We drop off the horses at the stable, noticing that there are only two cars in the parking lot. Nancy and I head into the office looking for Stewart. I see him straightening the trail maps in the map display and we walk over.
“Stewart, thank you for helping us today. We had a great time.”
“Awesome, is there something else I can help you with?”
“Well, we seem to be without a vehicle and was wondering if when you were done if you could give us a ride to our car at the Colosseum BART station?”
“Sure, I was heading that way anyways. I live in Pleasanton near Livermore and I go past the Colosseum BART station on my way home.”
“Thank you, we really appreciate it.”
“No problem, I was hoping to get to talk to you some more as I was hoping to get Nancy’s number.”
Awkward.
“Nancy, are you ok, I didn’t think a person could be that shade of red.”
“Dad, go over and look at some maps or something.”
Taking the not so subtle hint, I peruse the maps, trying to listen in on their conversation. All I pick up is that Stewart is apparently not ancient, only 17 and they both are going to Valley high in the fall where Steve will be a Senior and Sally a Junior.
After a few minutes of chit chat, Nancy and Stewart are ready to head out.
“Dad, stop looking at those maps, we are ready to go.”
“Great, I’m all set, Stewart, what do you drive.”
“I’ve go a 1967 Toyota Land Cruiser, my dad and I rebuilt the engine and all the mechanical stuff so it runs like new.”
“Sounds like a great project.”
We all head for Stewart’s Land Cruiser. He of course drives and I even encourage Nancy to sit up front while I squeeze into the back seat.
“You and your dad did a great job restoring your Land Cruiser. It looks awesome all the way down to the old school AM radio.”
“I did manage to add in a Bluetooth sync, so when I put the radio to 1280, it actually plays off my smartphone playlist or streaming off the web.”
“Sweet, everything’s better with Bluetooth.”
“Dad, not everything is better with Bluetooth, besides I want to talk to Stewart more, about Stewart.”
“Alright, just pretend I’m not here and you guys can get to know each other better, I’m still confused how you don’t know each other already being that you both go to Valley High.”
“We’ll, I actually don’t go there yet, I have to finish out the summer semester at Foothill High as my family moved just last month to the East side and I wanted to finish out the session at the old school before I transfer.”
“That makes sense, so good for you, now you will already know someone when you start at Valley.”
“Definitely.”
“Dad, Stewart said he thinks he can get me a job at the Las Trampas Stables so I could go to school and work with him.”
“We’ll see.”
Nancy and Stewart talk of all things teenagery, you know; cool bands, movies, horseback riding, etc. The rest of the ride to the Coliseum BART station was uneventful, so much so that I got bored enough to build a whole bridge out of me.
“Looks like we are here, I see the exit for the Coliseum BART station, hope the ride wasn’t too boring for you.”
“Was fine, it gave me a chance to calculate the square footage of the typical innie belly button. I approximate it at 0.016 Square Feet. You see take pi time 2 r, where r is approximately 0.5 inches to get the circumference of the belly button and then multiply that by the depth, also 0.5 inches giving 0.011 Square Feet and then adding in pi times r squared resulting in an additional 0.005 Square Feet.”
“Dad, I am pretty sure someone just a built a bridge out of me and Stewart.”
“Oh sorry, sometimes I get carried away with Math.”
“No problem Mr. J.”
We pull into the parking lot and see our SUV sitting right where we parked it. Nancy and Stewart exchange their good byes planning to keep in touch before the next session starts in August at Valley.
“Nancy, text me and we can go out soon and I’ll get Mrs. Bollinger to get you a job application for the stables.”
“That would be great.”
“Who is Mrs. Ballard?”
“She runs the stables and happens to be my Aunt, so I am sure she will hire Nancy.”
“Alright, that sounds real nice, we will have to figure out transportation, but I guess it would give you some responsibility and spending cash.”
“No problem, I can ride with Stewart at least until I get my driver’s license and you get me my own car.”
“We’ll see. Have a safe trip home Stewart and thank you for the ride.”
“No problem Mr. J”