Chapter 55

I guess Bill decided to cut his losses on the joke front for today. He didn't try to make any more Karen or Sharon McKelvy jokes anyway.

When we got to the truck, Mom led the girls inside while I took the driver's seat and Bill rode shotgun. There was no question about backing out yet, since the driveway was still a gleam in mother's eye. I took off down the street after everyone was settled and Bill showed me how to turn around in the cul-de-sac at the end of our street.

He had me head toward the get-on for I-20 and it made me a little nervous. I kept quiet about it though and as we got closer I realized there was more room on streets that normally saw big truck traffic.

Mom had been pretty quiet since we took off but when she spoke up I knew right away she was not amused.

"Bill, I don't know how you and Jimmy are going to fix this, but me sitting back here on the bed and not being able to see what's going on has to be taken care of. I'm going to suffer through it this time," Mom said, and I knew from her tone it would be the last time.

"That's no problem and I should have thought of it myself," Bill said, getting out of his seat and going into the sleeper.

Mom was in a better mood at once as she plopped herself down in the passenger's seat.

"Can you help Jimmy from back there?" she asked.

I knew - help me out or not - Mom would stay in the passenger seat for the rest of this ride.

"Not a problem," Bill said.

Turns out it really wasn't a problem. Bill was sitting in the middle of the bed and I guess he could see fine. When we saw the sign saying the weigh station was coming up in one mile Mom spoke up.

"When I called before we left the house they said for you to come right on in when you got to the scales. They flipped the sign to keep everyone else out until our visit was over," she said.

Bill laughed about it, but he didn't elaborate. He was a big help when we pulled up on the scale and he got me stopped in the right place. Thanks to his hints I didn't stab the brakes and make the scale wiggle. He told me scale-masters always hated that.

The guy inside told me to park it on the scale and come on inside. I was surprised, but Bill said he thought he knew what was going on. Mom spoke up and said she was sure she knew what it was about.

It was about coffee, donuts, and snacks. Before Mom called the scale house she had called the Limo service and made arrangements for more bribery of the state police. The giant coffee service was already in place when we made it inside and there were tables full of goodies.

Officer Jergenson welcomed Mom with open arms and she gave him a kiss on the cheek when he did. Bill and I both shook his hand and then I introduced Karita, Klara, Katrine, Jennifer, and Kate.

We all had a nice coffee and donut break and then Officer Jergenson asked if we wanted a weight on the truck we were in today.

"It won't hurt anything and I had him stop in the right place," Bill said.

Bill, Officer Jergenson, and I went into the scale's office and Officer Jergenson took a look outside at the truck, I guess he was making sure it really was in the right place.

"Bill, isn't that a completely different truck? I noticed it was a different trailer but I think I remember the first truck had a much bigger sleeper," he said.

"It's a completely different truck and trailer. Mrs Breslin didn't want Jacob and Jimmy to have to share a truck for their lessons and it will take a few weeks for another one exactly like the first one to be built. Sharon decided we should get another truck for practice," Bill said, as if the whole thing were sensible.

"I didn't realize she was going to take such a close interest in the lessons," Officer Jergenson said.

"I don't want to belabor the point, but how many of your other customers have the Governor drop in to see how things are going?" Bill asked.

"You're coming in loud and clear driver, five by five on this end," Officer Jergenson said.

"Mrs Breslin enjoyed her last truck ride so much she's decided to put in a small cattle operation near their home. I believe she said they were going to specialize in top quality beef.

"Don't be surprised if a big Bar-B-Que breaks out here at the scale-house someday. Be sure not to mention it to her, she wants it to be a surprise," Bill said, and even I knew he was troweling it on.

Officer Jergenson face lit up and he smiled wide. He didn't waste any time getting us a weight ticket either and then he went rushing back outside to talk with Mom again.

"Bill, what have you done?"

"Relax, you know your Mom loves stuff like this. I'll bet she'll be glad to throw a Bar-B-Que out here, and if she doesn't want to, Jergenson will blame it on me," Bill said.

"Now I think about it, you're right. Mom likes little surprise distractions and she'd probably be happy to serve every truck driver and policeman on this side of the state at the scale-house Bar-B-Que. It'll probably be a lot of fun.

"I'm gonna be like Officer Jergenson though, if it goes over with her I'll let you have the credit, but if it doesn't I'm gonna be glad it's you that gets the blame," I said, and then laughed at him.

Bill took it in stride, no doubt thinking his idea would be well received by Mom. It turned out he was more right than he dreamed.

When the coffee break was over for us we mounted up again and left the scale. I couldn't wait to hear what Mom had to think about the Bar-B-Que Bill had dreamed up, but we didn't get to it right away. Mom reminded Bill and I she was paying attention as soon as we pulled off the ramp and were back on the highway.

"Jimmy, where is the other stick for this truck?" she asked, using her no-nonsense tone.

"That's my doing, Sharon," Bill said, "Baugus didn't have another truck equipped like Jimmy's first one. In fact, the transmission in that truck is out of favor now. Shifting it is too complicated for most drivers and it is more fragile than later model transmissions.

"We took this truck because it was the closest Baugus had on hand to the truck Jimmy had already bought. Jimmy told me you'd notice and I wasn't trying to slip anything by on you, besides, it won't hurt anything for Jimmy and Jacob to learn how to use more than one transmission," Bill said.

"I hadn't considered that and I'm glad you did. There's something else different about this truck though and I can't put my finger on it. Of course I know the sleeper isn't the same but that isn't it. This truck just sounds different. I thought it might be different stacks but these look the same," Mom said.

"We knew better than to bring it home with different smoke poles," Bill said.

"Then why does it sound different? Wait a second - maybe it's the speed. Take it up to a hundred and ten Jimmy and see if that makes a difference," Mom said.

I'll admit I wasn't sure about that. On the highway the truck seemed even more stable than a car, but I thought seventy was about as fast as I wanted to drive it right now. Bill came to my rescue and solved this problem too, without even meaning to.

"I don't think this one can do a hundred and ten, Sharon. It doesn't have a V8 cat. This truck has a thirty-four-o-six cat," he said.