Eric made a turn onto a dark, winding road, wishing he had paid more attention to the directions on the way here.
As the Audi’s xenon bulbs cut through the dark space ahead, Eric leaned close to the windshield, the glow of the car’s illuminated red instruments painting his face as he squinted to see where he was going.
Before leaving the house, Eric stopped in the family room, where the entertainment center was. He stood in front of the sixty-inch flat-screen mounted on the wall above the fireplace and sized it up. It would be too big to fit in the car and too time consuming to take down. He snatched the DVD player, the Bose Surround Sound system, and cable box instead.
As he drove, Eric knew the plan wasn’t fully developed, but it was in action. He would pawn the electronics he stole for spending money, and then he’d take the car to a chop shop.
But what if the shop he knew of was no longer there? He knew he’d only get a few grand for the car, and then he’d have no transportation. Maybe he should keep it. But then exactly where would he go? To Jess’s?
She sounded like she didn’t want to see him. But if he pulled up in a big, expensive new car, he was sure that would be a different story.
Eric cut the wheel, made a right, and thought the surroundings were starting to look familiar. He relaxed a bit, feeling more confident about the decision he had just made.
All of sudden, the car lost power. Not just the engine, as if he had run out of gas, but the entire car. The lights shut off, the cabin went dark, the car shut down and eventually rolled to a slow stop as Eric steered it toward the side of the road.
“Fuck!” Eric said, hammering the wheel with the side of his fist. He yanked the hood release from under the dash, threw open the door, and sprang out of the car. He raised the hood and stared down at the engine with only the light of the moon to see.
He fidgeted around in there, pulling on belts and hoses, till he heard the sound of an approaching car.
He hunkered down behind the hood, then scurried around the side of the car, not wanting to be seen.
Bright lights lit up the Audi and the space around it. Eric heard the sound of tires crunching gravel as the approaching car pulled up slowly behind his.
A moment later, still crouching, Eric heard a door open.
“Eric, you over there?”
It was Cobi.
“If you’re over there, come out. I didn’t call the police.”
He thought a moment of just turning and running, but he finally stood and slowly walked out, his hands raised over his shoulders.
“Put your damn hands down. I’m not the cops,” Cobi said, anger in his face.
Eric lowered his hands. “I think I messed up your car.”
“No, you didn’t. I called the antitheft service and had it shut down.” Cobi dug his cell phone out of his pocket. He was wearing pajamas, slippers and a trench coat. “I’ll have it turned back on, and you’re going to drive it back home.”
At the house, Eric silently followed behind Cobi like a child awaiting punishment. They ended up in the kitchen.
Cobi opened the fridge door. “I’m having milk. Do you want something?”
“I’m good,” Eric said, his head down, brooding on one of the kitchen chairs.
His back to Eric, Cobi poured himself a half glass of milk, took a sip, set it on the counter, and then rested his hands there. From behind, Eric saw Cobi take a deep breath, then heard him exhale. Finally, he turned around, indignation on his face. “Exactly what the hell were you thinking?”
“I wasn’t.”
“No. No!” Cobi said, taking two steps toward Eric. “Play stupid, but I know you’re not. You had a plan.”
“Fine. The plan was to take the car and some of your shit, and I hadn’t thought about anything past that.”
“Bullshit! That’s not good enough, Eric,” Cobi yelled. “I find you, take you in as my family, welcome you into my home, and this is what you do? How could you?”
“What the fuck did you expect!” Eric shouted, standing from his chair. “Think about where you found me—prison. I’m a criminal. A fucking car thief. Then you trust me with your big cars and all the shit you got?”
“So I can’t trust you? Is that what you’re saying to me?”
“Why are you doin’ this?”
“Because you’re my brother.”
“That don’t mean shit. You don’t know me from any fool on the street. I’m asking you again. Why you doin’ this?”
Cobi took a moment before answering. “I was adopted by good people, but I never knew my family—my real family. You had hard times. It’s probably what got you in trouble to begin with. But I know you can do better. I want you to do better. I’m going to help you, because now that I found my family, I don’t want to lose you.”
Eric dragged a hand down his face. “What if I can’t live up to your standards? Just because we look alike don’t mean we are alike.”
“So that’s why you did it? You stole from me on the first night you’re here, because you’d rather kill our chances now than put forth the effort it takes to make this work.”
“I don’t know if I can be who you expecting me to be.”
“What if I hadn’t known it was you who took the car? What if I had called the police, and they tracked you down? You would be in custody right now. You would’ve violated your parole and you would be going back to prison. Is that what you wanted?” Cobi said, walking up to Eric.
Eric turned from Cobi’s harsh stare.
“I said, is that what you wanted to do!” Cobi shouted.
“No!” Eric yelled back.
The two men stood, eye to eye, each looking like a mirrored reflection of the other, until finally Cobi stepped away. “I can’t make you do something you don’t want to do, or be someone you don’t think you’re capable of being.” Cobi walked to the kitchen table, grabbed the keys to the Audi, walked back, and placed them in Eric’s hand. “You want it, the car is yours. I’ll go upstairs and get the title for you. Then the choice will be yours. You can get in the car, drive off right now. Keep it, sell it, whatever you want, but don’t ever, in your life, think of contacting me again. Or you can stay and we can work on getting to know each other, being a family. We’ll both make mistakes. I’m okay with that. But if you ever steal from me again, I’ll be the one prosecuting your case and personally sending you back to prison. The choice is yours.”
Eric looked down at the keys in his hand, then at the path to the back door. He gave the decision long, hard thought, then said, “Okay. I guess I wanna try.”
“Can’t be any guessing,” Cobi said.
“All right, I want to try.”
“Good.”