Drivers Wanted (a novel) Read online

  He’d tell her his mother wanted to know what Adrienne liked to eat so she could cook them a nice dinner—that there was a standing invitation for them to come over and visit whenever they liked.

  Six years earlier, David had brought Marie over to meet his mom. Dorinda was impressed that her son liked someone who she thought to be classy and well-spoken. She didn’t like they were talking about living together. She had a serious talk with him the following day and told him if he loved Marie, and wanted to keep her in his life for the long run, don’t live together. It went in one ear, and straight out the other.

  He took a deep breath and dialed Marie’s number on his mother‘s rotary phone in the kitchen. So much of his future, his new purpose in life, revolved around Marie and the decisions she would make in regard to their daughter.

  “Hello.”

  “Hi Marie, it’s David,” he said, trying to sound upbeat, and not nervous.

  “Are you back?”

  “Yeah, I got in this afternoon. I’m at my mom’s. I can’t wait to meet Adrienne. All I’ve done since I arrived is —”

  She cut him off, “Listen David, I’ve had a change of heart. I’ve taken the liberty to put out a restraining order against you. There was a letter sent to your mother’s house. I assume you haven’t read it yet. If you come within five-hundred-feet of me or my daughter, you will be arrested. Do you understand?” She said, in a cool professional tone.

  “You’re kidding me.”

  “If I were you I wouldn’t try to find out.”

  “On what grounds can you have a restraining order put out on me? I’m her father. Are you denying that now?”

  “I don’t believe you have any proof of that, and I can’t take any chances when it comes to someone who’s always strung out on dope and who has harassed me many times claiming they want to see my daughter.”

  “Oh, so it’s gonna be like that?”

  David heard a click—followed by a dial tone.

  He sauntered into the living room where his mom was watching her favorite TV show, “Touched by an Angel.” She noticed the stunned expression stuck on his face that looked like he’d just been slapped.

  “What’s wrong, son?”

  “Mom, did I get a letter mailed here this week?”

  “Oh Lord, in all the excitement today I forgot all about it. I put it away. Let me go get it.” She laughed a short laugh and got up from the sofa. “It looked like some kind of legal document. Wait one second.”

  ***

  Nicole had informed David when he was in L.A. that Marie had passed her bar exam and worked as an attorney for a large insurance company downtown. David assumed Marie had access to all the best legal strategies for raising her daughter. If he was to get a fair deal, he had to get some legal representation too, or else she stood to call all the shots.

  David wanted visitation rights, maybe joint custody. He felt determined to be a father, unlike the father he had had. He wanted to pay child support and provide all the normal things dads provide for their children. He wouldn’t take this lying down—this innocent little girl not knowing she had a father who cared about her, and hadn’t abandoned her.

  His cousin Robert told him he needed at least six months to a year’s experience driving tractor-trailers. Then he could hunt for jobs that could have him home on weekends or home every night. There were plenty of them, Robert had said, and as long as you had a clean record, you would qualify.

  With commercial trucking jobs, you had to pass a drug test. Random tests would follow as well, and you could be tested anytime the company you worked for saw fit. This would be a good argument for him not being a druggie.

  A part of him was feeling hopeless, however. Insecurities had a way of haunting him. Marie most likely lived in a circle of smart, successful people, professional friends that would scrutinize him and make him look like a loser to his daughter.

  Marie had seen right through his weak track record in life and decided to take out the restraining order. She was protecting her daughter from a man with a solid drug history, a man who might relapse into drugs when things did not go right.

  The negative conversation with Marie and the restraining order were devastating to David’s resolution. When his mother asked had he talked to Marie, he lied, and said he hadn’t reached her yet. He said the legal document was “nothing.”

  He wanted to be alone with his thoughts and went to his room. He was sure his mom sensed something was wrong. Maybe she would be praying for him.

  He had avoided contacting Ivan about his arrival, hoping to sidestep any temptation of taking a toke from the bong during a welcome back celebration. But now, he thought, why not.

  Ivan would be glad to see him. No, Ivan would be overjoyed to see him, along with ecstatic, excited and exuberant to see his old buddy back in town. He would never serve a restraining order on his old pal.

  David felt he had tried to do the right thing by Marie, and she flat out rejected him. Yeah, let her be with her intelligent, successful friends.

  He came close to calling Ivan, but became drowsy, as if he was in a field of poppies in the Land of Oz. The long trip home had been draining and as he stretched out on his bed he quickly fell asleep.

  During the night David had a dream he was with Marie and Adrienne. The dream was vague, but it had a theme of happiness, of being social with them. The three were laughing about something unclear. The setting appeared to be a kitchen. It was too indistinguishable to re-imagine. He was basking in the serenity of it when he woke up.

  He tried to fall back to sleep and return to the dream but couldn’t. The harder he tried to remember the details, the faster the memory of it escaped him. He sat on the edge of his bed. Was this what his heart desired?

  Yes, without a doubt, if he had one wish that would be it. He had a desire to be with Marie, and yes, be married to her. Because he still loved her and wanted to be a true father for his daughter. David did some soul searching and decided to cooperate with his ex and not force the issue of the restraining order.

  One of the reasons was he could see things from her point of view. He felt he had made a big mistake in the past, and now was the time to try and repair things. Try to win her back, with kindness, with understanding and patience, with love. He felt like a higher power had reached him in that dream and had given him guidance on what he truly wanted, what his mission was, and the wisdom and grace on how to achieve it.

  He also woke up with a fervent desire to see his daughter. He had her photo, but felt an urgent need to observe her walking, talking, smiling and playing. He didn’t know their new address, which led him to call Nicole again. He was only able to leave a message on her answering machine and hope she was still an ally. His plan was to see his daughter from five-hundred feet away, un-noticed, and with no unlawful confrontation.

  A few days later, David realized Nicole was no longer his supporter because she never returned the messages he left on her answering machine. Something had changed. Perhaps, Marie had revealed the wretched details. Then David remembered his buddy, Ray Thompson, had a sister who worked for the telephone company.

  * * *

  Marie wasn’t familiar with David’s current car, a blue 77 Olds Cutlass. Wearing a baseball cap, he drove to the address Ray said matched the telephone number he had for Marie. It was a rowhouse in the upscale Society Hill area near Center City Philadelphia.

  Daylight was starting to filter through. It was 5:45 AM on a Tuesday morning. David was prepared to wait her out with a large cup of coffee, and a package of TastyKake Butterscotch Krimpets.

  He wasn’t sure if Marie took public transportation to work or if she drove or walked. He wasn’t sure she would go to work this morning. He wondered how she took care of Adrienne while she worked. Daycare? A friend? Summer camp? So much he didn’t know.

  Then a terrible thought occurred to him. Could she be involved with another guy? Nicole had never mentioned it, and he had never asked. Marie was attractive and educated. David began to imagine Marie walking outside and getting into a new Mercedes with a young handsome lawyer.

  Outside his car the traffic was getting heavier and his anxiety was increasing. Finally at seven o’clock, he saw her. She was alone and got into a late model VW Jetta parked on the street. It was going to be a hot balmy day. She was dressed in a light colored blouse, black pants, short heeled black shoes, large sunglasses and she carried a slim briefcase and a large pocketbook.

  She looked like she had put on a few pounds in all the right places which, to David, made her look sexier than ever. She looked professional; her hair was up and she had a glum expression on her face as she never looked up to view her surroundings when she unlocked her car and got in.

  Thank God he didn’t see some guy accompany her. That would’ve crushed him on the spot. Seeing her for the first time since he moved out, or was kicked out, brought it all back. He still loved her like no other woman he had ever loved.

  He followed her car for fifteen minutes as she battled traffic. Right before she turned into a parking structure on 16th near JFK Boulevard, her head whipped around in his direction. David was unsure if she recognized him as he sank down in his seat. Her car disappeared up a ramp. He sat there on 16th Street amongst the tall skyscrapers and wondered how he could manage a way back into her life. He also wondered where Adrienne was. What was his daughter doing now?

  Chapter 7

  Two weeks after moving back to Philly, David had something to celebrate.

  “Mom, I got it!” David said, grinning ear to ear as he walked into the kitchen holding a letter.

  “You got what, son?” Dorinda asked, seeing the excitement on his face.

  “JT Grant accepted my application and I can start their truck school next
week. Remember I told you about that, driving tractor-trailers.”

  “Tractor-trailers, but I thought you were gonna take the school bus job.” His mom said, referring to a job offer her son told her about two days earlier.

  “Well, this is what I need. This is a career, an opportunity to make some money, learn a trade. This is something I —”

  “Yes, son, but won’t you be away most of the time?” his mom interrupted. “I thought you wanted to have your daughter in your life.”

  He saw a frown on his mom's honey brown face. She was fifty-three, and had been living alone since David moved out after high school.

  The mention of his daughter made him consider the downside. “Yeah but, Mom, there are local jobs available once I get a little experience. They need drivers all over the place, but to get the local jobs you need at least six months experience over the road.”

  He was a little surprised his mother didn't realize how big a deal this could be for him.

  He added, “Mom, I don't expect to be on the road forever.”

  “How far will you be going?”

  “Well, it’s forty-eight state trucking plus Canada”

  “Oh Lord, Lord, Lord,” she shook her head. “You just arrived here and now you're leaving again. What is it, son, don't you like living here?”

  “Mom, come on, I love staying here with you. This has been the best two weeks I’ve spent since I can remember. I’ll be here for another month while I attend truck school. You know I love you, don't you?” he said, smiling a silly smile, trying to make her laugh. He added, “Another month with me, and you’ll be ready to throw me in the back of a trailer all by yourself.”

  He made another silly face. After a few moments she conceded with a reluctant smile of her own.

  “Well, if this is what you want, I'm happy for you. And, son, always remember you can stay here for as long as you want. You’re always welcome here, but I'm worried about you in those big trucks. They scare me to death, they seem so dangerous.”

  Dorinda worked at the post office and it afforded her a good living ever since she had graduated from high school. Her years of service had helped David get hired there after he had dropped out of community college.

  However, he got fired after two weeks when he was caught smoking dope in the parking lot by a supervisor. Her son was always willing to work and found another job a week after that had happened—but keeping a job for any length of time, had always been a challenge.

  David was told that his father had married his mom because he felt it was the honorable thing to do. Dorinda also admitted to David that three months after he was born, his father decided marriage wasn’t for him. He moved out, and little by little drifted out of their life. They never divorced legally, and she never remarried.

  Garrett Hogan was his name. The week before David’s high school graduation ceremony, Dorinda received a call from a man who said he was Garrett’s brother in Richmond, Virginia. He reported that Garrett had died of cirrhosis of the liver at the age of forty-five. He drank himself to death at a young age.

  Years later in L.A., when David found out he had a daughter, he wondered if it was generational—get high, neglect your offspring, die early?

  ***

  Tri-State Truck School was on the other side of the city near the airport. The August class was large, consisting of sixteen trainees, including a husband and wife. Five were JT Grant applicants. All the trainees sat in one safety seminar after another, watching training films accompanied by lectures.

  Most films were on ‘what not to do.’ The films were famous for showing some impaired or sleepy driver doing something dumb which would get laughs from students and help break up the dullness from time to time.

  Each day it was something new: hazardous material training, log book training, truck and trailer inspection training, air brakes instructions and training. It was dry, technical stuff and many, including David, found it a challenge to stay awake. Later the instructor would pass around multiple-choice quizzes on the films and the lectures.

  One instructor, Sarge, took everything super serious as if students were in the Air Force, flying nuclear missiles over crowded cities. He felt students needed to know the critical importance of rules and safety regulations, because a preventable accident could wipe out an entire family in one short swoop. It could kill a dozen school kids on a school bus, as had happened a few years earlier in Indiana.

  “Before you take off on the road, you, the driver, are expected to do an intensive pre-trip inspection,” Sarge would say. “You must check every crucial part in your entire rig to make sure nothing is bent, broke or missing, because if something’s bent, broke or missing, you could find yourself, and the company you work for, liable for millions of dollars in property damage, injuries and death,” he said, taking time to look at every student, eye to eye.

  David found out later most drivers in the real world don't check much of anything. They get the keys and get rolling. If anything seems amiss while they’re driving, that's when they do the checking.

  Backing a tractor-trailer into a perimeter of orange safety cones the instructors had set up on their lot was harder than he imagined. One student could never do it, and after a few days, dropped out of school.

  He was a short, scrawny black guy who talked a lot and carried a lot of street swag. He started cursing and shaking his head as he kept jacking the trailer the wrong way after every pull-up. After an embarrassing series of blown attempts, he told the instructor, “I’ve had enough of this bullshit.” He left and never came back.

  The trailers were 53 feet long. David had his share of frustration with backing, but kept remembering the woman in the Oklahoma truck-stop, thinking, if that little woman can do it, I know I can. The machismo thing continued to motivate.

  The second week began with mini-road trips. Three or four trainees would pile into the cab of a truck, along with one of the four school instructors, and would take turns behind the wheel of the truck hooked up to a fifty-three foot trailer. They would journey to Delaware or into the Pennsylvania countryside depending on the instructor’s whim.

  David found shifting the twelve gears could be nerve-wracking when you’re on a busy interstate like I-95. Four wheelers were scurrying all around you like rodents. No one likes to drive behind big rigs, especially when they see Truck School written on the back of the trailer. It took some getting used to.

  The four-week accelerated course only gave David a basic knowledge of driving a big rig, but most importantly gave him a commercial driver license. With a CDL, along with some road experience, you could get a job anywhere in the country. It was a good trade that would never become obsolete. There would always be a high demand for truckers. Almost everything a consumer buys gets transported in some shape or fashion by a truck.

  Jason Corman, a JT Grant safety director, visited the school during the third week and explained all the things the company expected from its students. To ride ‘solo’ with the company, you had to complete another three weeks with a company road trainer, driving over the road state to state, and hauling real freight.

  JT Grant hired drivers to be safe and proficient, and the only way to ensure that was to be trained the JT Grant way, with specialized driving instructors who drove in a professional way. David would find out later you can’t believe everything you hear.

  Chapter 8

  It was mid-September and David had become a licensed CDL trucker. He was to start the second phase of his job the next day in East Brunswick, New Jersey at a JT Grant terminal near New York City.

  It might be three weeks before he could see (spy) his daughter for the first time. He parked down the street, expecting to see both Marie and Adrienne come out of their rowhouse this morning. Public schools were entering their second week of classes.