Karly's Kustoms when he was 17 years old; The same summer he got out of high school.
For the past six years or so, he has been working on his '95 S-10 with the help of a few friends and his Boss / semi-father figure Sherman Doc Jones. Doc was a 64 year old War veteran and a "Old School" Hot Rodder that gained a local following at the race strip in the 70's because he raced his El Camino with his Chihuahua "Karly" in his lap! It was common in those days to hear Doc say" never lost a race as long as Karly was watching the tack!" After the dog died in 1976 Doc decided to change the shops name from "Doc's Hot Rods" to "Karly's Kustoms"
Now with the help of Jake and a few trusted others, Doc's shop and his crew are the go-to guys for custom body, engine and suspension work.
Years back, Doc heard a noise one night, out in the shop's wrecking yard. Wobbly from a case of Blue Ribbon, He stumbled out to the yard with revolver in hand and caught Jake, ...unscrewing the tail lights off of a Junked Caddy in the dark!
Doc, with all the "mean old man face" he could muster, calmly said click... "stop right there young man! ...Put that screwdriver down and step over here" Jake, nearly pissing himself replies "Please don't call the cops man, my mom will kill me. Not to mention… take my truck away or some shit!"
With a peculiar look, Doc said, "Your truck?" ..."Why are you stealing my Cadillac Lights if you have a truck Kid?" Jake, still staring down the barrel of a '45 says politely "The idea was to shave my brake lights ...and, and I thought these would look cool in their place?"
"You're ah HotRodder?" Doc asked. "No, not really" Jake said, "um… I'm a MiniTrucker?"
Doc, again looking confused, lowered his pistol and wagged his chin. Doc thought for a second knowing deep in his heart that he would never call the police for anything again, let alone a young kid thats seemed to be into Rodding. "What's your name kid?" "Jake Hollow, Sir," ..."well Jake Hollow I'll tell you what, I wont call The Heat on you if you agree to come by and clean up my shop a few days a week?" Jake, thinking FOR SURE he was going to jail for Breaking and Entering, humbly agreed to Old Man Jones' request for a "clean up guy" at Karly's Kustoms.
That night, as Jake and Doc parted ways in the yard, Doc looked back and yelled "Ey kid, by the way... it's frenched, not shaved?"
..."You want to french those brake lights!" It was the start of a very unique friendship!
Jake, still in bed-stretched a bit. Then threw his arms over his head touching the head board, instantly started feeling the headache of the 24 beers he inflicted straight to his gut the night before. Rolling over to let his headache subside, he took a few minutes to day dream about a magazine photographer approaching him at tomorrow's truck show and how fun it's going to be to stand by his finally finished truck with his boys and go over all the little modifications he had done to it over the years with all the on lookers, spectators and passerby's. How stoked he will be to cruise the strip and drag the ass a bit while the girls were watching!
In the back ground he could hear (and smell) Lyle coughing, already up and in the living room drinking coffee and taking Bong-Rips. Lyle called it a hippie speed ball. He would always say, "I need 2 rips and 2 drips before I can start my day right."
Now, with the Sun in his face yet again, he remembered how he woke up. He thought about his phone and how it was losing its charge last night at the shop while he was putting on the bumper, sounding an alert every 5 minutes. And there at the shop, he "drunkenly" wondered ..."why does the phone waste that needed energy to beep every 5 minutes, when it could save that energy for an incoming call?"
Jake reached over and found the end of the phone charger cord that was plugged in next to his night stand and connected it to his phone, and powered it up.
As soon as he set it down it started ringing! The caller ID said, "Old Man Jones"
It was Doc calling from his mobile phone, he was probably wondering when he was coming get his S-10. "Hello?" Jake said, with a raspy hung over tone. "Aw Jake! Aw man kid!... [sniff] Where have you been? ... I've been calling you since 3AM? ... Its gone kid! ... My shop is gone!" Jake: "What's gone, how? ... The shop? ... What? ... What's going on Doc? ... Calm down?"
Jake hears c.b. radios and men talking in the background as Doc explains: "There was a fire Jake, Karly's Kustoms burned to the ground last night!"
Jake, pacing in his boxer shorts: "WHAT? Ho-lee Shit! ... Really? ... Get the fuck out of here man... Yer fuckin kiddin me right Doc? ... Don't fuck around with me! Are you serious? ... Are you okay? Wait! ... WAIT! ...IS MY TRUCK OKAY?"
Doc starts to walk toward the shade tree on his property to get way from the fire trucks and dramatic background noise. As he Sat on his heels with his back to the tree, he starts to explain to Jake:
"Yeah Kid, I'm okay but there is something I gotta tell ya" "what Doc?" "Well, you know how it was an old building to begin with right?" ..."Dust balls the size of basketballs in the attic"... "the lift in bay-one has been broke for years, it leaks in the winter and, well...uh"... Jake, clearly frustrated at this point blurts to his boss "C'mon Doc, what are you trying to say man? What happened? My truck ... It's okay right? ... Right Doc?"
Doc, now a small distance from the shop's tragedy, looks to where Jake's beautiful truck was parked only seeing a pile of smoking embers and burnt lumber. The weight of the burning wall's collapse had turned the dime into a pancake! Doc cleared the frog in his throat before uttering "well the buildings roof collapsed and when it did, it fell through the bay doors in front. And ... pushed the front wall and the doors of the shop... on to your truck. I'm sorry Jake, Im really, really sorry Kid. It got crushed and burned when the walls fell in. I'm sorry." Jake, not able to comprehend what was just explained to him, drops the phone on the ground... and slowly sits on the edge of his bed staring out the window.
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