SLOGGING THROUGH WINTER... Good & bad (Part 169q)

SLOGGING THROUGH WINTER… Good & bad (Part 169q)

We didn’t return to the cellar but decided we’d pick up where we left off on Saturday. That decision got me home at a reasonable hour and I fully expected that it would make Elle happy. However, I found her to be somewhat subdued, even for her. Being married for over ten years gives one a pretty good idea of what not to say in certain situations. This was one of those times. I went upstairs to change out of my suit and to think about what I might say to get a conversation going. When I saw a small pile of disposable diapers on the end of the bed I immediately knew what the problem was… Beth had come to get her baby. As the days with him had passed I could see Elle getting more and more ‘involved’. Our kids had done pretty much the same as playing with a real baby was a lot more fun than the toy dolls they had. I’d not paid much attention to him because he was so good. He didn’t fuss much and slept a lot, even at night, so he was pretty much transparent to me. As I was about to return downstairs to the kitchen I remembered a subtle hint that Elle had dropped on me one night after we got into bed. She asked if I ever thought about not having had a son. I dismissed it as I turned out the light. With each step I took down the stairs I wondered if she was serious or not.

Once in the kitchen I went straight for the pile of mail on the counter. Right on top was a program from Daytona. That was the opening I needed to start a dialog. Holding it up towards Elle she offered that Beth had left it off when she picked up the baby. But she went on and told me that Cliffy wanted to have a meeting with the race car crew Saturday afternoon at the garage. I was not happy to hear that and wondered why as we had two and a half months yet to go until the season started. There really wasn’t much to do on the car as there was almost no damage done to the car in the championship race. The motor had been rebuilt right before that so I was puzzled… but knew it would be best to show up. I asked Elle if Beth had said anything about the wreck or the funeral and she indicated that she hadn’t. I really didn’t think that she would but, to keep the conversation going went ahead and asked anyway.

While eating, it was the girls who brought up the baby being gone. And it was Jean, the oldest, who asked if we would ever have another one. Talk about an uneasy moment! I had hoped that Elle would make a very definitive statement that it wasn’t going to happen… but she gave some mealy mouthed answer that just prompted more questions. I finally put an end to it by saying that it was not a subject for the dinner table. I remember getting a harsh look from Elle after I did.

Saturday brought forth more mid Winter weather… sleet and freezing rain. I had Mae’s phone number and called to see what the weather to the West was like. I wasn’t crazy about driving in it myself and I sure didn’t want to put Mae at risk to come in for a non essential project. We agreed that it wasn’t worth it (although I knew Mae was counting on the money). What the change in plans meant was I’d have some time to work on a sign painting job for pay. Half of my sign work was done on a barter basis so this was one I really wanted to get done. I figured I could make my landfill run on my way to the meeting with Cliffy and the  rest of the crew so headed for the basement.

It was still quite nasty when I left the house although the road wasn’t bad. However, I got to see some of the carnage caused by the ice as there were multiple numbers of cars in the median ditch. I recognized one of the wreckers with a car on the hook as belonging to Cliffy’s father. I followed it right to the garage and, once there, saw Cliffy climb out of the cab. I knew him well enough to know he wasn’t all that happy. As much as I wanted to know what had happened at Daytona and the big crash I decided not to mention it. We were the last to arrive as the others, including Buster, were already there. Cliffy had to do some paperwork for the tow job he’d just brought in so I went to the back part of the shop where the racer was stored. Dick and Cliffy were really ‘close’ so I asked Dick if he knew what this meeting was about. He just shrugged his shoulders and went back to chatting with the others. I listened in and it was about the Daytona crash and it seemed like each had their own theory.

It was like a Cliffy I’d never seen before when he walked in. No “Hi” or anything like it. Dead serious, he told us that unless we came up with $1,000 by the first of March we were done and the car would be sold. I don’t think he took a breath before listing all the people we owed money to… starting with C J and his father, “Seeg”, for the cylinder heads they’d let us use most of the previous season. It turned out that he’d talked the tire guy into giving us tires on credit but had never told us. And then there was the money we owed his father for the race car hauler. That was the one that caught me by surprise because I thought he was just letting us use it. Buster was the first to try and speak and when he did Cliffy ‘barked’ at him telling him he didn’t want to hear excuses reminding him that he’d not put one penny into the operation after his initial $100. He also turned to Joe and pretty much told him the same thing. Then he reached in his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. That’s when it got interesting.

He started reading names and numbers which were percentages. Mine name was first and I definitely remember it… 32%. Then he read Dicks name and I think his percentage was around 25%. His own name was next at around 20%. Alan’s was around 15%. By the time he got that far I’d figured out what he was doing… it was the percentage of the car that each of us owned after adding the monies we’d put in during the season. He didn’t read Buster and Joe’s percentages but told them, point blank, that if they wanted to continue as part owners they had to come up with at least $100 each. I was looking right at Buster when he said the dollar amount and I thought he would choke. Buster had a speech impediment and when he got excited he couldn’t get whole words out. He was trying to protest but all we heard was “Uh…uhh… uhhh”. I knew I’d probably put in more money than some of the others but didn’t realize how much. After we’d originally bought the car Buster and Joe owned 10% each and the rest of us each owned 20%. Hearing the percentages and realizing I was the majority owner I certainly didn’t feel like it.

There was some ‘mumbling’ before Cliffy told us he’d be satisfied if we each matched what we’d put in the car to start with and told us he’d already promised his father $200 towards the truck we used to haul the car with. There never was a price discussed for the cylinder heads we got from C J so I offered to put $200 towards them. I was hoping the others would step up but they didn’t. Cliffy shrugged his shoulders and said but one thing… “March first!” and walked back into the main part of the garage.

To be continued...