Chapter 9



As we were driving over to the dealership, I told mom to act as if she was buying the vehicle for me, that way we could talk the guy down in price. We got there, and looking over the trucks there seemed to be only two differences in them. They were both 1990 K5 Blazers, basically mini Suburbans. One was a dark green and the other was brown. After looking at them, I wanted the green one, it had the other difference, it had an aftermarket radio. It also had less miles, they wanted 15K for it, which was a bit overpriced based on my research.

While we were looking at the trucks, two salesmen kept coming up to us. We told them we were fine, but it seemed like every 5 minutes they were coming back. The tall guy came back, and I’d finally had it.

“Look I’d appreciate it if you’d let your buddy know. If we need help, we’ll come and get somebody. You coming over every couple of minutes isn’t endearing y’all to us.”

It was obvious he didn’t like that. I’d pretty much decided on the green one. I told mom to keep looking while I went to the bathroom. As I left, I walked around towards the service department looking for a porter. I had some questions, I finally found one washing a car.

“Excuse me. Do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions?”

“Sure, no problem.”

“Who’s the salesperson who sells the least number of vehicles, and is he working today?”

“Yeah, that is Dave Sarget, and he’s inside I believe.”

“Thanks.”

I walked back out front and found mom looking at minivans. She was engrossed reading the price sheet on one. So, I snuck up behind her and poked her in the side.

“Ahh, what the hell is wrong with you. Stop laughing, it’s not funny. Where have you been.”

“Well, mother. I found some info. So, I want the green truck, the most I’m willing to pay for it is 11K. The salesman we want to talk to is Dave Sarget. You know this is going to piss off Randy.”

“Ok. We’ll go in and talk to them. As far as anything at home, you don’t say a word and let me deal with it.”

Walking into the showroom, one of the pushy salesmen was striding up to us with a purpose. Mom cut him off, asking where Dave Sarget was. This didn’t please the guy, but he pointed to a desk in the corner. Dave Sarget was just an ordinary looking middle age white guy. We sat down and mom started negotiating. She told him what vehicle we were looking at so he could get the price sheet. Mom started way below my number. After about ten minutes, mom finally told she would give him $11,250 but that included all tax, tag, and title. Before we left, she had gotten a signed offer sheet, and left him with a deposit check. We’d come back tomorrow evening to finalize everything.

Once we got home, mom called the insurance agency to figure out how much it would be with me on the policy. Then she called Bob to let him know that we found a vehicle and were going to purchase it tomorrow. She’d stop by with a check so that it could be signed. I had my license, and after tomorrow I would have a vehicle. I needed to get myself in gear with kickboxing and Judo. The thought popped into my head that I needed to talk to my mom about being able to drive to Stosh’s graduation. Knowing that I’d get my truck the next day it was hard to get to sleep.

Waking up, I got out and got my run in. I’d gotten running 3 miles down to about 27 minutes, it needs to get down to about 20 minutes for me to be happy. I needed to research what muscles I needed to work on for pullups. I knew what the Marines Corps fitness test required, and I needed to get everything on point before my senior year. I spent the rest of the day doing chores and tweaking my plan for the next month or so. I needed to get to the library so I could look some things up. I heard the garage door opening, so I headed down stairs. I was walking into the kitchen when mom came in from the garage.

“Randall, Erin. Go put your stuff away and go see what your father is up to. Barnim, get your shoes on so we can get going.”

I heard the basement door close, so I knew Randy was coming into the kitchen. I just worried about getting ready.

“Randy, Barnim and I are going to go out for about an hour. Please start something for dinner while I’m out?”

“OK.”

With that we left and headed to the dealership. I was curious as to what Randy’s reaction was going to be when we came home. I didn’t foresee anything good.

“Mom, you know Randy is going to blow his stack when we get home.”

“Don’t concern yourself with that. I’ll deal with any issues that come up.”

When we got to the dealership, Mr. Sarget was waiting for us. There was a minor issue when he pulled out a contract ready to run mom’s credit. She politely handed him the check. He wanted to argue, but she just pointed to the signed offer sheet and said it never mentioned financing. It was about 20 minutes later that all the paperwork was filled out. Walking out to the parking lot, mom handed me the keys to the minivan.

“It’ll probably be the only time that I’ll get to drive it.”

“Have at it. Don’t wreck it on the way home.”

It was funny watching her get into the truck. Mom was short at 5’4.

“Want a step ladder mom?”

“Nope. Just remember, I drove your truck before you did, and that big things come in small packages.”

With that she got in and started towards the house. As we pulled in, I knew there were going to be problems, Randy was in the garage. The look on his face was one of a kid opening presents on Christmas day. He was walking to the driver’s side of the truck as mom was getting out.

“Let me have the keys Lilka, so I can take it for a spin.”

“Well, seeing as this is Barnim’s truck. You’ll have to ask him.”

“What are you talking about. I thought we had talked about this.”

“We did, and obviously you didn’t listen to anything I said. Do your research, figure out what you want, and then we can sit down and discuss it again.”

“You have got to be kidding me.”

I took that moment to give Randy a little poke. I knew it could backfire, but I couldn’t resist. Walking around him, I grabbed the keys and gave mom a kiss on the cheek.

“Thanks for taking me mom.”

With that I turned around and walked into the house. I could hear Randy raise his voice, I really didn’t care what was being said. I headed to my room and put the keys on the dresser. I took a shower, and headed down for dinner. Mom was pissed, not only was he acting like an ass, he hadn’t started dinner. So, there was a short wait on pizza to arrive. When it arrived, I grabbed some and headed to my room to eat and read till bedtime.

The next couple of days went by pretty quietly. I didn’t hear a word from Randy about the truck. In my research I had found a few kick boxing gyms in what I deemed a reasonable distance from the house. It took a couple of evenings to visit them all due to my driving restrictions. Currently I could only drive after mom got home, and I had to be home by 10pm.

Visiting the gyms there was only one choice. Out of the four gyms that I visited, only one was a traditional Muay Thai gym. The others were the Americanized version of kick boxing. Cobra Muay Thai East was the only one that drew me in. Sarut Boripat was a champion in Thailand during the early to mid 80’s, he immigrated to the US in the late 80’s. At about 5’7 and 175lbs I thought he was short, turns out he was about average in Thailand. He was the lead boxer out of the famed Cobra Muay Thai in Phuket, Thailand.

Cobra Muay Thai East was a bare bones gym. When I walked in there were a lot of heavy bags hanging in the front of the gym. There were some in shapes I’d never seen before. A few weight benches, workout machines, and some sit up apparatus along one side. The gym was dominated by two boxing rings that took up most of the rear half of the gym. I liked this place, I had been watching from inside the front door when Sarut Boripat walked up to me.