A BUMP(us) IN THE ROAD... a pothole? (Part 66d)

I drove the Chevy to work on Friday and it was my first time behind the wheel. It was such a short distance that I didn’t really get a “feel” for the car but I did notice a bit of a “jump” when I pulled away from a stop sign. I couldn't wait to take it for a ride during lunch. Nina never showed up and I went about running all the reports as I’d done previously. About half the women in the office were out including both the keypunchers. It was like a morgue. Leo never showed up so it was a real quiet day but I pretty much knew that Monday would be “interesting”, for sure.

At home I expected a nice quiet weekend. My main job at the park on Saturday was to help place a new trailer in one of the new West side pads and that was about it. We were almost finished when Mac showed up. He told me that Lance had called and needed to talk with me. I was to call him when I could get to a phone. When Mac handed me the number I asked if he had any idea what it was about. He shrugged his shoulders as he walked away. I had no immediate idea why he would want to talk with me. He had said that he had a ride both to and from the airport so it was a puzzlement to me. As I finished up I got the thought that he might’ve changed his mind about the car. I still hadn’t resolved, in my mind, how to tell Elle that the car was mine. Walking home I was mulling the thought that if he really wanted the car back and actually had the money that it might be best to do it. At least that way there would be no problem with Elle. I was just about to the door when I decided I didn’t want to talk with him where Elle could hear the conversation.

I walked in the trailer and saw a note posted on the refrigerator that she was over at Alice’s. After a big sigh of relief I dialed up the number on the piece of paper Mac had given me. A dainty voice answered the phone and I thought I’d dialed wrong. I asked for Lance and after a few seconds I heard his voice.

I’d been right. He wanted to get the car back. In thinking back on it now I think I was more relieved than upset. I didn’t give him an answer right away but let him talk. When he didn’t get a quick answer he changed the subject. His next question was asking if I knew of any used trailers for sale. I immediately thought of the weekend before when he’d been in my trailer and had asked what a trailer like mine would sell for and how I’d just sloughed him off. I hesitated and sort of stammered out that there were always used trailers for sale. Then I sort of laughed and told him that he could buy mine. I swear there wasn’t but a second went past before he asked what I wanted for it.

When I’d come up with the grandiose idea of buying one of the new “pop out” living room trailers I’d roughly figured (hoped) that I could get as much as I’d paid for it ($4,100) so I threw that number out. There was a definite silence on the other end of the line. It had lasted for maybe 10 seconds when I heard Lance ask if I could pick him up at the airport the next day. This really caught me by surprise as he’d told me he'd made arrangements before he left. I hesitated because Jim had invited me, Andy, Mac and his next door neighbor over to watch the Giants football game on his new color TV. It was a tough call but I knew I had to resolve the issue with the car so said I would. It wasn’t the way I wanted to spend my Sunday.

Because it was the Sunday after Thanksgiving the traffic was horrible. Everybody was on the road. I’d given myself two hours but it took almost three. Then it took me a while to find him in the terminal because it was way crowded. Once in the car I started the conversation asking how the wedding had gone. He didn’t offer much in the way of information and because I’d used the station wagon to pick him up he wanted to know if the Chevy was OK. Then he told me he had the money to buy it back. I really don’t remember the words I used but I know I kind of “danced” around with my answer. I was really torn. I “wanted” the car but I knew I didn’t really “need“ it. I took a chance and changed the subject and brought up his question about the availability of used trailers. There were two that I knew of. One had been traded in for one of the new, longer trailers. It was around 5 years old and in decent shape. I knew the ”boys“ (Dick and Ben) usually put an inflated price on the used units so they had some ”wiggle room“ when it came time for bargaining. I didn’t know what they were asking for the unit but I told Lance it would probably sell for $3,500. I caught him shaking his head out of the corner of my eye but he didn’t say anything. Then I told him the other unit would be cheaper because it was older. I told him that I knew that it needed a new heating unit and that the hot water heater had been a problem (I’d worked on it a couple of times). It was being sold by the owners and I had no idea what they were asking. Lance sat there without commenting for a few miles and then, finally, he asked about mine.

Basically he had a promise of loans from his new father in law, his father in law's brother (his new wife’s uncle) and his family, plus money he and his wife got at the wedding. Without telling me how much the loans would be for he asked if the price I’d quoted him was negotiable. As I previously said I had the thought in my mind that I could possibly get what I’d paid for it. I’d only thrown that out as a starting point. I knew the unit was three years old but I’d put a lot into it (additional shelves, bunk beds for the kids, bigger hot water heater) and, like any normal person, I wanted to get as much as I could squeeze out of it. I told him that he should throw out a number and that we could work from there. He just shrugged his shoulders and stayed silent. Once we’d started talking about my trailer I'd got all excited again about the possibility of getting a new one. His unwillingness to offer a counter price wasn’t very helpful. I asked again and then he started opening up.

To be continued...