Chapter 15

Chapter 15

A very angry Kelly stomped around her apartment shouting, “Why doesn’t he want me?”

It was easy to understand her frustration, John had consistently rejected every offer to go to bed with her. Beth had invited her into their bed and he had made love to Beth, but refused to even touch her. Even Beth had been irritated by the outright rejection of her lover by John.

Knowing that any attempt to calm things down would fail, Ed sat mutely on the couch watching the tirade continue. He believed John wasn’t going to sleep with her until he was ready to make a commitment to her. It was the same reason that he had waited to make love to her. He couldn’t tell her that since it was John’s reason and they should discuss it with each other.

Beth sat next to Ed on the couch, watching her lover vent her frustration. Having Ed here made it much more difficult to talk to Kelly. There were times when having a man around wasn’t desired and this was one of those times. Still stomping around, Kelly shouted, “The man must hate me!”

Tired of it all, Ed said, “Be quiet for a moment and let’s clear up some things.”

Kelly and Beth both turned on Ed with eyes that shot daggers at him. The attention was not exactly the kind that he had desired, but he would accept it. In the midst of the quiet, Ed asked, “Kelly, is it agreed that you want you, Beth, John, and I to become wife, wife, husband and husband?”

Surprised that he was stating the obvious, Kelly answered, “Yes. That is what I want more than anything else in the world. The problem is that John hates me.”

Ed turned to Beth and asked, “Is that kind of marriage what you want?”

Looking over at Kelly, Beth smiled and said, “Yes, I want that.”

Looking from one woman to the other, Ed said, “I’m willing to accept John as a husband to have both of you as wives.”

Kelly and Beth looked at each other for a second concerned with how he worded it. Kelly asked, “You’re willing?”

“Yes, I’m willing,” replied Ed. He continued, “So three of the four principals involved all agree on what they would like. Now, has anyone asked John?”

A sudden silence descended on the room. It was not the comfortable kind of silence that existed during conversations between John and Ed. It was the uneasy kind that followed the realization that someone screwed up. Looking from Kelly to Beth, Ed said, “Now, I think someone needs to talk to John and see what his feelings are about this whole idea. Myself, I’m going home.”

Leaving two stunned women behind, Ed went to his truck and drove towards his house. It was only after he pulled out of the apartment complex that he understood to what actions he had committed himself.

The drive home wasn’t that long, but Ed didn’t arrive home for several hours. As he was heading there, he noticed Manuel by the side of the road kicking his old truck. Pulling over, he called out, “What’s the matter?”

“Senior Ed, my truck is dead. The transmission is shot,” answered Manuel. Of all the people in town, Manuel never thought one way or the other about Ed. Ed was just another possible customer and that was all that mattered to Manuel. Although he was the hardest working man in the entire area, Manuel barely made a living. The family lived in the worst house in town, barely able to get by from month to month.

Seeing that Manuel was alone, Ed asked, “Where’s your son?”

Grimacing, Manuel said, “He’s in the other truck with the other half of the load. I took the old truck so that we would only have to make one trip.”

After driving his the truck closer, Ed got out and said, “Well, let’s get your load in the back of my truck. I can’t help you with your truck, but we can at least deliver your load.”

“Gracias, Senior Ed,” replied Manuel. He moved to the back of his truck and lowered the tailgate. The back of the truck was filled with auto parts from the junkyard. It was a heavy load, far too heavy for the old truck.

Together the two men transferred the load to Ed’s truck. It took them about thirty minutes to move all of the parts. The physical work felt good to Ed and allowed him to burn off some of his frustration. Manuel was quiet, just working nonstop.

Ed asked, “So where is all of this stuff going?”

Manuel replied, “To the high school. The auto shop class is rebuilding a Mustang.”

“Sweet,” remarked Ed. He had never had a Mustang, but it was a very popular car when he was growing up.

The ride to the high school was quiet until Ed spotted Manuel’s son driving towards him. Stopping the car, he rolled down the window and flagged him down. Stopping his truck so that he and Ed were side by side, Joe called out, “I see you have my father with you.”

Ed answered, “Sure do. His truck broke down back there. We’re taking the load over to the school.”

The irritation on Joe’s face was obvious to Ed. Joe glared at his father and said, “I told him that truck wouldn’t make it.”

Recognizing the tension between Joe and Manuel, Ed tried to change the subject. He said, “Why don’t you follow us back to the school and help us unload?”

Frowning, Joe answered, “Okay. I’ll see you there.”

As Ed drove on to the school, Manuel said, “My son thinks he knows more than I do about this business. He thinks that we don’t charge enough. He isn’t very happy and will probably quit. That will mean the end of it.”

Rather than admit that he agreed with the son, Ed asked, “How much are you getting paid for this job?”

Manuel replied, “Fifty dollars.”

“How can you make any money charging that little?”

Surprised, Manuel looked at Ed and asked, “What do you mean?”

“Well, I figure that it took you a half an hour or more to load the truck. For two of you, that’s an hour of work. It will take another hour of work for you to unload it. The junkyard is about an hour and a half away. I figure that is a three hours spent one way for you and Joe. Round trip makes that six hours. So that’s eight hours of work so far. You’ve got to pay for gas for two trucks, I figure that’s about fifteen or twenty bucks. So let us say, twenty. That means you actually have thirty dollars for eight hours of work. You just made less than four dollars an hour.”

Shocked, Manuel looked at Ed and said, “Four dollars an hour?”

Turning into the drive at the high school, Ed answered, “Yes. Of course, it’s probably going to take you another hour for the two of you to take care of the truck. Then you have the repair bills. I would suggest that this job probably costing you money.”

Manuel replied, “I charge what people are willing to pay.”

Shaking his head, Ed countered, “You charge what you think people are willing to pay. They are actually willing to pay more.”

Manuel said, “I’ll lose business.”

“You’ll only lose the business that’s costing you money, anyway. Besides, you are the only one in the county doing this kind of work. They don’t have much choice except to do it themselves. They’ll discover that you’re a lot cheaper even if you are charging more.”

After being quiet for a moment, Manuel asked, “So how much would you have charged?”

Smiling at Manuel, Ed said, “I would have taken a simple ten dollars an hour for each person and five dollars an hour for each vehicle. That comes to about a hundred and twenty. Of course, if I was really serious about it, I would determine how much it actually costs for the truck. I’d charge fifteen an hour for you and ten for your son. That way, when you are ready to expand the business you can actually hire someone.”

“Hire someone?”

“Sure, I’d get someone to drive a second truck as soon as possible. That way, I could make a couple of dollars or so for each hour that they are working.” Parking the truck next to the garage of the auto shop, Ed turned off the engine. He turned to Manuel and said, “You are one of the hardest working men in the county. You deserve to get paid for your work. So does your son.”

Getting out of the truck to greet the instructor for the shop class, Ed said, “The transmission on Manuel’s truck went out on the way here.”

“That’s a shame.”

As Manuel got out of the truck, Ed asked, “How about having the shop class fix up the truck instead of paying for the hauling?”

Staring at Ed, Manuel was shocked that he would ask for a transmission job as payment. They ran to hundreds of dollars. He was even more shocked when the instructor said, “Sure. No problem. The kids can always use more experience with trannies.”

Joe pulled up behind Ed and got out to help unload the truck. Glaring at his father, the two men quickly went to work while Ed talked to the shop teacher. Glancing at them out of the corner of his eye, Ed could see the father and son talking to each other. The instructor went over to supervise the placement of the parts in the workshop.

Once the parts were unloaded, Ed went over to the three men and put a hand on Joe’s shoulder. He said, “Joe, why don’t you stay here and make the arrangements for getting the transmission repaired on the truck? Maybe you can get a friend to help you tow it here.”

Uncomfortable at the attention from Ed, Joe replied, “Okay.”

Smiling at his discomfort, Ed said, “I’m going to take your father over to Shirley’s for something cool to drink.”

Manuel replied, “I don’t drink. You know, I drive for a living and can’t afford it.”

“Neither do I. I was thinking of a Coke,” said Ed. Noticing the shocked looks from the three men, he added, “Besides. It’s early afternoon at Shirley’s and she won’t be busy. You should talk to her. She’s a sharp business woman.”

Leaving behind a shocked Joe, Ed and Manuel drove over to Shirley’s. As he parked, Ed said, “I hope that you didn’t mind me taking your payment in trade. I figure the transmission job is worth as much as you should have charged.”

Manuel replied, “Mind? I don’t mind. My son was overjoyed.”

Entering the bar, Ed saw that they were the only ones there. Business wouldn’t pick up until around five that afternoon. For now, they would be able to talk to Shirley without interruption. Looking up in surprise to see customers, Shirley smiled when she saw Ed.

She said, “Cokes?”

Turning to Manuel, Ed asked, “Is Coke okay?”

“Sure.”

Turning to Shirley, Ed said, “Three Cokes. We came here to talk to you.”

Looking at the two men, Shirley went to the bar and filled a pitcher with Coke. She handed the pitcher to Ed. Filling three glasses with ice, she carried them to a table and sat down. Ed and Manuel joined her at the table. After the glasses were filled and distributed around the table, Shirley asked, “Okay, what do you want to talk about?”

Ed said, “Manuel works too hard and makes too little. I think that he needs some business advice from a real business person. You and Maria are the best in the area.”

Laughing, Shirley said, “You don’t know that. You just like talking to me.”

Ed laughed and shook his head. There were times when he worried about Shirley and the fact that she didn’t get out enough. Still, she managed to keep her sense of humor even though she dealt with drunk cowboys half the day.

He said, “No. I’m serious. You need to tell him about the local chamber of commerce, how to estimate his jobs, and how to tell if his business is doing good or not.”

Turning thoughtful, Shirley looked at Manuel. She finally said, “You know. I never think about what you do as a business, but it is. I bet you don’t think of it as a business, too.”

Manuel said, “I just haul things.”

Realizing what Ed wanted to accomplish, Shirley turned to Manuel and said, “You haul things for money. That is a business. You deserve to make a decent wage and a profit for your efforts.”

Ed added, “You also have to pay Joe a decent wage. He’s probably wanting to get married. For that, he wants to have his own house.”

Looking from one to the other, Manuel looked like he wanted to bolt. Taking a sip of his Coke just to have something to do, he finally replied, “Maybe my son has a point.”

As Shirley and Manuel talked, Ed finished his Coke. He stood and said, “I’ve got to use the rest room.”

The pair ignored him as he stood and went to the bathroom. As he stood at the urinal relieving his bladder, he realized that he couldn’t do any more to help Manuel. It was time for him to head home. Leaving the bathroom, he noticed that Joe had stopped in and joined his father at the table with Shirley. Rather than leave immediately, Ed made a detour to the bar to pick up an extra glass for Joe. Pulling a ten out of his pocket, he put it on the bar to pay for the drinks.

At the table, Ed set the glass in front of Joe and said, “Here you go. Have some Coke.”

“Thanks.”

Turning to Shirley, he said, “I put the money for the Coke on the bar. I’ll see you later.”

“Thanks,” replied Shirley with a quick smile in his direction. She was still working on some of the business details with Manuel and hardly heard Ed.

Ed left the bar and drove home. After parking his truck and getting out, he was tackled by a very exuberant Rosa. As she planted kisses all over his face, Ed tried to figure out what was going on. Finally getting control of the situation, he held Rosa at arms length asking, “What’s that about?”

“Only for being the best friend that a person can have,” replied Rosa. Stepping back, she turned and headed down the driveway humming to herself in an outburst of happiness.

Confused, Ed asked, “What did I do?”

Rosa didn’t answer as she skipped on down the street. Shaking his head, he noticed John across the street smiling at him. Throwing up his hands, he went across the street saying, “What did I do?”