Shortly after Rose Van Direstag took Rachel and Robert out to the high school, the rest of the family turned to focus on their mission for the early morning, recovering the family van. The morning was calm, and unlike the previous afternoon and evening, the sun was shinning, which made the coming hike for the two Van Direstag men better.
"Come on, Frank," Richard commented and motioned to his son to follow him down circular street in a southerly direction to head toward the town's main street, "it shouldn't take too long to hike to the repair shop and get the van back. We want to be back home by the time the movers get here."
"Do you know when that will be, dad?" Frank asked as he followed his father along, glancing up the high wall around the property that was next to their home. The tiles at the top of the wall carried an oriental flare to them by their color and how they were arranged at the corners of the structure, though he had to admit he didn't know enough about architecture to be sure. Though he did guess that if the wall was around a residence compound, the owner had to be well off, and if it was around a business, the business had to have something unique to the services provided. After a moment he looked back to his father as they began to approach Moon Lake's "Main Street."
"From what I could tell based on the tracking number that we got when we left... by ten AM, so we should be fine," Richard commented, "and since it isn't raining today, we should have no problems. We'll get the van and then head back home and get ready for the real fun... moving all the boxes and things to the appropriate rooms."
Frank nodded in slow acceptance of that. Unlike Rachel and Robert, Frank was actually quite thankful at all that his parents had done. He'd managed to get through school, okay, but he'd occasionally run into some issues with words seeming to be backwards when reading or writing, particularly when he was little. Thankfully he'd generally been pretty good at building things and the woodshop and welding program in his old high school had been his favorite subjects, but because of his lower grades in his more academic courses, most colleges in Michigan didn't offer much in the way of scholarships, and through the previous year, his father had searched the country for a college that would and had found Moon Lake College, which was a small school but seemed to run both academic and vocational programs and were willing to offer a decent scholarship. And it was for that that he was willing to work with the move and go through some of the extra work that came with it.
"That shouldn't be too hard," Frank said to his father as they then crossed Main Street and then turned to head east down the straight road that ran east and west through the town.
They walked along fairly quietly and were able to observe a few business and places coming to life, likely getting things up and running again after the Halloween weekend. Some were fairly typical shops that one might find in a small downtown area and had some things that bordered others that might not be common in other places. As they walked along they passed modest sized hardware store and then immediately next to it was a shop that appeared to sell clothing that was labeled "Awareness" written in gold lettering across the glass of the building's front door. He also noted one woman moving some clothing around a front counter through the glass, but their walk was at a fast enough pace that Frank couldn't get a real "look" at the woman through the glass window in the door.
They then crossed into the central area of the town and essentially walked through the large park area that was in the town's center. At points the faint squeak of swings softly shuffling in the breeze could be heard, but the two men ended up having to focus on crossing the street as they got to the very center. Richard remembered this when he came up to Moon Lake on his own while looking for possible schools that might offer Frank a scholarship, and had driven along the streets that made up Moon Lake's odd wagon wheel layout. Because Moon Lake's straight roads all came in to a central point, that meant while the overall distance to get to the other side of Main Street wasn't too terribly far in a straight line they actually had to cross eight streets. They eventually made their way back onto the side walk for Moon Lake's Main Street and continued on until they came toward the eastern most edge of town with the mountains to the east clearly visible in the background, a Target on the north side of the street and then the repair shop on the southern side of Main Street.
The repair shop wasn't too large with what looked like a small office on its easternmost end a larger garage area on its western end. Richard and Frank noted the "Open" sign and walked into the office. They came in to find a lone man standing behind a rather small counter with a few papers scattered across it, though it looked like the man was starting the day with some sorting. He was about as tall Richard was, though his blue shirt with the name tag that read: "Sylvester" was stretched over a relatively muscular frame. It wasn't huge, but just bigger than Richard.
"Hello, folks," the man, Sylvester, spoke, "Welcome to Moon Lake Tow and Repair. How may I help you?"
"Yes, Richard Van Direstag and this is my son, Frank," Richard spoke, "we're here to pick up our family van."
"Van Dire..." Sylvester said slowly.
"Van Direstag, it's Dutch," Richard spoke.
They watched as the man shuffled through some pages and then came across one that was closest to the cash register.
"Ah, yes, the 2009 Dodge Grand Caravan... with a flat tire," Sylvester chuckled.
"Yes... we would have been able to change it... but..." Richard said slowly.
"It was rainy, yesterday," Sylvester nodded, "and your spare was also flat. Thankfully we were able to fit it in and the damage wasn't serious. You all moving through."
"I'm actually going to college here," Frank commented, "but we've had some money issues with regard to transport between here and Michigan..."
"So, I worked out an agreement with the dean to let Frank start his classes online and we could get the time to arrange things to move here," Richard told him, "we only got in last night."
"Did you see the Town Chancellor?" Sylvester wondered.
"We got here pretty late," Richard commented, "if there was something I missed when applied for rent with the house..."
"Nothing you missed, just a special "welcome" that Moon Lake provides new residents," Sylvester commented, "We'll be sure to get you back home quick. Now that things should be opening up... that welcome should be coming."
"Sure... how much do I owe you?" Richard asked.
"Will you need us to move anything for you?" Frank asked.
"No, your things are fine and with the spare fixed and put back... you shouldn't have any problems, but thank you for offering," Sylvester said to Frank and then looked back to Richard, "and for the tow from about two miles outside of town and repairing two flat tires, that will be ten dollars for the tow and forty five dollars for the repairs to your tires combined for a total of fifty-five dollars."
Richard sighed and nodded, "Will you accept an insurance payment? I do have those forms with me. I'm sure I'm covered."
"We can," Sylvester nodded and then turned around and pulled out a form that was hanging on the wall, though you'll need to fill this out along with it. It'll let us know where you are. That way if your insurance company doesn't cover you, we can send you the bill and you'll have one month to pay the bill from the date of reception of the bill."
Richard nodded and sighed while digging into his back pocket, "Will you need my insurance card copied?" To which Sylvester nodded. From there Richard began filling out the information that company required for the insurance payment while Sylvester took Richard's insurance card and turned to a photocopying machine that was behind him. The man lifted the lid and then placed the card down on the glass as the machine slowly hummed to life. After a few moments, it beeped and Sylvester hit one green button that activated the machine. As that worked, he then turned back to the counter. Frank watched as the man bent down and was wrestling with something beneath the counter. Eventually Sylvester stood up again with the key to the Van Direstag's van.
"And there young man, while your father finishes the paperwork, you and I can go out and handle the retrieval of your family's vehicle," Sylvester spoke as he held out the key to Frank.
"Just park it out in the parking lot, son, this shouldn't be too long," Richard commented as he watched Sylvester hand the keys to Frank and lead the oldest Van Direstag "child" through a door into the repair bay area.
Frank followed the man into the larger repair bay and noted the two large garage doors that were presently closed that faced Moon Lake's Main Street. On the other side were another two garage doors that went behind the repair shop. Frank thought he could see a tow truck parked back there through a window. Closer to them in one repair bay was the Van Direstag van, looking fine and good as new after it's flat tire on the way in. Frank walked around it to check things over and found no damage to the front or anything like that. As he did so, he caught something else. In the other repair bay there was another car that looked totally wrecked. Like it had rolled down a cliff and was practically destroyed in the fall.
"That was something we had to recover late on Halloween night," Sylvester spoke as he came around the Van Direstag van to note Frank looking to the wrecked car, "person drove north out of town, lost control and rolled down a ravine."
"He or she okay?" Frank asked, watching as a small team of men seemed to be cutting up and removing pieces of the vehicle. Some parts were set closer to the front garage door while the rest were being put into some plastic buckets that were nearby. With the damage done, Frank figured that if the driver was still alive, he or she had to be in the ICU.
"No, the driver was killed in the crash," Sylvester answered, "So... we're mostly just breaking things down for recycling get all the metal together, the plastics together, and see if there are any serviceable nuts and bolts for any other repair job that may come up."
"Sound like a lot of work," Frank commented slowly.
"Can be, but it's nothing compared to what Talbot Restoration goes through," Sylvester commented, "they take old cars and put them back together and with as many original parts as possible. If they need to replicate a part... they have to order it to the original specifications or manage it some other way. A lot more work that what we do here. Anyway, I'll open the garage door here so you can back out."
Frank shrugged at that and then followed Sylvester back toward the garage door. Sylvester pushed a black button on a panel on the wall as the door began to lift up.
"Thank you for your help," Frank said to Sylvester as the door rose up above them.
"No problem," Sylvester answered as he watched Frank return to the van and turned it on. The van slowly slid out wile Sylvester waived directions to Frank, who followed them clearly. Once out of the building, Sylvester hut another black button to close the door and then moved to return to the office area. He arrived to find that Richard was finishing the paperwork that had been offered.
"I think I got it," Richard spoke as Sylvester came in.
Sylvester nodded and looked the paper over and found the blanks were filled out correctly. He then turned to the copying machine, retrieved the insurance card and handed it to Richard Van Direstag. He then collected the copied page from the tray it had fallen into from the copying machine and brought it back to the counter. Sylvester reached for a drawer and pulled it open to retrieve a stapler. He stapled the copied page to the form that Richard had filled out and placed it beside the cash register.
"That will be all for now," Sylvester commented, "we'll let you know if your insurance company won't cover the charges. Your son should be waiting out front."
"Thank you," Richard nodded as he collected his insurance card and returned it to his wallet and made his way out to find Frank waiting for him behind the wheel of the van. He slowly approached and climbed into the passenger seat, "Okay, Frank. Back home. Remember to check both directions before turning onto the street. And if you follow Main Street, I'll help you when we get to the center of town as the way their stop light system rotates through each street can be tricky."
"Part of an odd layout, if you ask me," Frank commented.
"The dean told me it was for nature when I visited," Richard answered, "so who knows. Lots of people do lots of strange things."
"Like this formal welcome the city gives?" Frank wondered.
"Well there is that..." Richard shrugged, "but it is nice that people would do that..."