ANOTHER DOSE OF REALITY... too good? (Part 58c)

I was tired, pissed off and, because my first impression of the man was rather negative, I told him that I’d rather talk in the morning. He put his ever present cigarette holder in his mouth and stuck out his hand. I shook it and watched him walk away. That was when I realized I didn’t really know who he was or what his name was. It was obvious that he had at least one horse racing that night or he wouldn’t have been wearing his racing colors. I decided that I’d get all my gear back to the barn and then return to watch the races so I could at least find out his name.

I checked the program trying to find a driver with the colors that he’d been wearing. The horse’s name was Regal’s Boy and he was the owner, trainer and driver and from Indiana. I didn’t recognize his name but at least I knew it for our meeting the next morning. I stayed to watch the race and commented to myself that he drove the horse the same way that my friend who had stood up for my wedding drove his horses. It was a strange feeling.

I was always at the track by 6am. Seeing the empty stall was rather depressing and I still had to clean up the equipment from the previous night which didn’t help. I had no desire to do so. As I started I saw a very recognizable sight approaching... Dan’s yellow and white pick-up truck. I kept on cleaning the harness without looking up. I heard Dan’s very recognizable voice but still didn’t look up. He called out again and I heard him say he’d give me $200 for the equipment. I had no idea what it was worth but with my knowledge of Dan’s negotiations I knew it was an outrageously low offer. I really wanted to continue to ignore him but he’d made me mad so I looked up and shouted "$600!!". He shot back an offer of $350. That made me madder because it reinforced the fact that his $200 offer was totally unrealistic. I shouted “$600!!" and watched as he backed the pick up away. I really didn’t want him to get it and an idea had just come to mind that I could give it to my friend Eugene and would feel good about it. I remember looking up and thinking to myself F___ Y__! only to see the truck coming back towards me. I wanted to yell at him to leave me alone but when he stopped I saw he was looking down in his lap. I watched for a few seconds and I saw a hand and arm come out of the window. I could see he was holding some cash. Letting him have the stuff would eliminate a lot of running around for me so I got up to see what he had. I could count 5 $100 bills and when I saw that I just turned away and went back to the harness I was working on. I was just about to start on it again when I heard him say two words I didn’t think was in his vocabulary... ”You win.“ I watched as he added another $100 bill to those that he was holding. I took the $600 without saying ”thank you“ but I heard him say he expected all the equipment to be clean when he came back to collect it. I was tempted to just walk away right in front of him but I couldn’t.

When I finished up I went looking for Mr S’s barn. As I remember it I was almost bouncing on the balls of my feet knowing that I’d held my own in a negotiation with Dan. I didn’t really want to know what the actual value of the equipment was because, down deep in my heart, I really knew that Dan had ”won“. After a bit of wandering I recognized his driving colors decorating a couple of equipment trunks. There was a man feeding horses and I asked him if Mr S was around. That brought forth a burst of laughter. He told me that “the man” didn’t arrive until at least 9am. That made sense and fit with my perception of the man as a "dandy". As I waited I noticed that everything was immaculate. There wasn’t anything out of place and there were no nicks or scratches on the trunks or training carts. As I thought about the way Mr S. dressed that made sense.

It was closer to 10am than 9am when he showed up. He was driving a two toned Cadillac Coupe deVille and the colors, of course, were brown and ivory. I ended up joining him in the car and was taken back when his first words were something along the lines of how well I looked after a “turn” with Dan. He had a big smile on his face when he said it so I didn’t know how to respond. Long story short... he’d noticed me on the training track with Jean Paul’s “lazy” filly and, to use some of his words, he enjoyed watching my unorthodox methods to urge her on. He made some inquiries and found that I’d recently worked for Dan whom he knew from the Grand Circuit. He asked Dan about me and was told that I was a tireless worker but a little “green”. Mr S. told me that those words, coming from Dan, was a tacit approval. I was shocked. I thought that he’d bad mouth me until the day he died.

He then told me what he had in mind. If I thought I was surprised by what he told me what Dan had said about me it was nothing compared to what he went on to say. He was shipping the two horses he had at this track to the city to join “Super Steve”. The name didn’t mean anything to me as I rarely read about races held at the city tracks. He went on as if I knew exactly who the horse was and told me that he wanted me to take care of the two horses, and he pointed to their stalls, and to train all three. I was still back at the part about going to the city when he said he’d pay me $125 a week and would get a bonus if any of the three horses won when they raced. The final touch was that there was a distinct chance that I’d get to drive in a few races. It was like I was in a dream. It couldn’t be for real, especially when it came to me. To bring me back to reality he asked if I could finish up my “business” and be at the city by Friday. The only “business” I had was to get from here to there. When I told him I could he reached into his jacket and pulled out a folio. I watched as he opened it and pulled out a $50 bill and handed it to me as “traveling money”. I was so surprised that I don’t know if I said “thank you”.

To be continued...