Chapter 10

Friday Morning

I awakened with a start.

“Mom!!! Dang. I can’t even wipe my butt with my left hand. Dang!!!”

Not how I was accustomed to waking up. When my eyes were fully opened, I saw Jan on the far end of the couch, my feet in her lap and a blanket wrapped around her. She smiled.

“Don’t say anything. She doesn’t know or doesn’t remember you’re here.” I nodded, although I wasn’t sure why.

We had about three minutes of silence.

“Mom!!! Can I have pizza for breakfast? Mom??!!”

“You better answer her,” I whispered.

“No. Let her come find me. When she does, she’ll find you too. This is worth some waiting.”

I nodded. “How long have you been here? How are you feeling?”

“A while. I had a headache and took some Tylenol around four. Wasn’t sleepy.”

“So, you came out here?”

“Lots of stuff on my mind. This is a good place to think.”

“Do I snore?”

“A little. You smiled a bunch. It was like watching a cat sleep.”

“Great. How long are we going to wait for her? I need to use the litter box.”

“Nice. Shhh. Here she comes.”

“Mom? How come you didn’t answer? Is it okay if I have pizza? I like it cold.” And that’s when she saw me. “Oh. Oh. Did you hear me yelling?” I nodded. “About the pizza?” I nodded. “About the other thing?” I nodded. “Oh, geez. I’m going to put my other hat on now,” she said and went back into the kitchen. “Silence means consent. I’m having pizza.”

“That was fun,” I said. “What’s on your mind? You said a lot.”

“I need to figure out how to deal with a left-handed pre-teen. I like your pizza trick. I need a new car and to deal with all the insurance stuff. Actually, insurance will be easy. I do need a new car, though, if I can believe the second hand information from the nurse. I hate car shopping. Why don’t they just tell you the price instead of haggling?”

“Do you know what you want? Or have an idea?”

“It sounds like my Mercedes SUV saved our lives. I thought it was too expensive when I bought it but I changed my mind.”

“Insurance should pay a lot of it. Most of it. What does a new one cost?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t buy a new one. Three years old. I’m not going to pay double for a car just because it smells like new leather.”

“Want me to do it? I’ll shop for you.”

“Really? You’d do that?” I nodded. “You would, wouldn’t you. You’re so sweet. I would love that.”

“I tell you what, we’ll look at one of the online shoppers and find a couple that you’d find acceptable and I’ll go see what kind of a deal I can negotiate. How’s that?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a nicer offer. I hate car shopping. Did I mention that?”

“It might have come up. I looked through the paperwork after you went to bed last night. I’ll go take a look and see if your car really is totaled. I’ll call the towing company. They have it. It will take your insurance a couple of days to confirm but it should be easy to figure out by looking at it. If it’s really totaled, I’ll find a car and negotiate a price. Depends on how close the dealers are and how many to choose from but I can do that today. Unless the best deal is in Charlotte or something.”

“No. I don’t want you to do that. There are some good dealerships in Hilton Head but unless it’s going to save a grand, I don’t want you to do that. I don’t want to waste money but I don’t want you to spend a day looking for what might or might not be a bargain. And I hate being stranded. I love your beautifully aggressive car but there isn’t room for three.”

“You could take it and I could ride my bike if it came to that. Or, if we can’t find one here that you like, we could rent one. But I know the make and model and you said three years old or so? Any specific options you want?”

“No. They come pretty loaded. If you like it, I’ll like it.” She thought for a minute. “Unless it’s orange. Do not bring me an orange car.”

“No?”

“I am not going to drive around the Lowcountry having people think I’m a Clemson fan.”

This was a new twist. “No Clemson, huh? Are you a college football fan?”

“Go Hokies,” she answered with a subdued enthusiasm. “I think we out recruited Virginia this year so maybe we have a chance next year. Going to take some time though. We lost a couple of really good linebackers and that’s going to be tough ... but you don’t care about the Hokies.”

“I care about you. They played Virginia a couple of weeks ago and you missed the game. What were we doing that was so important?”

“I was with you. We lost anyway. And then the orange team beat up on Virginia. Please don’t tell me you’re a Clemson fan.”

“No. Want some breakfast?” I thought about pulling her chain and decided better of it. A lot of Southern women are true football fans. Probably more so than in any other part of the country. Definitely more so.

We had breakfast and laid out our day. I checked her vision and pulse. She said her headache was gone and she promised to call me if she felt even remotely off kilter. I called Mimi to let her know my plans and that they both seemed as well as could be expected. I wanted her to know, just in case she wanted to babysit. She thanked me for the call. No joking around when it came to family. Then I went home to shower, change and hit the road.

My first stop was the car lot where I confirmed that her car was totaled not only beyond repair but nearly beyond recognition. I retrieved a few personal items from the back and exchanged contact info with the wrecker company. Then it was off to check out three cars that looked like good replacement candidates. I started with least likely and ended up at what I thought I would probably test drive back to Jan’s house. I was right. The last of the three was three years old with forty thousand miles for under thirty thousand. Red, with a panoramic sunroof and very clean interior, I took it first to my mechanic. He hooked it up to his diagnostic machine and confirmed that it was in good shape, then put it up on the rack and looked at whatever mechanics look at from underneath. I pretended to understand. With a clean bill of health, I drove back to Jan’s.

I had checked in by phone a couple of times so it wasn’t a surprise when I pulled into the driveway. They both came out to inspect. Jan was satisfied and Mars liked the sunroof. Neither seemed particularly impressed with my negotiating skills. She signed some paperwork and gave me a check and I drove back to the dealership to seal the deal. Having completed the transaction, I found myself twenty miles from home with two cars. Fortunately, the dealer was happy to deliver which he did a couple of hours later.

Back at Jan’s house, we watched a movie while waiting for delivery and then went for a somewhat windy walk on the beach. It was ebb tide, nearing low and Mars walked close to the water, looking for shark’s teeth. After a particularly high tide, someone with a keen eye can easily collect twenty shark’s teeth in an hour, sometimes more. I’ve never seen the attraction but Mars was enjoying the hunt and that was enough for me.

We walked hand in hand, on hard packed sand, just above the waterline.

“No headaches?”

“None to speak of. The ice is keeping the bruising down. Those ice masks are a godsend. Thanks for getting those. I didn’t even know there was such a thing.”

“I might have gotten a black eye once or twice.”

“Might have?”

“Someone might have thrown a lucky punch.”

“Why ... oh. At the kung fu school.”

“Kung fu? Yes. Might have. You’re happy with the car? We’ve got five days to change our minds.”

“We do?”

I realized I’d said ‘we’.

“You do.”

“Uh huh.” We walked for a while. “Pops likes you.”

“I like him. He’s a straight shooter. Plus, his tat pretty much explains a lot of who he is.”

“He’s got a couple.”

“Globe, eagle and anchor. Semper fi.”

“Ah. I guess that’s true. You like that about him?”

“I don’t mind figuring people out. It’s a fun challenge sometimes. But I like it when people are transparent with me too.”

We passed a couple of men surf casting without much success. When we were outside earshot, she asked me, “Ever try that? Surf fishing.”

“Yes, but I have a lot better luck off the jetty. Franco has a boat and we usually do well. To do any good at surf fishing you have to cast out past the breakers. Franco has a gun for that.”

“He’s got a gun for surf fishing.”

“He freezes bait, mullet usually, in tubes. Then we take the launcher down to the water and slide the bait in. It’s really a gas-powered canon. You connect the frozen bait to your reel, slide the bait in, ready to let out line and fire it. It sends your bait out a couple of hundred yards. If you don’t have one of those your other options are a pier, like at the park or you can do what those guys are doing and hope to get lucky.”