Katy's Kit Car

By Sandy Grissom

Just as a young woman finishes college her father dies leaving her money she didn't realize he had. Her one wish was to have a kit car built. She discovers a man who has a motorcycle shop put the car together the best. She goes to persuade him and is so stuck by him she can barely talk. He thinks the kit will be paid by the last money her father had, a sort of remembrance. She is afraid to tell him she has 1.5 million dollars. He might lose what she doesn't even have yet. Then she learns the money was kept to help people in need in the small town of Rush. Other characters add to the story as they affect the couple's mindsets.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sandy Grissom
• Release date: Apr 18, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224043118

Sandy Grissom

Sandy Grissom has loved books all her life. That love began by listening to her older sister read when she was still too young to discover the magic for herself. She's read everything from history to the phone book but her favorite authors are James Michener, Agatha Christie and the mystic William Blake. Over the years, romantic novels became a favorite. The top of that list is Pride and Prejudice. When she retired she had too much time on her hands and spent too much money and trips to the library to get books in order to satisfy her restless soul. It was then she began to write herself. As an adult she held a variety of jobs, all of them grist for her imaginative mind. The occupations in Choppy Waters will hopefully inspire someone to fight for their own dreams, to never give up on themselves or on love. A widow, Sandy recently moved to southern Indiana where she lives near the younger of her two beloved sisters.

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Table of Contents

Katy's Kit Car

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Katy’s Kit Car

by

Sandy Grissom

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

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Draft2Digital Edition Copyright 2024 by S.K.G. Haag

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Sandy Grissom has loved books all her life. That love began by listening to her older sister read when she was still too young to discover the magic for herself. She’s read everything from history to the phone book but her favorite authors are James Michener, Agatha Christie and the mystic William Blake.

Over the years, romantic novels became a favorite. The top of that list is Pride and Prejudice. When she retired she had too much time on her hands and spent too much money and trips to the library for books to satisfy her restless soul. It was then she began to write herself.

As an adult she held a variety of jobs, all of them grist for her imaginative mind.  The places she’s lived also feed into her stories, namely Colorado and the desert of eastern Washington State.  Her heart, though she wasn’t born there, grabbed onto and lives in the pioneering west, Nebraska, Wyoming and most especially Texas.

A widow, Sandy lives in southern Indiana near the younger of her two beloved sisters.

Chapter One

Katherine Grigsby felt lost without her beloved father. He passed into eternity only three days earlier. Now she sat on the front row of the church for the service that said goodbye to him.  It was his home church for he’d lived in Rush all his life. Rush was not a city or even a large town. It was smaller than that and had kept a down home atmosphere all Katy’s life.

It gave her joy to see the church filled to capacity. People sat almost crushed together in the pews. Others stood along the walls. She knew her father had many friends and was well respected. She didn’t know he was so well loved. She held the bulletin that told of his life and a bare few of his accomplishments. Yet she knew his life was so much more than could be put on a sheet of paper. He was the best man she’d ever known. Apparently the best a lot of people knew if the crowd that came to say goodbye was any indication. Yet all she could see through her wet tears was his name.

It was written in bigger letters than the rest, Joseph Allen Grigsby. The single page related so little of who he was. Though in a way, perhaps it was enough. He’d touched the lives of so many people. Most of them in ways only they and he knew about. Katy didn’t know that but she was to discover some of it that day. It did seem by the turnout that her father was important to them. Katy wondered what affected their lives so much that they had to come see him off. She panned the many faces wondering that one life could touch so many others.

No one called him Joseph or even Joe. The entire town knew him as Jack. His father, Katy’s grandfather, was Joe. He became Jack as a kid, probably to differentiate between the two. She could imagine her grandmother calling out to the one she wanted and hearing them both answer. Katy was like that. She always tried to find an acceptable answer for the things she didn’t understand. Jack was like that, too, most especially when it came to people.

He loved people more than his own life. She saw it every day in the way he gave honor to people. Even those some would consider the lowest in society. He appreciated everyone and made sure they knew it. Katy supposed as the church filled with even more people, that his honoring of others began with the great love he had for his wife. But then Katy recalled the entire family felt a need to love on people. They wanted everyone to understand he or she was important in their own way.

When a person grew up knowing how terribly wonderfully they were loved by God, they couldn’t help but spew that kind of love out to others. To believers and nonbelievers alike. She was her parents’ only child and was so loved that she grew up with the same giving attitude she’d witnessed all her life. She never knew her great grandparents on either side of her family. They were gone from this earth before she was born. Grandad and Grandma Grigsby were gone now, too. They might have been the first to live that kind of life. Katy didn’t know but they were givers. Her father and mother, as well.

Katy lost her mother five years earlier. Now her dad was gone. Both seemed too young. Yet who was she to question God how long a person had on this earth? Katy determined that it was up to her to keep the giving legacy going. She thought through her tears to look for people to help. Just as the two generations before her had done. Perhaps even three generations. Possibly more than that. Even thinking that, she didn’t know how much her family had served those who lived in Rush.

She just wanted to live her life selflessly with a love that helped those who needed help. Like her ancestors, she would ask for nothing in return. Everyone needed a helping hand now and then. Some in lesser ways and others in more painful and dramatic ways. Her family had given of their love and perhaps even their resources to help others. She wanted to do the same. After all, look at all the people in this place. They had been so supportive of her the last three days. How could she not give back to them if they had a need and she had the means to help?

She understood that not all needs were financial ones. She grew up seeing her dad and grandad repair a man’s roof before winter came. It didn’t cost them anything but the time it took to do it. The man had the roofing shingles. He simply wasn’t well enough to install them. No doubt he was worried about when winter would hit. Katy imagined he appreciated that the worry was gone when the two men showed up. Likely as much as that the roof would be solid again.

She guessed they may have loaned money out at times. She imagined if so that some paid them back while others did not. She couldn’t know that for sure since neither man treated anyone they met as if they owed a debt. After all, she heard both men say that it blessed them to give into someone’s life. That was enough.

She went on thinking for the pastor wasn’t at the pulpit yet. She thought they probably helped people knowing the person couldn’t pay the money back. She believed if she was right about that then she would follow suit when she could. If the money was repaid, it would be set aside to bless someone else in their hour of need.

None of this was certain but as she sat there in the church, she imagined she was right. Little things mentioned made sense to her when before they didn’t. More tears fell but it was not for the loss of her father now. She cried happy tears for the legacy he left behind. She had always loved and respected her dad. But now that respect rose exponentially. Was there ever such a man, she wondered.

Initially she was upset that he died so young. He was only forty five when a heart attack took him. It was sudden and he was gone quickly. Yet when she looked around, she saw people wiping away honest tears, the same as she was doing. She had to suppose God knew her father’s work on earth was done. It would be up to her to carry on the family tradition.

She didn’t know how she would do it. She had barely graduated college and hadn’t looked for a job yet. She had little money to bless others. She would have to do it with works of kindness until she could save up enough to be a monetary blessing to someone. Giving was after all the very best way to live. Now it would give her purpose.

She recalled something her grandfather told her when she was just a child. She’d never forgotten it. He said, A man is blessed when he receives money by the sweat of his brow. It is an accomplishment he can savor. He is blessed a second time when he uses that money to be of benefit to others.

She knew by those remembered words that her family understood God’s blessings. In gratefulness for them, they helped others out of bad situations. It was not that they were given a reward for helping others. She knew that for they gave without that expectation.

She wasn’t positive of all she was thinking but it seemed to fit so nicely into the kind of people in her family. If so, whatever they did was done privately. If she hadn’t seen it living in the same house, surely few of the townspeople saw it either. Seeing the many people here, she felt they must be grateful to Jack for how he lived. For some, it would only be for his acceptance of people for who they were. For that was a fine thing in itself. Others would be grateful for his help, rather it was small or large. Otherwise, she couldn’t imagine such a turnout.

She would begin her giving life with small acts that didn’t take money. A smile when someone was having a bad day, a stop to play with a child so a mom could shop a few minutes in peace. Those kind of things were appreciated and would cost her nothing. Then one day when she’d scrimped and saved enough, she could use money and be a blessing that way, too. Just like the two men she admired so much. She smiled to think of following such a fine family heritage.

The service began then and it was a lengthy one for the pastor asked anyone to speak who chose to. Katy’s eyes leaked tears the whole time. All she’d been assuming about Jack was being spoken from the platform. People told of a dire circumstance in their life. Most of them were not of their own making but some were and admitted. She heard that somehow Jack heard about their troubles and gave them a leg up out of that pit of despair. If she hadn’t already realized it, those testimonies would have apprised her of her family’s generosity. They did what God called them to do, love God and love people. It was a fine legacy to live up to.

People went on and on telling the stories from their perspective. One lady rose to tell how she’d always wanted to open a bakery. Katy’s father gave her the money so she could live her dream. She said that in the second year after opening, she paid him back what she borrowed. She laughed to say that in the first year he took payment in baked goods. Hearing that, Katy smiled. She recalled the many pastries that showed up in the house when she was a kid. It was odd for none of the family ate many sweets. She imagined Jack gave them away to less fortunate people, a double blessing.

They lost her mother when Katy was just sixteen. A horrible storm came up very quickly. It was quite unusual for the area. The few storms that looked as if they would come to Rush rarely got close before breaking up or turning aside from the town. People were used to soft falling snow which was the usual winter precipitation. They were not prepared for a fierce storm and it caught the people unaware.

Her mom had gone into the city to shop. She was on her way home when it hit. A strong gust of wind pushed the car off the road in the blizzard like conditions. The wind was aided by a car behind her. It was far enough back in the whiteout condition that the driver didn’t see the taillights of her car. When he did, he pushed on his brakes. But he couldn’t stop in time and smashed into her.

Both cars went off the embankment and tumbled over and over all the way down to the bottom. The sheriff said he thought her mother must have died on impact. Katy thought he said that so they wouldn’t think she screamed all the way down. In her dreams, though, that was what happened. The man in the other car had not secured his seatbelt. He was tossed to and fro all the way down that steep incline. Foolish in such weather, the sheriff remarked.

That was five years earlier. Now she lost her dad, too. She was alone in the world but for an aunt she barely knew. Her mom’s sister was a teacher. It was all she ever wanted to do. She gave every ounce of her being to her students. So much so she never visited Rush. Her mother always drove the long way to see her sister. Katy knew it was selfless of her aunt to give her all to her students. Yet she wished the lady had kept a tiny part of her life for the family.

She thought so especially now that she was alone in