WINTER... way too soon (Part 40e)

At my grandfather’s house he asked me to drive him over to the harness horse training track that had been built across the river. What was so surprising about that was that my grandfather had never gone anywhere with me driving. He always drove and it was almost always in his vintage station wagon. But I didn’t say anything. He asked me how I liked the car which was also strange. He was a General Motors man, through and through. My father had told me that he’d been very upset when I bought my first car and it was a Ford product. I told him I really liked it and that it was a “fun car”. When we pulled into the track he changed the subject and asked me if I was still serious about becoming a professional harness racing driver/trainer. I didn’t know where that thought came from because I’d not said anything to anybody about a change in my plans. In any case I told him that it was still my only plan. When he heard that he got out of the car and told me to follow him. We went into one of the barns and he led me down to one of the stalls. He pointed to the horse that was inside and said that he was going to buy her. I thought he was going to tell me that he bought her for me but he didn’t. He just wanted to know that I was still serious about my career choice before he bought her.

Once we got back in the car he started in on me about driving an “inferior” vehicle. As I said, he was a GM man all the way through. I just sat there and took the teasing. Then he hit me with the bombshell. He told me that I should sell my car and buy my father’s convertible. I remember sitting there, not believing what I was hearing. I’d been to the car dealer when my father was looking at getting a new one and distinctly remember hearing the amount $800 mentioned as a trade in for his convertible. I remember thinking that there’s no way I could possibly come up with that kind of money. I don’t remember what he said after that because I was trying to do calculations in my head. My first words were “I can’t”. He, very calmly, said “Why not?”. I still couldn’t believe we were having this dialog or what had triggered it.

By the time we drove away there was a semblance of a plan in place. I’d repaid all the loans I’d made from my grandfather so he said that he’d loan me the difference after I sold my car. I told him I’d pursue selling my car but still not sure that I wanted to. I loved that Merc and yet the idea of having a convertible with red leather seat at college was a big temptation. All the guys who had convertibles were really popular. So, on my way back home I decided I’d look up the guy who asked if I wanted to sell it when I was home at Thanksgiving.

I stopped at the gas station hoping to find him there. All I found was the two guys who were buying it from Cliff. They didn’t know where he was as they had fired him when they started running the station. So I headed home. When I got there I found out that my father had been in on the whole idea and that’s why the convertible was still in the driveway. He asked if I wanted to take it for a drive. As strange as it may seem I’d never driven any of his “good” cars. I headed over to Elle’s to ask her if she wanted to go for a ride only to find her not feeling well as her period had started. That was always good and bad news but the timing of it couldn't have been worse. It meant I'd lose a week of being"up close and personal" with her. I went for a drive, by myself, and incorporated looking for the guy who wanted to buy my car into it. I found out that he was working at the new bowling alley but he wasn’t there when I stopped. I truly was impressed with the car. Even though it was much bigger and heavier than my car it was still very fast. I took it out onto the new by-pass and got it up to over 95 miles per hour. The best my Merc could do was around 90.

By now my thoughts were on selling my car and not much else. Even when I went over to Elle’s after supper I couldn’t get it off my mind. But reality took hold when Elle started teasing me about her Christmas present to me which was under her tree. I remembered that I hadn’t done any of my shopping except for buying the panties for Elle and that I still had to go pick them up. As Elle wasn’t feeling all that good I left fairly early and went to bed trying to come up with ideas for the presents I needed. As I said, I wasn’t too pleased that Elle had her period. I’d fantasized seeing her wear the new panties and now I knew she’d be wearing cotton ones along with her sanitary panties until it was over.

To be continued...