Flip Side: Chocolate Truth

"I don't know," said Mum, "I'm hopeless when it comes to things like that. Your father said it needs a check over, that's all. He's made an appointment at two o'clock."

Garages! We'd had endless trouble from them. One place had changed the oil like we wanted and then gone and put in new parts, even though we'd never asked for them. Another place had charged us heaps for something we could have got really cheap at another place. Dad kept saying there must be an honest mechanic round someplace, but so far we hadn't found him.

We rolled into Rippenov Engine Repairs Ltd and waited. A man in dirty, oily overalls walked slowly over to us as Mum wound her window down.

"Yeah?" said the man.

"My husband booked the car in for a check-over," said Mum.

"Righto," said the man. "Park 'er over here."

Mum drove to where the man had pointed and got out. The man opened the bonnet and started fiddling with the engine. He stopped to light a crooked cigarette and said nothing to us.

I didn't see where Gena was for a moment. She must have been behind me. When she popped up, she was standing behind the mechanic as he bent over the engine. She had the tiny bottle poised over his head. I saw her squeeze the bottle, and a single brown drop fell, plunk, onto the man's balding head.

He went on with his work, not noticing, then he suddenly straightened up and scratched his ear.

"When I saw you come in," he said to Mum, "I thought "Here's a good money-spinner'. I love it when women bring their cars here. They don't know what I'm doing, so I can charge them for doing nothing more than poking about in the engine!"

He clapped a blackened hand over his mouth in fright.

"What am I saying!?" he gasped.

"What were you going to charge me for?" asked Mum, annoyed and surprised all at the same time.

"See this thing here?" said the man, pointing to the carburetor. "I was going to take the whole thing off, blow some air at it and put it back on. Then I was going to bill you for parts and labour. There's nothing wrong with the carburetor. All it needs is a slight