I remember sitting on the ground close to where my dad was working on his truck. It was actually a semi and it should have been named Bread and Butter, or better yet "sucking the life out of my billfold".
I learned the names of the tools by handing them to him as he was lying on his back with one of those lights that hang on a part of the truck. He'd wrinkle up his face as he was tightening whatever and it looked like it seemed to help, the tighter he turned it the worse the face. He'd get really agitated easy to if you dilly dallyed in your search for the right tool. I didn't have to be sitting there but he was gone so much on the road that just watching and the chance of getting irritated at was worth it.
I think he'd rather have been inside where it was warm and where he could read the paper or watch his favorite western, Gun Smoke. Or shoot the breeze with the guys at Hobbs Bros. They say women talk..nah men do.
We had a '57 or some year close to that, silver chevy station wagon , I remember two things about that car. First was wanting to hide on the floor when we went anywhere, I was in the back seat of course, and my dad would turn up his country music with all the windows down. I was mortally embarassed hearing Johnny Cash sing or worse yet someone with more twang to his tune than necessary.
The other was when mom popped a bunch of popcorn put it in some grocery bags, she had us bathed and in our pj's, We loaded up the car with a few blankets and headed off to the drive in. Don't know what the movie was, but my guess it was probably a western and no matter we didn't last the night anyway but it was a great time. We had alot of good times in these different cars. Dad did the best that he could do with the time he had when he wasn't working and being a kid and looking back that is the fairest observation I can surmise.
