Chapter 10: What the F-150?

On Thursday, Dale was parking his beloved F-150 at the DMV to pick up the new special license plates he had ordered and matching registration tabs. Because he kept the truck in their garage, and it had extremely low mileage, the Ford was still in obvious like-new condition. An overweight man in an expensive suit stopped him on his way inside.

“That’s a beautiful truck, sir, can I buy it from you?”

“I don’t understand, what?”

“Here’s my card, I’m Walter Bonneville, I’m the sales manager at the Ford dealership downtown. We are going crazy trying to find inventory of this model, between the chip shortage and the supply chain problems. Depending on the mileage, I’m prepared to offer you $10 - $14,000 over what you paid for it new.”

“You’re kidding! It’s got only 8,400 miles on the clock.”

“Did I say $14,000? I meant, $17,000. You can have our check in an hour.”

Dale felt a little wobbly. “You mean, $48,000? In my hand? Today?”

“That’s right.”

They shook hands, and Dale followed Bonneville’s car to the dealership.

Rosemary arrived home with a questioning look on her face. “Who’s car is that, and where is your truck?” In the driveway was an old gray Ford Fusion, an utterly boring compact sedan worth about $5,000.

“I sold the truck, Rosie. For $17,000 more than I paid for it. Apparently, Ford has a severe shortage and they are desperate for inventory. So I paid off the car loan and still had plenty left over. I just picked up the gray car to for my commute to work. And there’s another $9,000 left that I put in the bank.”

Rosie protested. “But you loved that truck!”

“I love you, and my family, a lot more.”

Delia walked into the kitchen to find her mother’s lips all over Dale’s face again.

“Oh, jeez, you guys, the bedroom’s that way. And what’s with the old lady car in our driveway?”

Out of her line of sight, Dale winked at Rosie. “I bought that gray car for you Delia. Sorry that it’s not very stylish.”

Delia’s lip quivered, and her voice broke. “You bought that, for me? Are you SERIOUS?”

Shocking the hell out of Dale, she leapt up and embraced him with her arms and legs over his shoulders and his hips, plastering him with a whole new set of wet kisses.

“But, aren’t you mad?”

“Why would I be mad? You bought me a car!”

“But it’s ugly!”

“What do I care? It runs, doesn’t it?”

“Oof. Let me sit down, Dee. I’m sorry, I was teasing you. You can buy your own car, whatever you want. I sold my truck, for a whole lot of money, and that gray car is mine. It’s just for my commute.”

Now Delia was really bawling. David came running in, anxiously, to comfort his big sister. He looked at his father crossly. “What did you do, now?”

“No, David, it’s OK. Happy tears. He’s the best dad. He bought another car! Want to go see?”

Later, when Delia and the boys returned, David was less enthusiastic. “I liked the truck better.”