Beneath the surface

Beneath the surface The Reckon Yard Podcast · Jun 28, 2026

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Car

Chevrolet Avalanche

It's a unique pickup truck made by Chevrolet that has a folding wall behind the back seats. This wall, called a midgate, can be folded down to make the truck bed longer when you need to carry long items.

Part

chassis ground

A metal wire or strap that connects the car's metal frame to the battery. It acts as the return path for electricity, and if it gets rusty or loose, the car's electronics will start acting crazy.

Car

Honda Accord

The Honda Accord is a common four-door family car made by the Japanese company Honda. It is designed to be a sensible, safe, and fuel-efficient vehicle for everyday driving.

Part

charcoal canister

A small container filled with charcoal pellets that traps gasoline fumes from your gas tank so they don't escape into the air and cause pollution.

Part

purge valve

A small valve that opens to let the trapped gas fumes out of the charcoal filter and into the engine so they can be safely burned up while you drive.

Car

Cordoba Cordova

A large, comfortable two-door luxury car from the 1970s. It is famous for its plush interior and TV commercials where a famous actor bragged about its fancy leather seats.

Car

Mercedes-AMG

This is the special, high-performance version of a Mercedes-Benz. They are built to be incredibly fast, make a loud roaring sound, and handle like race cars.

Car

Buick Century

A very common, comfortable mid-sized sedan made by Buick. They aren't sporty, but they are famous for being incredibly reliable and running for hundreds of thousands of miles with basic care.

Car

Master Tech

The Master was a family car built by Chevrolet in the 1930s and 1940s. It is now considered a vintage classic car that is mostly seen at car shows or in museums.

Term

GMT800

This is the internal code name that General Motors used for its pickup trucks and large SUVs built between 1999 and 2006. Car enthusiasts love this generation because the trucks were incredibly tough and long-lasting.

Term

parasitic battery draw

This is when something in your car stays turned on and slowly drains your battery even after you've parked, turned off the engine, and locked the doors.

LIVE

Rusted old memories buried in dust

Through the wreckage of dreams

I'm trying to trust each faded sign

Whisked stories of old, of laughter

And heartache of love that grew cold

Are you really digging for peace

Or is that just a lie

Tell to help you sleep

Sure that you really want

Truth behind all the stories they go

Welcome to the wrecking yard

I'm Jerry Wayne Longmar

Y'all, presumably still y'all

Everybody's welcome here in the church

Of internal combustion

We just ask that you show up as always

With an open heart

Everybody is welcome

It's a safe place

We're going to call it a haven

Those of us with dirty hands

And complicated hearts

Hope everybody's doing well

It's Sunday, it's about noon

I'm dragging ass and getting this thing filmed

I did set my alarm last night

I was going to get up early

And come film early while it was still nice and cool outside

Or less horrible

And my damn phone died

In the middle of the night

My alarm didn't go off

And as a result, I slept gloriously

My cat was sleeping between

I slept on my face

My cat got between my legs

And didn't kind of have me pinned there

But then we both got a little too warm

And slept good

Every once in a while I'd get down there

Between my legs on the blankets and crash out

I hope everybody's having a good

It is a little warm in here

It's about 90 out here this morning

We're going to get through it

I think my chair shrunk while I was out of town

Yep

It was daffy like I was sitting on the floor

What is under the stinking wheel?

I had broke down most of my studio

And towed it with me to Colorado

Didn't think about it

I got ready to come out here and film this morning

I had to come out here and set the whole studio bag up

We got an excellent episode of

The Do-Wall-E Bottoms of Day

I'm going to warn you

I'm going to give you a trigger warning

I sat down Friday morning

And wrote that episode

I chewed up a cap of a Yeti mushroom cap

And got my cold water and sat on the porch

And started banging that episode out

And it's the most heart-wrenching episode

I've ever written

I bawled

I just openly wept the whole time

I was writing the damn thing

And I don't even know if I'm going to be able to read it

Without just being a mess

So that's coming

It's a good episode

It does a lot of work

This has been

That light is not even pointing in the right direction

Was I high when I set that up?

What the hell?

Oh my god

Man, this is crazy

I got reached out to

By a fan through the email

Friend, whatever you want

I don't like to work fans sometimes

Because it brings negative connotations with it

I just like thank y'all as my extra friends

There's a guy's name I've seen pop up before

His name's Lou

He reached out to me

And said that he has a bunch of connections

His husband's very famous

Very famous composer

I looked him up

He's wild

Very famous composer

He's done all the music for everything

They might be able to get me in touch with Attica Locke

To get a blurb for my book

And possibly Matthew McGonagy

Which would be really cool

So I'm super thankful that old Lou reached out

I might have to call him back

He may be coming to my comedy show

In Los Angeles at the comedy store

And that would be really exciting, man

Love meet and reckon, our people

Love people that kind of see what the message is

I'm trying to spread

Love you guys, man

Last week was weird

Kind of just doing it raw

Before we get too deep off into it

If you want to look as pretty as I do

You need outlaws and gents

Men grooming products

Look at this beard, look at that spark

Look at that shine, look at that glow

Look at that syrupy sexiness

You're only going to get that with outlaws and gents

On a more serious note

It's made with the best stuff

He's got the best natural ingredients

And everything's very transparent on his website

You can go and you can see every single ingredient

In that thing

And you can learn what that ingredient does

He's a good man

The owner of the company is a good person

And I'm very happy to do business with him

And their products do make me look beautiful

I mean I'm already beautiful

But their products really put that extra diamond

Gem shine on it and I appreciate it

If you want your own

Go to OutlawsandGents.com

Use the code JWBEARD

Get a special deal on some of the beard oils

And stuff right now

Of course our other big sponsor

The World Outlaws Racing Series

And boy I got a story for you all today

I missed the races in Minnesota

And I'm sad because

My boy Turbo

Showed out

Look at that

Oh rowdy herb, 51

He did like a tribute to Daisy Dunder

Mr. Bush

And had to put a new wrap on his car

It was cool

I had to buy me a shirt

You got to support people

You want to support

These late model racers

They're at the tier where people buy

T-shirts and stuff really helps them out

Puts a little race fuel

In the car that week

And I'm just a big fan

Of how that young man carries himself

And how he goes through the racing scene

And he's a damn good driver

Yeah I missed all that

But World Outlaws

A great sponsor

Going to many more races

I'm going to go to another late model race somewhere else

We just had to figure out what's going to line up

With the schedule

And I'm going to be following

Them all the way to the World Finals

And I'm terribly excited about that

That North Carolina is

I'm going to be a ragged

Son of a 50 after North Carolina

Has a lot of shows and a lot of races

But it's going to be a good time

I'm excited

If you've got a World of Outlaws event

Happening near you

You should get out there and check it out

If you haven't

Experienced dirt track

If you haven't experienced a sprint car racing

Or a late model racing

You'll never look at race cars the same way again

Sprint cars

Have got to be one of the scariest

Machines ever built

Get out there and check out a World of Outlaws event

Tell them J.W. sent you

Alright

Let's get into it

I'm trying to remember what y'all know

I talked to y'all Sunday

And then I limped the Avalanche

Home from Colorado Monday

And we left Colorado

About 10 o'clock in the AM

Because I wanted to do most of the driving

During daytime

And we got home

About 4 AM

Tuesday morning

And promptly went to bed

Now I got up about 12 30

So what I did on the way home

So I found some more stuff out about the Avalanche

I went work on it

Some more Sunday after I talked to y'all on Father's Day

I couldn't resist

I got out there and started jacking with it

I made me a ground cable

I did find a bad ground

The body

The chassis ground underneath

Underneath like the driver's door

That goes to the frame was all jacked up

I replaced it completely

I just went and bought another ground strap

Replaced it completely

I also changed that sun 50

That goes from the back of the head to the firewall

And whoever come up with that one

Or to have their ass worked

I ain't never worked so hard at something in all my life

I changed that one just for shits and giggles

Just in case it was bad too

And they're cheap

Honestly and you can never go wrong

By having new grounds

You know, I've had more

Weird grounding issues

I had a Honda

Melted the whole fuse box

Honda Accord one time because of the bad ground

You can never go wrong having new grounds

It ain't gonna hurt nothing

It ain't gonna take away

Truck ran okay all the way home

But what I found out was that

Charcoal canister

Filter was coming completely apart

And had just filled

So there's one evap line

That goes to the tank from the charcoal canister

And has about five or six connections to the tank

And there's another evap line

That goes all the way up to the purge valve

On the intake

Just one long line

And it filled that line up with charcoal pellets

I pulled that new purge valve off there

And it was full of charcoal pellets

And I was a damn boy

So I clunked that sun 50 out

Real good

Got it functional again

But I couldn't do nothing

You know I'm out of air B&B

I can't drop the fuel tank

I just didn't have that kind of time

Or the

Equipment materials I needed

And

People offered to help and you know

That could have been cool but I just didn't have a lot of time

On this trip between shows

Trying to do stuff

Trying to take care of stuff

What I did

Was I just went ahead and unplugged

Unhooked that purge valve

So it wasn't working

And I knew I was going to have that engine code all the way home

But at least it kept charcoal

From getting in it and it locking open

And causing a bad intake leak

And

Making everything run lean

And try to cook the engine

And the transmission

So I did that

Got the truck home

Still got remarkably decent fuel mileage

I was predicting spending

A thousand dollars in fuel on that trip

Because I went

Total about 3000 miles

And

We come in pretty far short of that

I was surprised but fuel had started

Dropping in price on the way home because

When we got back to Texas I was getting gas

For three dollars a gallon

When we left Texas it was like

345

Well

And I did find some deals in Colorado

We, 7-Eleven

Through their app

Gives you these deals every once in a while

I had a bunch of points on 7-Eleven app

And

We ended up getting gas in Denver, Colorado

For

328 a gallon which was cheaper than even

Costco in Colorado

So I was like hell yeah

So we filled up

And that got us all the way back to Texas

Where I had to buy gas again

Went a different way out of Colorado this time

Did not go through Rutan Pass

Came

287 down in Texas

Out of

Oklahoma and

Colorado

And I don't know why I never gone that way before

The only thing I'll tell you about going that way

Is that is the most sinfully boring drive

You've ever done in your life

It's just miles and miles of fields

And nothing

No place to stop

But

Also you don't have to drive through Rutan Pass

I call that a win

But

So what am I going to do now

I've got all the parts coming in the morning

I'm going to drop the fuel tank

I've run it almost completely out of gas

I'm going to drop the fuel tank

I found out the fuel pump was new

That David put a new fuel pump in it

So I'm going to drop the tank

Clean it up real good

Clean the sock up real good

Because I think it's getting some charcoal pellets

One of the other issues this can cause

Is they'll clog up those e-bap lines

It takes forever to fill up your truck with gas

It keeps clicking the pump

And stuff, but mine's not doing that yet

So it tells me it's not too clogged up yet

So I'm going to drop that tank

I'm going to change vent valve

Vent valve solenoid

And the charcoal canister

And I'm going to blow

Unhook all those e-bap lines

And blow them all out with air hose

And I'm going to clean the tank out

Best I can

And

I've done that a few times

It shouldn't be too damn difficult

And

Try to get all that damn charcoal

Out of that tank

That's made its way into there

But luckily none of my check valves are stuck

Or anything yet

That happens, you can't replace some of those valves

You have to change that whole tank out

And that tank's about $750 new

Ooh, that's hot coffee

Regardless

I got a little work ahead of me on it

But it's okay, ain't mad at it

It's a 20 year old truck

I had charcoal canister

Fail on my Z71

About 200,000 miles

So I'm not mad at it

I can get all the parts

I'm a happy camper

And I'm glad to

What it was, you know sometimes you start dealing

With a bunch of problems, you just

You focus on one, I just decided those grounds

Were causing all those problems

And I started overlooking this mechanical problem

That was going on and when it dawned on me

I was like, oh no, you got two problems here

You got bad grounds and you got this mechanical

Issue going on

As far as my stereo

That it fried half the face of

All the way home

That stereo acted a fool

Woke up Tuesday

Went, got in the truck, get somewhere

Stereo's fine, the face is fine

So I did some

Looking and found out those pioneers got a

Software glitch and you got to get a

Reflash SD drive for them

Or get them reflashed

By pioneer

But pioneer has a special warranty program

So I entered in the number

I'm waiting to hear back from them

But I went ahead and did a hard reset

On it and it's been working perfectly since

So right now it's

Out of sight, out of mind

Wednesday I was supposed to fly

I was leaving, my plane was leaving

At 8am

And

I was supposed to fly into Minnesota

And pick up a rental car

And

I don't know what the hell was going on in Minnesota

Things were crazy in Minnesota this week

Because

The flights to Minnesota were

Insanely priced when we went to buy

We'd buy like two weeks ahead

Or more sometimes

My flights, I bought

Two flights for me and my wife

To Los Angeles and back

Cheaper than one flight to

Minneapolis

That flight was like a grand

It was crazy

But we bought it, we had it

Then I started looking for rental cars

From Minneapolis, all the rental car companies

Out of rental cars, so I used Turo

A couple times, so I went and checked Turo

The only thing Turo had was

This one dude had a Mercedes

A 2023 Mercedes and it was going to cost me

$400 to rent that thing for the day

But I had to have a car because I had to go

Two hours away, so I was like screw it

You know, sometimes this is what happens

You just got to deal it, suck it up and deal with it

But it was shaping up to be

A $15, $1600

trip

Fine

Sometimes that's how it goes

I went ahead and bought myself the clear

Pre-checking because I'm tired of getting

Every time I go through the

Scanners at TSA they find some

Mythical thing in my groin that they need

To search me and pat me down for

And I get selected for randoms all the time

And so I was like

You know what, I'm going to just go ahead

And pony up, buy that clear stuff

That clear check in crap and see if

That don't cut down on some of this stuff

So I got up 6.30, headed off to the airport

Got an airport, got

TSA

An hour before my flight

Went my little clear check in

Boom, I get selected

For a random TSA

I go over there

We start doing the check through with the TSA lady

And everything, and I get through that check through

Fine, and she tells me

I can go ahead and get in line for screen

Go ahead and go to the screen

Well the interest to the screening was way down

Behind another TSA agent

Down at the end of this line of TSA agents

And I didn't think I was supposed to walk past her

And then walk down there behind them

That seems like a security breach

So I walk down to the end

And then walk past this TSA agent

And this lady, she's a young black lady

She starts yelling at me

What are you doing?

Like gets in my face

I was like, what are you talking about?

So this lady down here told me I could go ahead

Go to the screening

And she goes, well you're supposed to do it down there

I was like, how would I even know that?

And she's like, you know what, I've had it

I got a little heated

I was like, what are you even talking about?

She's right there

You can just ask her

And she goes, I'm not dealing with you

And she called security

Well I was frustrated

So I just walked back down to that lady while she was rambling

I just walked back down to that lady

I said, you told me I could go through, right?

She goes, yeah, so I just went through by her

And went back there, well this lady's pissed

She's throwing a fit

She comes over to the screening area

Tries to cause problems for me

Takes me forever to get through the screening

I'm bent

But still, it's only like 7.30

According to them

Plain wasn't going to be done boarding until like 7.45

So I was fine

So I go to my gate, it's just E2

It's not far, I go to my gate

I get there right at

I don't know, it was like 7.40, 7.43

Gates are closed

I said, what's going on?

I said, my flight doesn't leave till 8 o'clock

I just got through TSA

I got hung up in TSA

What's happening?

This lady's extremely rude

Right off the bat

And

By that point in time

My sense of humor was gone too

I said, you know what?

This is bullshit, you know it's bullshit

And then another guy shows up

After me, that he's wondering

Why he can't get on the flight

And another woman shows up

And the guy goes

They're like, oh we can't open

The jetway again

After

15 minutes till the flight

And I said, well I was here

Before 15 minutes

So you're telling us different stories

Right here at the same time

I got pissed off at them

She calls her boss

He comes over there, he's like, can I help you?

Can you get me on my damn airplane?

He's like, oh no, I can't do that

Find whatever

At that moment I get a notification

From United Airlines

Tell me my flight's delayed by 45 minutes

So now I'm 15 minutes ahead

Of flight takeoff and it's been delayed

45 minutes, I still can't get on my flight

So I get on the phone with United

And start fighting their customer service

And they're trying to figure out if they can get me into Fargo

But they can't

They can't get me into Fargo in time to get to the racing event

In Fergus Falls

So they refund my flight

I'm screwed

I can't do anything

Get in the car, head back to the house

Call word of outlaws

Let them know what's happened

They're pretty unbothered by it

Happens a lot

We'll make it up

We'll figure out another race

I'm seething

At this point

I'm trying to dial it back, but I'm so angry

I start trying to arrange

My refund with Turo

Because Turo generally gives you 24 hours to cancel

While I just scheduled the car the day before

I hit up Turo

Explained to him what happened

They give me a partial refund

I said, why are you holding 200 bucks?

Y'all didn't have to do anything

The guy didn't have to do anything in the car

He didn't even have to bring it to the airport

Why are you holding 200 bucks?

Well, we need proof that your flight

Something happened with your flight and all that stuff

So I sent them all the stuff from the airline

And this is after I'm on the phone with them

For hours, listen to this

Asshole customer service person

Just repeat himself like a moron

I sent them all the documentation

They still come back

I'll tell you this, as I sit here right now

I never do business with Turo again

That company can kiss every bit of my ass

I'll be damned

I will walk to events before I rent a car

Through Turo again

Which sucks because there's a lot of good people

That ride and share through Turo

And do good business

But

Jose and Minnesota and Turo

Can kiss every bit of my ass

And I knew I was on edge

But Wednesday I was a mess

Because I missed my flight

All that stuff's going on

I had to unplug and get

After dealing with the truck all weekend

And I just

Just pissed

I didn't like it because it was

It made me feel like my father

And I didn't like it

And I tried to put my finger on that

Like really think through it

But

My father

My father was angry

All of the time

That's what I remember most about

My dad growing up

Yes, he showed up for me

He did Boy Scouts with me

Worked on cars together

But he was angry

All the time

He was always angry

He just soaked in

He wasn't a drunk

He wasn't a deadbeat

He wasn't physically abusive

You know, more than everybody's dad

Was back then

But he was a violent angry man

And I know a lot of it's because

His dad was a violent angry man

Wasn't that he didn't love us

I know he did

But he was angry all the time

Most of what I have done

As far as like

What I see fit to do as a father

Is try not to be angry all the time

But for three or four days there

I was just seething

And I felt like him

Every

Every moment of happiness

Or joy for him

That I remember

There was still that level of anger

Was underneath that ready to come out

Whether at me

Or whether about my mother

Occasionally about my sister

He didn't seem angry about her

All the time back then

But

Back then he was always angry

At either me or my mother

I mean, I've told jokes about it

But I can remember

Sitting in the car with him

And he just

Look up in the sky and start hollering at the sky

You know, he's a religious man

I was thinking about this the other day

So he like got really big into

There was this band back in the 80s

This group called Inya

And they played this kind of like

Tranquil kind of music

And my father was like really big into that shit

Like he was buying them cassettes and stuff

And driving his

Nineteen, like just picture this

Band in his 1970

Three Chrysler Cordova with one

Plywood window

In Houston rush hour traffic

With no air conditioning

And an overheating engine

Just screaming at the sky

At a red light

While Inya's playing over the stairs

Sell away, sell away, sell away

And him just trying to keep it together

Like it dawned on me that

Most of my life

He was just one skip song

On that album from

Going full Michael Douglas

Falling down

Just snapping

Just

Clocking out early and snapping

Taking the day off to just do

Mayhem

I don't know everything

That seeded his anger. I know a lot of it

Was about his father and the way his father treated him growing up

His father was very abusive

Papal Amir wasn't a nice man

I can remember sitting in the car with him while that music

Was playing

And the car started overheating

Or acting up and he just

He just looked up in the sky

Just all the time

Just all the time, every damn thing

Just all the time

And just go into a

Tyred

Tell you all the story about him losing his temper

At the Boy Scout camp out

Losing his temper work on

Those are singular stories I told you all

But they were every day

It was every day

He was always angry

He made me angry

I spent a long time

Always angry

And I don't want to feel like that anymore

And I work at it

And I certainly

I really the thing I really

Don't want is my children to look back

And go my dad was angry all the time

That's the last piece of legacy

I want to leave that's the last cycle

I'm trying to break

Okay

I broke the cycle

Of abuse

To children that

My grandmother did

I broke a lot of cycles

But the other one I got

To break is this anger

And that's why I tell y'all

I'm never preaching at y'all

I'm going through this shit too

I'm 48 years old I'm still trying to get a handle

On my temper when that damn avalanche

Was breaking down all over Colorado

Buddy

Well I was coming back from Fort Collins

One of them shows one night

And that thing started acting up

And I lost my shit

Because it was just too much

But I don't want to be

Me and my wife were talking about all this stuff

After we got back after the Minnesota thing

After oh my god

I wanted to fight that TSA agent

I was so freaking mad

I can't stand for somebody talking to me like that

Like I'm your child

I wanted to punch that lady in the face

I didn't care if she was a lady

I wanted to fight her

I'm a grown ass man

Don't talk to me that way

Rachel

She goes I see the work you do

I see how much different you are

How you try

To dial back in

And my youngest thinks it's hilarious

When I lose my shit

He thinks it's the funniest thing in the world

Which sometimes makes me madder

But he gets to laughing and cutting up

I'm just like this is not the time bruh

But I can't

I can't take it I don't want to

And I'm not gonna take it out on him

One he's autistic as hell

And two

It's not his fault

Daddy can't control his shit sometimes

I try

Five labors are great

When I'm getting ready to start hollering

At god the five labors aren't there

I try to get to them

But I was working on them this week

I was trying to get to them

But I ended up just

Boiling just cooking all the anger

I think the way he did my whole life

I think it's the same thing

have him. Instead of finding some healthy way to get rid of it or finding some way to examine it

or be aware of it, I think he just tapped it down and everyone's father would escape him and he'd

just snap. But with him, it was always there. It was like, didn't grow. I'm all, that's the,

you know, that's my secret is I'm always angry. He's always angry.

Me and my wife talk about this stuff on the porch other night and I was telling her stories about

my dad. You say every time everything, you know, just, and she started laughing when I

mimicked him because she said, I do the same thing. She goes, you look up in the sky like you're,

you're asking God to forgive what's about to come out of your mouth when you're frustrated with your

vehicle. She goes, you did three times when the avalanche was acting up. She goes, one time you

just got quiet and looked up and she goes, I can tell you were saying things under your breath and I was

inherent. This is real. I didn't just inherit the anger. I inherited the ritual.

Sky look, pause before it was blasphemy.

And tell you that story because I'm trying to talk bad about my father or anything like that. I

told you all that story to show you all that, that I'm not just preaching stuff that I'm trying,

figured out too. And I had a bad week where things didn't go my way and, and that anger

come right back. It showed right back up like an old friend. Hey buddy, let's break something.

I didn't break nothing.

But I know I do damage to myself every time I go into that because then I spend a week in regret.

I'm telling you all this so that, that, that you can see that, that working through it doesn't

mean everything's fixed. That, that you can, you can do all this stuff as best you can and

still be very fallible. My whole problem with preaching has always been that this,

this one man standing on a pulpit telling me what I shouldn't, shouldn't do when I don't know

whether he's walking the walk himself. I'm telling you, I'm trying to walk the walk,

but I fall down all the damn time. Let's wrap it up there. Let's

need my specs. I can read. I don't know how they work. It's some kind of magical voodoo,

but somehow when I look straight ahead, I can see things far away. And then I look down,

I can read again, freaking bifocal contacts. Who in the hell? Oh, our humans amazing. We come up

with some shit. All right. Let's return to the wallet bottoms text.

Amber's eyes flooded open. She looked towards her phone buzzing away at its alarm on the

vintage nightstand her grandmother painted. Nearly every piece of furniture in this house

was something pulled home from the side of the road and painted by her. She had thrown herself

deep into the hobby after Papal Tom got killed. Amber silenced the alarm and forced herself

out of bed and to the restroom. She shivered as she sat on the toilet. It had been a few weeks

since she had met with Mr. Tilton. He'd been glad to see her and they spent the day reminiscing

and going over her properties in the area. One property in particular off the old mill road

had stood out to her. It belonged to her benefactor. A company out of Henderson was wanting to buy it,

but something about seeing his name as the last occupant on the paperwork stood out to her.

She started the coffee while she thought about Mr. Ware and what she knew about him.

It wasn't much aside from what her mama had told her about Tony and him. He wasn't blood,

but treated her like she was. Mr. Tilton of course regaled her with some stories about the

honorary old fellow. Some scary, some more silly, but he always painted a picture of a good-hearted

man who according to local legend didn't even complain when he was shot to death right there

at the garage where her mom used to take her car. Mr. Tilton had froze up a little uncharacteristically

when she'd brought up the redheaded fellow that she now knew was named Tony.

Amber had been nonchalant when she asked about the young guy and the older man who worked on

her mom's car. The Haines, good, good as people as you'd want to know in this life, I reckon,

as long as you stay on the right side of them. Amber, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention your two

families' complicated history. Hell, that boy is named Tony after Tony where? That boy's daddy

and your mom was the big ticket in high school. The old bitties already had their outfits picked

out for the wedding that wasn't to be. Him and Tony were best friends all through school before

they went different directions in life. The old man Carl, him and Danny was the best of friends

and thickest thieves. Aside from you and your mama, the old man Carl was the only other one in Danny's

will. She hadn't asked much else. A little stunned from the revelation that the musician that she

had developed an interest for in Houston was named after the murdered guy that was almost her stepdad.

To be honest, it sounded like a plotline from a trashy daytime talk show, but still he floated

in the back of her mind. That voice was something else. While she waited for the coffee to steep,

she picked out some clothes for the day. Mr. Tilton had arranged for a local realtor to

meet her out at Mr. Ware's old place to look around before she made a decision about selling it.

Pulling up to the old house off a mill wasn't particularly encouraging.

The grounds was overgrown with a small stand of pecans trying to grow right in the middle of the

driveway. The immense sycamore by the driveway seemed to be regarding her more with curiosity

than suspicion. How many residents had it watched on this land? The realtor was a nervous man in

his 50s named Tim. He had sweaty hands and didn't seem know what to do with him. He unlocked the door

to let them in through the kitchen babbling the whole time. Miss Amber, I got to tell you I've

held these keys for 20 years and I still feel a little sketchy walking in Danny Ware's kitchen

unannounced. Didn't work out for the last fella. Amber was looking down the hallway when he said

the last part. What do you mean? Tim looked perplexed. You ain't heard the story? He was trying to

find out who killed his nephew and offered a reward. A couple of local thugs stopped that cash

in by robbing Mr. Ware and he killed them right here in this kitchen. They're shotgun pellet holes

in the cabinets and the walls. That was the story she hadn't heard but she didn't let on.

Gory is a story it was. There was some kind of energy drawing her to the little seers and

robot kid house. There was a coffee cup still sitting on the table. It had to be her benefactor.

It was puzzling that he had lived in such short means considering the wealth he had.

She wondered if he regarded money as the nuisance that she had.

Yes, of course it's great to have money when you need it. But the rest of her life was endless

phone calls from people trying to figure out how to get themselves a piece of it or tell her what

she should do with it. No one was genuine once they knew she had it. Had he felt that and lived

in this small house on purpose or was it just all he needed? She'd never know but she liked

to think that maybe they were the same blood or no blood. Tim was still babbling by the door

about how he shot them boys and waited on the police drinking his coffee when Amber spoke.

Tim, do me a favor. Take down the listing. Let Mr. Tilton know we won't be accepting the offer.

Send me a list of some good local contractors. We're going to clean this place up and make some

changes. When she decided to do something, that's how it went. She just did it. She was already

sold on the energy of the place. But when she stepped out by the rusty old farm truck by the

carport and noticed the silence, she was in a penny for a pound. The area around her grandparents'

house was filled with McMansions and suburbanites playing country on the weekend who seemed to run

their little buzzing leaf blowers from 8 a.m. to midnight all weekend long when they weren't waving

and asking the name questions about her grandparents who had been gone for years at that point.

Tim waved as he backed his Honda Accord out on the main road and pulled off.

She stared at the second more as if to say, put down. While in her head, she wondered if she

really expected it to answer.

1500 miles away that morning, another phone alarm had gone off.

Red woke in his Baltimore hotel room with a start. His hair had more gray than anything these days,

but folks still called him red. He'd been dreaming about Cherise.

Towards the end, when the cancer had shrunk her down to nothing, when he'd put her in her wheelchair,

it was like picking up a blanket with some sticks in it or a baby bird. Yeah, more like a baby bird.

He'd sat right there the whole time and watched it take her from him despite his pleading and

bartering with God and anyone else that would listen.

He'd made a deal with Bees above himself if he would have just shown up, but no day at

these presented themselves and the cancer kept taking pieces of her till there was nothing left.

In the last days of their life together, she had made him promise to look after their son Tony

and made sure he made it through this. He was sensitive and different

like Red had been when she first met him in college before life hardened him.

He'd failed her, had thrown himself into his work instead of that boy he had a hard time

understanding. His own mom and daddy had stepped up for the boy and was probably the only reason he

hadn't completely lost him to. He had an early flight back to Dallas and then was going home for

a few weeks. Home felt weird to say. Her stuff was still there like she had never left, but it would

never be home without her and he hated that house that made him watch her die. His eyes got watery

while he looked at himself in the mirror and wondered if even Sharice would recognize him now or want to.

As he rode in the back seat of the cab to the airport, he thought about Tony. He needed to reach

him somehow. He knew who's help he needed to. His mama always knew how to clean up a mess

and he was going to go ask her for her help just one more time. Tony stared at the black AMG as it

roared past the shop headed out to the middle road. He'd been replacing vacuum hoses on sister

Dowery's Buick Century. She and his grandpa somehow kept alive for over 20 years. Dusty laughed

loud and deep and clapped him on his sweaty shoulder. Don't you worry, Cordell. It's a Mercedes.

She's bound to end up in our shop sooner or later. Tony laughed and resumed the tiresome task of

replacing rotted hoses in a labyrinth of rotted hoses. Tune in next week for more from The

Walled Bottoms Tux. Total 11 in the game. I got through that crying. Yay me. I guess I cried

enough about it the other day when I was writing. Whoo. Let's do some testimonials. Get out of here

let me see. I need to find them here. I did get them prepared. I just gotta pull them up.

Here we go.

At Beach Dream in 3681. JW not saying you're wrong but I am a 20 plus year GM master tech.

The pump can have sufficient pressure but not adequate volume. I'm 99.99% sure the pump is

going out. PO449 is like an event. Vap and filter plugged up with dirt depending on how bad it will

need an EVAP VMT valve. Relocate the filter. There's a TSB about it and potentially an EVAP

canister. Well you nailed all that. I don't think the pump's going bad because it's a brand new pump

but I think you nailed all that. That is all stuff I found after recording that episode.

Hey there buddy Kent Strock. Fix something without know how is one of the gifts of life. You must

be walking the walk. It means you're doing things right like a zen thing. Buddy I'm trying. I'm trying

to get through it. Ah I'm dry.

At Russell-0711. Y. Guarantee it's a ground. Throw the old ground cables away. I've been down this

road. Typical GM problem. Good luck brother. That's what I heard. That was not one I was where. I

heard a couple times about the negative battery cable and the but it's always been on the ones

post 2007 when they kind of changed everything up. So I didn't know what happened to these older ones.

That was not something I ever experienced in my Z71.

Though I will say both it and my O2 2500 GMT 800 both of them had parasitic battery draws that I

had problems with towards the above. Might have been a ground cable. I just got rid of the truck

before I got around and figuring that out. Oh thank you guys for sharing your Sunday with me.

I'm the most appreciative of it as always.

Yeah I spent this whole episode talking about rage. Airport rage, TSA rage,

Turo rage. The kind of slow building modern world fury that finds you standing in a clear

lane at the airport watching a man in a pukashell necklace and sandals go through security no problems.

Well I'm getting held up because I look suspicious.

And I'm asking God I'm literally looking up at the fluorescent airport ceiling tiles

and ask God please just let me hold it together just this once.

And I told you about my father. A man who loved us wasn't a drunk or a deadbeat who showed up.

A man drove a 73 cross Cordova with plywood window and overheating through 83 through

Houston summer traffic with no air conditioning. Listening to his Inya on cassette and seething.

Just listening to this tranquil music and trying to keep the monster under control just quietly,

completely devotionally seething. Ornico flow playing softly while that man looked up at the

sky and said just all the time every damn thing happens to me. Most of what I've done as a grown

man as a father as a husband as somebody trying to be something different in a world that will

absolutely test you. Most of it most of it has been about trying not to be that angry.

Not carrying it like he carried it. Not letting it live right under the surface of every good

thing. And I think I've done all right. I really do. That work was real and it cost me something

and I'm not going to pretend otherwise. But then my wife watched me get frustrated with my vehicle

the night when we're on the road and she started laughing and I said what? She said you look up

at the sky like you're asking God to forgive what's about to come out of your mouth. I didn't

write that. I couldn't write that. That's just what happens when you marry someone who watches

you close enough to hand you the stuff you can't see about yourself. The inheritance isn't just

the anger friends. I fought the anger. I'm still fighting it. The inheritance is the ritual, the

pause, the skyward look, the moment between who you want to be and what's about to come out of your

mouth. My father did it because the rage was right there right at the surface all the time. I do it

because I'm trying to give it somewhere to go before it comes out wrong.

Same gesture, different men. That shows you the distance of the work.

But it also shows me I still got to find somewhere to get rid of that.

I know some of y'all struggle with too. I know some of you struggle to keep me tempering check.

It's cost you jobs. relationships. love.

I don't preach at you because I got this crap all figured out. I'm telling you these things

because I'm trying to walk the walk too. I'm trying to figure it out.

Go love somebody. Try to keep it together out there.

And if you can't keep it together, try to find you somewhere to get rid of it that don't get

directed at the people you love. I'm rooting for you. I tell you that every week and I mean it.

I'm gonna tell you till you believe it. I'm J.W. I love you.

Woo, it's hot in this garage. Oh, I left my own air sign on. Look at me.

Thank you guys for giving me your Sunday. I love you. Please keep telling everybody about the shows.

I need some help in California. The Bray Show ain't selling goodness in a week and I gotta get these

numbers up. Keep eye out if I'm coming somewhere close to you. I just released the whole tour

the whole tour list for the end of the year on my Facebook. Please like and subscribe here on YouTube.

All that all those air. Everyone in the middle of gestures goes a long way for me.

It helps me out and I really appreciate it. I know not everybody can afford to come to a show or

afford to go somewhere and go see a show and I and I get that but when you watch my videos,

when you like, when you subscribe, all that stuff helps and I appreciate it.

I'm gonna keep trying to walk the walk. Y'all keep trying to walk the walk.

They will meet up somewhere in the middle.

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