Chapter 17

Monday, January 17th, 2022
Colorado Springs, Colorado

I grabbed my coat and the backpack, which still had a change of clothes for my regular body in it, and started walking down the street. Maybe 30 or 40 yards further up the sidewalk, I saw a man get into his car and wave to his wife, who was standing in the doorway with a small child on her hip. She was helping the kid wave back to Daddy. It was a nice scene, one I hadn’t seen outside of TV in a very long time.

The guy had pulled away long before I reached that part of the street. I was considering my next steps as I approached, I thought it was still way too early to visit the Post Office. With some time to kill, I thought I might chat with the woman I had just seen, as I knew she was home. I gave Carl a heads up and asked him to prepare her to be friendly and very helpful to me when she was in range and saw me.

I knocked on the door and she opened it, without the kid this time, and said, “Can I help you?”

I smiled and replied, “Good morning, I’m sorry to interrupt your day, but I wondered if I could ask you a few questions about the neighborhood. I’m considering buying a home here and I thought it might be worth talking to a few people in the area about how they like it. I know it’s early, but I was just walking by and saw you were home and thought, “What can it hurt to ask?”

She smiled back, “Sure, come on in. Can I get you a cup of coffee?”

I thanked her and came inside and said, “That sounds great, thank you.”

She said, “Let me take your coat.”

I gave it to her and looked around as she hung it up on a hook in a closet near the door. Her daughter was playing with some blocks in front of the TV in the living room, which was showing some cartoons.

She told me, “Come, let’s sit in the kitchen. That’s April, our budding architect, and I’m Mary.”

We had reached the kitchen and I offered my hand and said, “I’m Max, it’s nice to meet you Mary. You have a lovely home, and with a toddler I’m amazed how you manage to keep it up.”

Mary laughed as she shook my hand and said, “That’s just because she has only just started. Give her another half an hour and it will look like downtown Beirut around here. How do you take your coffee?”

I said, “Black is fine, thanks.”

We sat at the kitchen table chatting amiably for a while. April started getting cranky and Mary went to check on her. She told me she had to change a diaper and asked me to bear with her while she took care of it. There was a changing table in the living room corner and it didn’t take her long.

She washed her hands in the sink and rejoined me at the table. I asked Carl to send a new instruction to her to “Follow all of my orders.”

Carl sent, [Done.]

I said, “Mary, I am ordering you to answer all questions openly, honestly, in the most helpful way you can. Don’t worry about why I’m asking. Do you understand?”

She nodded.

I asked, “Do you know of anyone in the neighborhood who has a vehicle, but very seldom uses it?”

Mary said, “Yes, Mrs. Adams lives across the street and a few houses down to the right. The blue ranch with white shutters. She has a Cadillac that sits in her garage all the time. She broke a hip a year or two ago, and while she can get around okay now she doesn’t really go anywhere anymore. Says she gets too tired. She gets things delivered and has periodic visits from a caregiver and handyman. She’s a nice lady.”

I said, “Thank you. Do you know anyone in the service trades? Like a Plumber, Cable installer, Telephone Maintenance, Air Conditioning?”

She said, “I don’t think so. Wait, I know someone who works for the Power Company. Would that work?”

I said, “Tell me about them.”

Mary said, “I have a friend from way back in High School that I still chat with regularly. Her name is Kim Barnes, and her husband Chris is an executive at CSU. That’s Colorado Springs Utilities. I don’t know exactly what his job title is, but I’m sure he’s fairly high up in management.”

I asked, “Do you know her address?”

She gave it to me from memory and I dug a small memo notebook and pencil out of a side pocket in my bag. I wrote down their names and address.

I thanked her, put away my little memo pad and pencil, then sent to Carl, [Tell her to forget about my giving her an order and all of the conversation we had since.]

He sent, [Done.]

I took my last sip of coffee and said, “Mary, I really appreciate all of your help and I hope to see you again someday.”

She told me, “It’s been a pleasure meeting you Max, I hope your house hunting works out.”

I got my coat and waved goodbye as I walked away. Mary went back into the house and I was soon knocking on Mrs. Adams’s front door. I asked Carl to do the friendly and helpful command on her too.

Mrs. Adams answered the door and said, “Hello young man. How can I help you?”

I replied, “Mrs. Adams, my name is Max and coincidentally enough my last name is also Adams. I was visiting a friend in the neighborhood who mentioned that you have a car that you don’t get the chance to use very often these days. I was hoping we could talk about that if you had the time.”

She said, “Certainly, come on in. It’s too cold to be talking through an open door. Take off your coat and visit for a while. Truth is, I don’t get much company and you’re a welcome surprise.”

I sent to Carl, [Instruct her to trust and believe me completely. To treat me like a long lost family member.]

She asked, “You wouldn’t happen to be from the Phoenix area, would you? My husband had a lot of family out that way. We made it out there for a family reunion a couple of times. Many years ago now.”

I said, “Wow, I am actually. Dad’s side of the family is huge. I’ve been to a few of those myself. I’ve not been very good at keeping up the genealogy though. His name is John and his father was Robert, but there are more than a few of those names floating around. I suppose it’s entirely possible that we share a connection there.”

She smiled and said, “I like that. Now, what was it about the car that you wanted to talk about?”

I said, “Well, I’m in town for about a month for a training course through work. I might actually be around for an additional month after that for some hands-on experience in the local office. I had planned to use a friend’s spare car, but she ended up selling it last week. That’s not her fault by the way, I hadn’t told her I was coming yet. So I started considering a rental car or maybe even buying something for the interim. That is when she mentioned your situation and that I should come to talk to you about it.”

She said, “Well that’s silly, to buy a car for just a couple of months of use. I like you and feel that you are a trustworthy person. Hell, you’re family, if distantly related. You’re free to borrow my car for as long as you like. I haven’t even started it in a year. Been meaning to get it in for a tune-up and regular maintenance, it just hasn’t been a priority. I find going out is more effort than it is worth for me.”

I said, “Wow, that is incredibly generous of you, it would really help me out. But let me cover doing the maintenance for you at least.”

She replied with a chuckle as she headed for the kitchen, “I have no idea what it needs. That maintenance might be steeper than you think. Like I said, it’s been sitting for a good while. Here are the keys. The registration is good for at least another 6 months I think, but you should check that too.”

I took the keys from her and she pointed me to a door off the kitchen that led to the garage. I turned on the light and saw a nice black Cadillac with a good deal of dust on it, but otherwise looking very nice. I climbed in and attempted to start the car and it had no real issues. The battery might have been in need of a charge, but it wasn’t more than a little sluggish in turning over. Running it for a while should handle that.

I checked the glove box and saw that it was a 2018 Cadillac XTS coupe and the registration was indeed good for another six months. There was nothing wrong with Carol Adams’s mental capabilities. I got her first name from the paperwork. There was only about 32,000 miles on the car. It looks like she didn’t use it much even before her hip issue.

I left the car running but opened the Garage door to let the fumes out. Heading back inside I said, “Well she’s a beautiful car and it doesn’t seem to have any initial problems. I think I’ll take it somewhere for a quick checkout before anything else. Do you have a place you prefer to deal with?”

She said, “I’ve only worked with the dealership about it so far. I don’t know any other mechanics to have a preference.”

I said, “In that case I’ll be sure to have them work on it. Is there anything I can get for you while I’m out? When they finish with the car I’ll let you know what they find.”

She replied, “Actually, are you a handy sort of fella? I noticed the toilet in the guest bathroom has been running a lot lately and I haven’t had a chance to have it looked at yet. Would you mind seeing what you think?”

I told her, “Certainly, I’ve dealt with things like that a few times before, let me look at it for you.”

She led me back to the guest bath and sure enough the toilet was running for no good reason. I lifted the lid and saw it was a pretty old rusty setup with one of those rubber floats on a long lever. I hadn’t seen one of those in a long time. Fortunately I knew the whole unit was pretty easy to replace.

I said, “I can fix this for you, won’t be much trouble at all in fact. I thought I saw a good sized toolbox in the garage. Do you mind if I look through it to see if you have what I’ll need to use?”

She said, “I have no doubt that Harold had everything you might need out there. He was always tinkering with something or another. Seems like a weekend didn’t go by without him getting a new tool or two. Help yourself.”

I asked, “Is there another bathroom in the house you can use until I get this fixed?”

She replied, “Yes, I can use the one off the bedroom.”

I told her, “I’m going to turn the water off on this then, no use wasting it while I’m gone.” I proceeded to turn off the valve on the floor behind the toilet.

I headed back out to the garage and she settled herself in front of the TV. I found she was right, the man had plenty of tools all stashed away in a large mechanics style toolbox that was actually taller than me in this body. I could see in the top drawers without getting something to stand on. I did find a set of channel locks and a large flat head screwdriver that would cover my needs for this project and I left them sitting on the workbench for now.

I went back inside and said, “Okay Mrs. Adams, I’m ready to head out. I’ll take the car into the dealership to be looked at and stop by the hardware store to get the parts needed for the toilet. I’ll be back as soon as I get those things taken care of. Anything else while I’m out?”

She said, “Not that I can think of, and please, call me Carol.”

I replied, “Happily. I’ll be right back, Carol.”

I put on my coat and got in the car. Waved to Carol who was waving from the door into the kitchen and backed out of the garage. There was a garage door opener clipped to the visor and I pressed it and watched the garage door as it started closing.

Backing into the street I headed in the general direction of downtown but asked my phone for directions to the nearest Home Depot. It didn’t take me long to find it and I picked up two replacement toilet repair kits. I had learned to keep a spare on hand over the years as a homeowner, and they weren’t expensive.

I had a conversation with Carl about doing the Friendly and Helpful command on everyone I dealt with in a professional setting from now on. Carl replied, [Sounds like a plan, why do it the hard way if we don’t have to. I can’t see a downside to it in business situations.]

Next I had my phone direct me to the Cadillac dealership. I pulled into the maintenance area and headed inside the service department. There was a pleasant looking woman working the counter that asked if she could help me. Carl flashed me a quick profile image of the woman with a plug jacked into her head from the back. I said, “Yes, could you direct me to the senior manager or owner if they are on site?”

She said, “Mr. Baker is the manager of the service department, will that do?”

I said, “Sure, please let him know Max Adams is here to speak with him.”

She said, “Yes sir,” and spoke on the phone for a minute. “He’ll be right with you.”

A middle aged man walked in and said, “I’m John Baker, how can I help you?”

I said, “Let’s talk in your office John.”

He led the way and offered me a seat as he got behind his desk.

I asked Carl to command him to “Do everything you can to make Max happy.” Which he did.

I said, “John. I have a black 2018 XTS out in front of the service department that has been sitting idle for more than a year. Take these keys and have someone go over it top to bottom and make sure everything about it is in not just good, but great condition. That includes replacing the tires if they think it needs to be done. Get started now, tell them we need an estimate of how long it will take as soon as they figure it out, but to get to work immediately.”

He picked up the phone and told someone named Jack to come see him. I handed him the keys and when Jack came in he got handed them plus a repeat of my instructions. Jack quickly left to take care of it.

John sat back down and I said, “If this is going to take longer than an hour I will need to borrow a car to get some other things done.”

John reached into his pocket and handed me his keys and said, “It’s the red F-150 parked by the front. I’m sure it will take at least an hour. If nothing else I’m going to want to have it detailed.”

I told him, “Okay, I’ll wait for a bit to hear from your people to get a better estimate. Don’t worry, I intend to cover any expenses you don’t feel can be explained by wanting to provide good service to a valued customer. I just want your best and fastest effort.”

Soon, John’s phone rang and after talking for a while he told me, “Give us two hours and you should be all set. The tires are fine, and that would have been the worst expense. I couldn’t have eaten that if it had been needed. Everything else we can cover at no cost to you. We’re changing all of the belts and all of the fluids, and they’re putting the battery on a quick charge, but otherwise everything looks fine. I’m considering all of that as deferred maintenance and we’re choosing to cover it. We sold this car and want it in good shape anyway. We’ll have it washed and detailed and ready for you in short order.”