Chapter 2

My third year at Oregon State University ended on a mixed note. First, I lost my girlfriend Liz when she went back to Canada to finish her schooling. She had qualified for her national swim team, and they wanted her closer to home. That hurt. We had just become lovers a few months earlier, and I was seriously considering asking Liz to marry me, but all that went out the window.

I would have been really down in the dumps if something amazing hadn't happened just after Liz left. I found my mother. She was in Bellingham, Washington, and she had remarried. What's more, she looked terrific and was genuinely happy with her new husband, Frank Trimble. He was a pilot and a really nice guy. I really felt much better about Mom when I saw how happy she was and that she wasn't upset with me after I had told my Dad about her affair. I promised myself that I would stay close to Mom, and try and make up for the heartache I had caused her. On the other hand, if Dad hadn't divorced her she would never have met Frank, so you never know how things are going to turn out.

Frank took me up in one his planes, and I was a thrilled to be sitting in the cockpit with him. He even let me fly it for a while. I was so excited that I knew right then and there that I wanted to learn to fly. I still had to serve my time with Uncle Sam after I graduated, so it was a matter of choosing which service would give me the best chance to become a pilot. Frank had been in the Air Force, and naturally, he thought that would be the best choice.

When I got back to Corvallis to start my summer job, I got another big surprise. Penny had tried to call me when I was up north. She had left a number, but it was for a motor inn in Eugene and she had checked out a couple of days before I got back. That really got me thinking. With Liz gone, I really didn't have anyone that I could look forward to being with besides Mom and Frank. Penny and I had been really close and even though we were really young, we had been thinking about marriage too. It was crazy, since we were only eighteen then, but we were in love. We had known each other since grade school.

When I moved to Oregon, we wrote to each other for a while, but soon I could tell it was impossible to keep things going with our being so far apart. I told her to look for someone else because I wasn't going to be back for a long time. She knew I wasn't going to see my dad after what he did to Mom. Anyway, she wrote me a letter and told me that she had found a new guy, and that he was a nice guy, and they had a lot in common. I think I might have hurt her feelings with my letter. I had mixed emotions about her seeing another guy too. At the time, I thought I was in love with Liz, but it felt funny when Penny said she was with someone else. I didn't realize until I got that phone message that I still had a strong feelings for her.

We were both twenty-one now, starting our last year of college, and needed to plan our futures. The more I thought about mine, the more two things kept coming back; Penny and flying. At least now I had something to look forward to and someone I wanted to talk to and hoped to be with. I decided to make a long distance call to Penny's home and see just what was happening in her life. I needed someplace private to do that, so the first person I thought of was Aunt Hilda. I called her from the dorm and told her what I wanted to do. Naturally, she was all for it. I promised I would pay her for the call.

Aunt Hilda reminded me that we were two hours behind Aberdeen, so the best time to call might be after my work during the week. After six o'clock the rates were cheaper and it would still only be just after eight in Aberdeen. That sounded like the perfect time, and on top of that Aunt Hilda invited me to have supper with her. I would never turn down one of her home cooked meals. Since she wanted to hear all about Mom and her new husband, it was the perfect opportunity.

My new summer job was in Salem, so I had a bit of planning to do to make sure I could get there and back without too much trouble. The alumni had arranged a better job since I was now a co-captain. I was grateful that I would have a lot more money to work with by September. What I didn't realize was that there was an additional benefit.

When I showed up at Capitol Motors on Monday morning, I checked into the office and learned that the boss wasn't in yet and wouldn't be for another hour. I wandered through the empty showroom, looking at the new Fords and Mercurys, wishing I could afford one. After a while, I went outside and walked over to the used car lot and looked over the inventory. It was pretty clear that there were two classes of car on the "Used" lot; shiny late-model cars on the front row, and older more experienced units in the back row. When I bought my first car, I was determined that it was going to be off the front row and not the back row.

Mr. Randolph, the owner and an OSU alumnus, showed up just after nine. I waited until he went to his office before I walked toward it and knocked lightly on the door frame. He looked up with a questioning face.

"Yah ... what can I do for you?" he said in a rough voice.

"I'm Ron Francis from OSU. I was told to report to you for a summer job."

"Oh yah ... Uh ... See Marty Coulson and he'll tell you what he wants you to do. Do you have a car?"

"No. I've been using the bus."

"OK ... you can have anything off the back row as long as you don't take the same car two days in a row." His head dropped back down to concentrate on his work.

"Huh?" was my intelligent response.

He looked at me like I have five eyes and then smiled. "I suppose you didn't know that I'll lend you a car to get here, as long as you don't take the same car two days in a row, and don't crack it up."

"Uh ... no ... I mean ... I didn't know," I stammered. "But thanks ... that's great ... thanks."

"OK kid, but don't go getting any ideas about the cars in the front row. Understood?"

"Yes ... Yes of course. Thank you! That's really great." I was really surprised and delighted with this turn of events.

I was about to head off to find my contact when I suddenly realized I couldn't remember his name. "What was the name of the guy I was supposed to see?"

"Marty Coulson! He's in the shop. Now get to work, OK?"

"Yes sir ... and thanks again," I said more confidently as I headed for the shop.

I introduced myself to Marty. I could tell he was a mechanic, based on the greasy overhauls he wore and the unlit cigar stuffed in the side of his mouth. He told me my job was to wash the cars on the lot and run errands to the automotive suppliers and other car dealers for parts. I would use the company truck for those runs. Marty said if I was smart, I would get the cars washed first thing since they had to be washed and cleaned every day. If I had some longer routes to run in the truck, I might not have enough time to get all the cars washed before the shop closed.

Marty also kept the keys for the used cars, and he would provide me with them for whatever car I used to head back to OSU each night. I asked Marty about weekends, and he said it was OK to take a car on Saturdays because I was working that day. Sunday's they were closed. The alumni people had neglected to tell me this was a six-day-a-week job; but then I didn't have anything special to do anyway, so it would help fill the time. As it turned out, the job wasn't very challenging and I was able to fit in the time for a couple of extra courses for my final year. The pay was good, and since I was working an extra day I was making more money than I ever had. It was also a lot more than I had expected.