An Exercise in Patience.
My friend asked me to take her Lexus to the tire dealer to get a price on new tires while she was gone. She had heard of the place I go to for my tires and agreed that was the place to go. She had heard from several people the proprietor was "A Good Christian" but they had all gone on to explain he's not like that, he will witness but he's not a hypocrite. Not slick with bad hair. So I took her SUV over to the place at lunch. I was greeted with a chain across the drive way and a sign saying out to lunch.
There were three cars ahead of me, and a large truck idling, waiting to make a delivery. On car was a Hyundai who had a bald headed man with glasses at the wheel. There was also a red Jeep, with a scoop on the back for hauling dead deer out of the woods, and one of those "German Crosses" with the flared ends. At it wheel was the hunter, clad in camos, a camo ball cap and shades. The last car was a red Ford something or another, populated by two women that could best be described as giggling bimbos. One, the passanger, the social one, wore Stevie Nicks boots, very tight jeans, a cable knit sweater that expose her left shoulder, Daisy May style, her hair was crimped and dyed blond, and her teeth, lord gawd I could have gone all day with out seeing her teeth, they were awful. The other, either the mother or the older sister, was a platinum blond being held together by bulging demin. She smiled a lot.
I felt sorry for the guys coming back to work to a bunch of people waiting on them, I know how that feels. The jeep and the women pulled in the two bays and got their tires changed. The Hunter stood at the rear end of his jeep, keeping an eye on everything going on. Daisy May came over and talked to him about this and that, trying to impress him with her knowledge we have the highest unemployment rate in the state (Yeah, for 8 years running, no news there) She complained about the new museum,
"They spent a million dollars on that museum, and how many jobs did it bring to the area? Have you been there?" she asked the hunter. He said no.
She turned to me and asked me. "Yes" I told her and she asked me how many people worked there. "I have no idea" I told her, and thought about how she would not work a full week at one of the traditional manufacturing jobs we used to have, could not make the leap to where she could understand what a paleontologist was. She turned back to the hunter and commenced a conversation about tanning hides. She had tanned several deer hides recently but was afraid to try a bear hide because she heard it was greasy.
Then here came Earnest Angley. Not really, but a guy who looked like him. Came rolling n in a thunderbird, parked it and came right over to the proprietor, in the middle of dealing with the guy in the big truck making the delivery, to tell him the tire he had had put on last month was still soft and wanting him to do something. He spoke with a lisp somewhat reminiscent of Truman Capote, his hair was from Kmart, as was his clothes. He turned to the guy in the Hyundai, recognizing him as a member of his mothers church and thanking him for praying for her in her recent illness. He got his point across with a high and tight whine, like the very effort of expression was bordering on sin so he needed to take precaution to weigh each word before it left his lips.
The delivery guy was a friendly sort, maybe about 28 to 30 years old, about, oh, 5 ft. 8 inches tall, a little light in his shoes maybe. He had attracted the stares of the hunter, the Daisy May, the bald guy, the guys working there, and me. I decided to tune in on their vibe, saw how they reacted to his speech. He did not sound effeminate, he sounded like, New York state. A Yankee, when he mentioned to the proprietor that he couldn't play golf in the cold weather, they all had enough and turned there attention away.
Once the big truck left the proprietor noticed me and came over. I showed him the car, knew he would have to order the tires. I don't see how he could read the tiny numbers off of the tire with no glasses, upside down. He was familiar enough with the number that he could keep it in his head with out having to write it down. We headed back to his office to look it up and damn here come demin woman, bright and perky and inserted herself right in betwixt us and commenced to talking. Her car was done and she was ready to begining the process of paying for it. I took a deep breath and let them go. I knew how it would work.
Waiting outside the office I heard her tell him in rapid secession that she had not put tires on that car in 2 years because it was a second car, and that everyone in her family had driven it, her mamma had driven it and her sister and her daughter, but not much because she didn;t get her license until next year and Blah blad this and blah blah that and then it got quite and I couldn;t make out what was being said. I smiled. I knew. The credit card had been declined. I shook my head.
I found myself feeling right lonely. I found myself wanting to hold on to something warm and cuddly, about 5 ft. 8 inches tall. Not necessarily the delivery guy, but some guy, as a counter balance to all the hetero intrigue at the back end of the jeep.
She got on the combination fax machine/phone and talked to the toll free number, you know how long that takes. Another person arrived, an old soft looking man with a cane, he went on in the office and sat down on the couch and waited. The Lisper came in and sat beside him and commenced talking about churches. How his late father, a preacher, had built up a church and his successors had let it go down and on and on. Presently demin woman emerged bright and perky again saying she would see him next Thursday. After some check arrived, perhaps she would get by there with the money without being sucked into Walmart to consume cheap plastic shit. The lisper had to go look at something on his tire and I sat down on the couch next to the man with the cane. The proprietor got back to making calls to see about a price for me.
"My son lost his car" the old man said. "He didn;t make the payments so they came and got it, he's out of work right now, looks like it is gonna be right hard for the next little bit". I agreed with him.
"I can't drive, they took my license away from me because I had a stroke" He told me how his whole left side was paralyzed but he had worked with the therapist. He said: "Some people just give up, and they die. You can't give up."
I had been been listening to him but now felt like I had to look away. He was one of these people that get sent to tell you something, to remind you how lucky you are. The proprietor was about to speak when the old mans toothless wife appeared in the door.
"We're gonna have to come back another time." she said frantically. "you got an appointment at 2 o'clock". The proprietor apologized they were unable to get to them quicker. She was apologizing too, she had to get him to his appointment, "he's on radiation" she said, and the man looked down as he and his 4 prong cane passed us, clearly embarrassed. It was 40 minutes until 2 o'clock. The Oncology center is 5 minutes away.
So it came down to this: The stylish tires that were standard for the Lexus was going to be $550, but the around town everyday tires was going to be $345, he wrote it on the back of his business card. I went back to the office and emailed her with the results.
Topic: Shakesthegrounds Rumblings (Read 2631192 times)