Early one Saturday Sawyer was sitting in her living room waiting for Danny. He had called about an hour ago saying that he had something he wanted to show her. He had sounded so exited that she just didn’t have the heart to say “no”, even though she had plans.
She had wanted to go to a new animal salon that had just opened down town. Not many salons in town had anyone who really specialized in the kind of “grooming” that she wanted. And the ones that did were outrageously expensive. Finally, they were opening a place that specialized in what she wanted in Hollywood.
She glanced at the clock again in agitation. What is taking him so long? She thought. He called over an hour ago! Frustrated, she got up and grabbed the phone. After dialing his number and only being greeted by ringing she set the phone back down and crashed on the couch in a huff.
No sooner had she sat down, someone knocked on the door. “Finally!” she cried.
When she opened the door she nearly fell over. It was Danny all right, but it was what he was wearing that had caused her reaction. He was wearing a jacket with a scarf around his neck, a hat that resembled Pudge’s, goggles on top of his head, boots and gloves that were to large for him. Not only that; he had also taken wax and waxed his whiskers (which were hardly visible to begin with) and shaped them into a mock handle bar mustache. The effect was so ridiculous that she had to bite her lip to prevent herself from bursting out laughing. Danny took (what he thought to be) an elegant bow, and that proved too much for Sawyer. She burst out laughing and had to hold her sides because they hurt from laughing so hard.
Danny adopted a look of haughty indignancy and walked in stiff legged when Sawyer motioned for him to come inside. She was still laughing so hard she couldn’t speak as they sat down. She soon though calmed down enough to gasp, “Why are you wearing such a gaudy outfit? You look ridiculous!” And was soon overcome with another fit of laughter.
Danny sniffed haughtily and shifted uncomfortably. Danny had originally thought himself rather dashing in the outfit, but now realized just how silly he looked. And to add insult to injury, it was extremely uncomfortable. The jacket and scarf made moving difficult, and was extremely hot; The goggles kept pulling his fur every time he moved his head a certain way; the gloves were not to bad, but again, they made it very hot; and the boots were not made for animals and did not fit well at all.
Sawyer finally completely calmed down and looked at Danny. “Uncomfortable?” she asked in a voice that said she already knew the answer.
“Of course not!” said Danny.
“Really,” said Sawyer with a smirk.
“
Yes, really!” Danny was getting annoyed now. He could tell that she knew that he was lying, and it only added to his chagrin. They sat in silence for a minute, and finally he couldn’t take it anymore. It was just too uncomfortable for him. With an exasperated groan he relented, “Yes”. With that, he grabbed the boots and pulled them off his feet saving them from the boots.
Sawyer laughed and said, “So, you said you had something to show me, I hope you didn’t come all the way down here to show me the new threads.”
Danny brightened instantly and said, “Nope, I have something even better! Come along, I’ll show you!” He got up and started to lead her out the front door and then stopped. Turning to Sawyer he said, “Here put this on first.” He took the scarf off and snugly wrapped it around her head, covering her eyes. “I don’t know about this,” said Sawyer hesitantly.
“Its ok, trust me. Follow the melodious sound of my voice,” crooned Danny as he led her out of the apartment. Danny carefully led Sawyer down the few flights of stair to the bottom. Outside of the building Danny positioned Sawyer facing the road, then removed the make shift blind fold. Sawyer stood there blinking for a moment letting her eyes adjust to the light, and gasped with surprise and delight.
Parked on the curb was a new car. Well, almost new. It was a used car; Danny bought it from a used car lot. It was only about a year old; so it was still in very good condition, save for a few dings here or there. “How did you afford this?” asked Sawyer.
“Ah, it wasn’t that expensive,” said Danny. “I got a good deal because of Farley” Farley Wink was Danny and Sawyer’s agent. He had also been Sawyers boss when Danny first came to Hollywood. She had like Danny, come to Hollywood with dreams of stardom. But after being spurned by Hollywood’s bureaucratic tendencies, she found herself in a precarious position. Farley took pity on her and offered her a job. Sawyer having nowhere else to turn took the position.
“Really? Farley helped out?” asked Sawyer. “What did he do exactly?”
“He told me the other day that a friend of his sold cars, and if his friend knew that I knew Wink, then he could get me a good deal on a car. He also said that if I had a car, not only would it be good for my rep, but it would also help save in the long run with bus, taxi, and trolley fares,” explained Danny. But he also had alternate reasons for buying the car. Not only would it help out his rep with the Hollywood elite, but also with Sawyer. He really wanted to impress her, and she was.
“Makes sense to me.” She said. But she had a suspicion that Farley had alternate reasons for his “charitable” contribution to Danny’s car. She did not know what he could gain from helping him; perhaps he thought that it would lead to more money.
As she walked around the car she espied an odd contraption near the steering wheel. “What’s that?” she asked indicating to the mechanism.
Danny looked at it and smiled. “THAT is how I drive.” Sawyer looked up and gave him a quizzical look. Chuckling Danny went on to explain that his father owned a farm, and they had to transport the goods somehow. So his father had to buy a truck and being too short to reach the pedals, asked a friend who knew about cars to make something to assist him in driving. “It’s a simple set up really,” said Danny. It takes a bit of time to set up, but its well worth it.”
“How does it work?”
“Its real easy,” said Danny as he opened the door and sat down. “These two levers right here are your accelerator, and brakes. This one at the bottom is your clutch, its used to change gears if you needed to.”
“If you needed to?” asked Sawyer confused. “I thought you always had to shift”
“Not with this car,” stated Danny proudly. “This car is what they call a hydramatic car; it shifts for you. You see I knew that we both would have to use the car, so I bought one that shifted for you. I don’t suppose you know to drive a stick do you?” And of course, she did not.
“I don’t even have a drivers license.” She admitted. “My family lived close enough to everything that we had no use of cars. So I never had to get one.”
“Well, we’ll have to fix that now won't we?” stated Danny. “When my dad got his truck, he made sure ALL of us knew how to drive. Because he knew that we would all one day have to be able to know.”
“Really? So you’ve had a drivers license for a while now?” asked Sawyer.
“Yep, sure have. Got it when I was 15.” said Danny proudly. “If you want, I could teach you, and then we both could go down to the DMV sometime. In fact, if your not doing anything today, we could go for a drive.”
“And just drive around for a couple of hours?” asked Sawyer.
“Well, we could bring a lunch. Hey, lets make a picnic of it!”
“A picnic?”
“Yeah, a picnic!”
“Well, I guess so,” said Sawyer slowly. She was still thinking about the Salon in town, but the thought of a relaxing drive and picnic with Danny alone was too appealing. “Ok, it’s a date.”
“Great, I’ll just go home first and change first,” said Danny. “I want to slip into something more comfortable first.”
About an hour later they were on their way out of the city. Sawyer had asked Danny to pick up a few things for the picnic. She already had most of the things that they needed, such as a basket, tablecloth, and meat for the sandwiches ect. But they still needed condiments, drinks, and a few other things.
Danny had changed into his clothes he came to Hollywood in and Sawyer was wearing a light blue dress and a hat. Danny had offered to let Sawyer drive but she turned down the offer. She said it would be better for him to drive to the location, and she would practice a bit at the picnic area, and maybe drive back. It turned out to be a good thing too.
When they were about half way to the picnic location there came a loud BOOM! Danny had heard this countless times while in a vehicle was used to it and instantly knew it was a blown tire. Poor Sawyer however, had never heard the sound before. When the tire blew Sawyer nearly leapt out of her fur from fright. Thus leading to her fur standing on end. She looked so comical that when Danny pulled over and looked at her he nearly fell over with mirth.
“Its ok Sawyer, it was only a blown tire,” Danny said while trying to control his laughter. “I remember the first time I heard that, nearly looked exactly the same as you in fact.”
Sawyer busied herself trying to make her fur lay flat again and said, “Huh, I hardly see what’s so funny, that sound nearly gave me a heart attack!” The sound had left her so uneasy that it was next to impossible to make her fur fully stay down. She still had a line of fur standing up along her back when she got out of the car to watch Danny change the tire.
“Want to learn how to change a tire Sawyer?”
“Sure, why not?”
“Ok, first you need to block off the opposite tire on the other side of the car. That’s to make sure the car doesn’t roll while you have it jacked up. Next you take out the jack and place it under the car like so. Crank it up a bit but not so much that the tire is off the ground yet. Now, you see this,” asked Danny indicating to the hubcap. “We need to remove this to get to the lug nuts.
Danny went on to explain that the lug nuts are best loosened while the tire is still touching the ground so it does not move as you try to loosen them. He gave her a step-by-step process of changing the tire and giving her explanations for them as well. Sawyer watched attentively and took in all the advice given. It took only about 30 min to change and soon they were on there way again.
As they were driving away Sawyer said, “Its kinda funny, I’d never have pegged you as being much of a mechanic.”
“Oh?”
“Not trying to be mean or anything, its just that you don’t seem like the mechanical type.”
Danny chucked and said teasingly, “I guess there’s still a lot more than meets the eye. In fact, when I first met you I didn’t think you looked like the dancing or singing type.”
Sawyer adopted a look of mock indigence and said, “Oh really? What did you think I looked like I was good for??”
“Oh, mopping up the stage after shows and stuff. You know, janitorial jobs.”
“Oh you cad,” said Sawyer hitting Danny lightly with her hat. “You think your so terribly clever and charming, but your not.”
“Well either way, we are both in the movies. So, how has your film been treating you?”
Sawyer and Danny both were currently working on separate films. Neither had signed a contract with a specific film studio, so they had found movies to their likings in separate places. Danny was currently in an action type movie, where as Sawyer was in a musical. Both were pleased with what was going on, but were also tired. They had no idea that it was going to be so stressful.
As they discussed their various experiences on the job, the car started to splutter and clank. Danny and Sawyer gave each other a worried look and Danny yet again pulled to the side of the road. Danny exited the car and popped the hood up to look. As soon as he did steam came pouring out of the engine.
Danny instantly knew what the problem was. Having worked on the engines of both his father’s truck and tractors he knew that the radiator simply needed water. Danny walked to the passenger side of the car and said, “It’s ok, the radiator just needs some water. So that means were going to have to use the water that we brought along with us.”
“Oh, are you sure there’s going to be enough Danny?” asked Sawyer.
“It’s going to have to be, for now at least. We should have enough to make it to the nearest gas station.” Sawyer took the basket from the back seat and pulled out their water. Danny took the water and emptied the pitiful amount of water into the car and drove away. About 5 min. later they came across a gas station.
Danny heaved a sigh of relief as they pulled in. “Well, I’ll go and see if they have some water.” Danny exited the car as the attendant came out of the building. “Hello, we were wondering if you had a water spigot or something we could use to fill up the radiator?”
“Sure do, around the other side.”
“Thank you.”
`“My pleasure. Say, I think I recognize you two from somewhere.” Said the attendant. “Yeah, I’m sure of it. You are those two cats who broke into Hollywood, Danny and Sawyer! Hey Hank, come out here look who it is!” Hank (a old dog) came slowly out of the building with a bemused look on his face.
“What’s all the yelling about?”
“Look who it is, its those two cats from Hollywood!”
“What cats from Hollywood?” asked Hank confused.
“You know, the two who performed for an audience after Darla Dimples big picture, “The Little Ark Angel”?
Hank stood there considering Danny and Sawyer for a moment until his face brightened and said, “Oh yeah, yeah your right! I saw their pictures in the paper! To think that I’d see you two stars of em all standing before me is a blessing!” He ran (as best he could) up to Danny and vigorously shook his hand.
Danny saved his hand from the old man and said, “Its good to see that we have some fans. I didn’t realize that that little incident got out.”
Sawyer coughed lightly. She was delighted to see that they had indeed become a bit popular (with the animals at least) outside of Hollywood, but she wanted to get to their picnic. Their banter was going nowhere and she could feel a long conversation coming on. She wanted to stop it before either party got too involved.
Danny was the only one who heard her and took the hint. “Well, I need to fill up the radiator and get going, nice talking with you.” The two workers looked a bit disappointed but nodded. Danny filled it up and they were on their way.
In a few minuets they finally reached their destination without any hitches. The park was marked by a short wooden fence and a small primitive hut next to the entrance road. Danny pulled up to the small hut and stopped as the guard came out. “What’s your business?” asked the guard gruffly
“Just came here for a little picnic,” stated Danny cheerfully.
“The picnic area is off the left path,” the guard said indicating to a small road off to the left. “You’ll find picnic tables and the like in the direction.”
“What if we just want to spread out a table cloth on the ground?” asked Danny.
“There is another road just a bit farther along that road, pull onto that and there should be a good area for that along that road. Just remember to pull completely off the road.”
“Can do, thanks a lot!” Danny pulled away from the hut and pulled down the road that the guard had indicated. A little way down the road they came across the second road. It was a narrow, dirt road that looked ill kept, and like it hadn’t been used for some time.
Danny stopped at the road and hesitated. Is this the road the guard told us about? He thought. It doesn’t look like its been used in a long time! He looked at Sawyer; she looked just as hesitant as he did.
“Maybe we should drive a little farther down this road,” suggested Sawyer. “Maybe this is just an old maintenance road.”
“Yeah, lets do that.” Danny drove along the road until they had come to the picnic area. “Well, it looks like that was the road after all.” Sawyer gave him a concerned look and Danny said, “Look, if this wasn’t a normal path, do you think he would have told us to go down it?”
“I suppose not,” Sawyer reluctantly conceded. “But I don’t know if we are going to find a clear spot down there. After all, the entrance is so overgrown it’s a wonder we even SAW it in the first place.”
“Awwww. Why do you always have to be such a wet blanket huh? You need to learn to loosen up a bit, look on the bright side of life! Think positively, look where it got you the last time.”
“More issues, pain, and annoyances? Joy.”
Despite Sawyers fears they found a beautiful place. After a driving a few moments, weaving along the dirt road they cam across a small clearing. It was a wide expansion of grass and a few trees. Pulling over to the side as he was asked, they both exited the car.
Sawyer stretched and looked around to marvel at the spectacle about her. It was bright, warm, and light breeze was blowing to make it feel just right. She looked up and saw that an ominous cloud was looming on the horizon. But she didn’t fret; it looked to far away to bother their picnic.
Danny too was gawking at something. Only it wasn’t at his surroundings, it was at Sawyer. She was like a piece of art, something to be cherished forever. He stood there, mesmerized.
Sawyer turned around and saw him staring at her and said, “Danny, you’re drooling.”
Danny shook himself and said, “I was just taking in the beauty of this place! Isn’t it wonderful?”
“It really is. Well, are we going to bring out the food? Or would you would prefer to “eat up” the scenery?” Sawyer asked teasingly.
Danny brought out the food and they set up picnic. It was a simple picnic; they had only bought the essentials. For the next hour they ate and talked. Talk went from to their careers to their family’s and personal life. It was the most wonderful time they had had in a long time.
As they sat there the cloud that Sawyer had seen in the distance loomed closer and closer. An impenetrable wall of clouds soon consumed the sun. Neither Danny nor Sawyer noticed the absence of the sun till it became quite dark. Danny was the first to notice.
“Say, is it getting late? I didn’t know we had been here that long!” asked Danny as he glanced up at the sky. “Uh oh, hey Sawyer, we should get to the car now.”
Sawyer looked up at the rain-laden clouds and gasped. Both Danny and Sawyer worked feverishly to pack up all the food. It was a race against time. Just as they packed the last item it started to rain.
Danny ran up to the car and tried to open the door, but it was locked. Frustrated, he dug into his pockets franticly searching for the keys. Meanwhile the rain started to come down harder and harder. He finally was able to find the keys, and open the doors.
When they had got into the car, the damage had already been done; both of them were soaked to the bone. Danny gave Sawyer a rueful smile. “Sorry about that Sawyer. I must have accidentally locked it after I got the basket.”
“It’s ok, it was an accident. And it wont be the first time I’ve been soaked while around you.” Sawyer commented dryly.
Danny looked out the windows at the torrent of rain. “Well, that’s that. So much for a nice picnic.”
He sounded so sad and down, that it really hurt Sawyer. He usually was so upbeat and happy, it was always painful to see him so put out. “I had a wonderful time Danny. It was nice to spend some alone time with you. At least the rain didn’t ruin the whole thing.”
Danny gave Sawyer an appreciative smile and said, “Well, I guess we better go home.”
Danny pulled the car around and started down the dirt road. The road was apparently poorly irrigated and in the short time that it had been raining the dirt had become mud. The car at its slow speed just couldn’t cope with it and became stuck about a quarter of the distance from the paved road.
Sawyer just couldn’t believe it. Things had gone from bad to worse in a matter of minutes. She looked and Danny with a face that said it all. Well, what do we do now?
“Here, you see this lever here? I’m going to get out of the car and when I say “now” I want to you to push it. If you think your going to hit something use this lever to slow the car down.” Said Danny.
Sawyer nodded and climbed into the driver seat as Danny got out of the car to push. Danny made his way through the muck and rain and got behind the car. As soon as Danny said “now” she pushed the lever to make the car go. But it wasn’t enough; Danny pushed and pushed but couldn’t get the car out. He then yelled to Sawyer to push the lever down until it moved.
Danny saw her nod, and braced himself and gave the car a mighty shove and shouted, “NOW!” The car lurched free of the deep mud and speed away suddenly and crashed into the trees lining the road. Danny couldn’t believe his eyes and rushed towards the car shouting Sawyers name franticly.
As he got to the car Sawyer stumbled out of the wreckage. She was shaken up but luckily avoided injury. “OH! I am so sorry! I hit the lever to hard, I couldn’t stop it, I am so very sorry!”
Danny collapsed in the mud and said, “Who cares about the car? I was worried that you had been hurt! Are you ok? Anything broken? No? Well there’s something to be grateful about.”
Danny told Sawyer to get back into the car, and he would be back with the guard soon. In 10 minutes time everything was taken care of. Danny’s car was not drivable so they were given two free bus tickets. Danny and Sawyer made it back home without farther incident. The bus ride had been horrible; they were, cold, wet, and tired. But they made it back.
What had started off as a good day ended horribly. Nothing seemed to go right. But despite all that had happened, it was a day they both were able to look back on and laugh. It was definitely a day to remember.
