THE ROAD TO GOOD TIMES... the start (Part 65e)

When we were leaving (and on time) Jay asked if I could arrange for him to see Lance’s car. I asked if he was really interested and he said he was. He had a four wheel drive Ford pick up truck and seemed very happy with it. I knew he was rebuilding a 1936 Ford pick up and had him figured as a Ford man all the way. I stopped at Mac’s on the way home and told Elise I needed to see Mac. He was still on duty and wasn’t due home until 7pm but she’d send him down when he got home. It was close to 9pm when he got there. I told him I had a friend who was interested in Lance’s car and I needed to talk to him to set up an appointment. I wont go into the machinations that I went through to set it up but Friday after work was the best we could work out. The problem with that was that Lance had to be back on base and on duty at 6pm. There wouldn’t be a lot of time for Jay to look over the car and to do any negotiation.

Work on Friday went smoothly. There was no more “noise” coming from Nina and I was free to get started on the subsidiary reports. All I could do was hope that my work spoke for itself and that the Nina “mess” was over. It was a big day for me in that I got my first County paycheck. With the cash left over from the sale of my car and the paycheck I felt that I finally had a “cushion“... but I still kept thinking about the car.

Fast forwarding to after work... Lance brought his car to the County Center around quitting time. It was dark but Jay saw (and heard) enough to make an offer for the car. I could see that Lance wasn’t happy with the amount of the offer but also picked up on the fact that he hadn’t rejected it. I think it was around $550. With Lance wanting to sell the car as quickly as possible that obviously touched a nerve. But when Jay told him that he wouldn’t be able to pay for it until after the first of the year it was no deal. The one thing that did happen was that in seeing the car again I was even more interested than I was the first time. Lance picked up on it and just before he drove off asked if he could come back to see me over the weekend. I didn’t say no.

Elle had promised to take the kids down to see her mother on Saturday which worked out perfectly for me. Lance didn’t get off duty until noon and asked if he could stop by around 3pm or so. That worked perfectly for me because I wanted to find out just why he wanted to get rid of the car and felt Mac would be a good source. I caught up with him before Lance arrived. He was somewhat reluctant to answer the question but I prevailed. When Lance had gone home on leave during the Summer he’d gotten his girlfriend pregnant. Her father had gotten in touch with him and told him “to make it right... or else”. The air base was giving all the staff three days leave at either Thanksgiving or Christmas and he chose Thanksgiving and needed the money to get home and back. Mac made me promise not to let Lance know that I knew about his situation. I sad OK but now knew why he’d entertained Jay’s offer. I immediately thought about offering him $500 cash when he showed up.

He was at the trailer before 3pm. I had him come inside and it was obvious he liked what he saw. I figured he’d want to get into dealing the car but he ended up having me give him a tour of the trailer. He floored me when he asked what a trailer like mine would sell for. Even though I’d established a price in my mind I hesitated and before giving him a number asked why he wanted to know. I couldn’t tell if he was blushing but he kind of stammered when he said he was getting married. I took the opportunity to ask if that’s why he wanted to sell the car and he nodded affirmatively. I asked what he would do for a car and he said he was working on a ‘49 Ford. For a brief second I thought about asking if he’d be interested in selling it. I figured it would have to be a lot cheaper than the Chevy... but I didn’t. From somewhere came the thought to ask where he’d be living after the wedding. He volunteered that there was no base housing available. I pretty much knew that from my conversations with Mac. He went on to say that a couple of his buddy’s rented bungalows in the “off season” (it was a Summer destination area) but once Summer came they had to find other, much more expensive, arrangements. Seeing my trailer gave him the idea of renting or buying a trailer. My immediate thought in hearing that was there was no way he’d be able to buy a trailer if the only money he had was tied up in the ‘55 Chevy.

That brought me back to talking about the car. I wasted no time and told him I’d give him $500 cash, right then and there. I remember distinctly that he immediately looked down at the floor. I waited for what seemed like 5 minutes before I pressed him for an answer. Finally he looked up and I won’t dramatize the situation by saying he looked like he was about to cry but he was clearly torn. He hesitated and finally nodded his head and said “yes”. But it wasn’t without conditions.

His immediate need was the money for his plane ticket home and return. He had mentioned that his new wife wouldn’t be returning with him and would wait until he made living arrangements for the two of them. He asked if he could still have the use of the car until he left for home. I don’t know why but I had this feeling that I was, in some way, cheating him and, feeling that way, said OK. As he wrote out a bill of sale I had my first experience of “buyers remorse”. What was I going to say to Elle when I told her what I’d done. I still hadn’t told my grandfather about the sale of the convertible and that was weighing heavily on my mind, and now this. I counted out the five $100 bills. I remember him holding them in his hand and staring at them. I had a brief thought that he might’ve changed his mind but he shook my hand. He told me that he’d deliver the car the following Wednesday when he was on the way to the airport. As I watched him drive away I realized that I’d never even driven the car.

To be continued...