Chapter 66

I knew what my mission was, or at least I knew what my mother wanted me to do. She wanted me to impress Tom with the money I was about to spend. I didn't mind, but as long as I was going to buy something expensive I intended to get something which at least looked like fun.

I spotted it right away, but it didn't look big enough to be very expensive. I was also hampered by not knowing what it was called. I knew Bill would know but he was right by Tom's side.

I pulled my cell out of my pocket and opened it up, trying to make it look like I was answering a call. After a few seconds I walked away from Bill and Tom as if for privacy. I saw they were watching me but it was normal. I was the only thing moving near them.

I killed a couple of minutes saying nothing into a cell phone which wasn't on anyway, but I did act like I was talking occasionally. Finally I took the phone away from my ear and asked Bill to come talk to Mom a minute.

He came over and as I handed him the phone I whispered for him to pretend to talk. He nodded his head slightly and took the phone.

"Bill, what do you call those things over there, the ones with the bucket on the front?" I asked, facing away from Tom so he couldn't see.

"It's a front end loader. That one is a rubber-tired loader. They also come with tracks," he said.

"I want one of those, but that one doesn't look big enough to be very expensive," I said.

"Well there are some much larger. Let's ask Tom and see if he has any others here," Bill said.

He handed me the phone then and I pretended to say goodbye and hung it up. We walked back toward Tom.

"Did you need something else today?" Tom asked, as we came back.

"We do. We're putting in an airstrip out behind Jack's house. The contractor brought his own equipment but we're going to need a big loader to move some dirt around after he's done his part," Bill said.

"Are you sure you need a loader, you might do better with a big dozer," Tom said.

"We've decided to start with a rubber tired loader and then think about a big dozer if the loader won't do the whole job," Bill said.

I nearly laughed, since Tom's eyes reminded me of old cartoons I'd seen where the dollar signs were spinning around in place of eyeballs. Bill was singing sweet music to Tom now and I'm sure it was his favorite song.

Tom did indeed have bigger loaders. The biggest one he had was a 988H Caterpillar. Boy, that was big. I could hardly believe how big when we got to it.

The tires were taller than any of us. I think Tom said they were about ten feet tall. The top of the cab thing where the operator sat was around seventeen feet in the air. As soon as I saw it I knew it was going to be mine.

We let Tom go on about how big and powerful it was, with its C18 turbocharged and aftercooled engine and all that crap. He was proud to mention it had a top speed of twenty-two miles per hour and on and on.

I guess he felt like he needed to talk it up since it cost so much. The price for the damned thing was over a half million dollars.

I'll say one thing for Tom, at least he knew the first rule of salesmanship. He knew to quit talking after I said I'd take one. He stopped mid-sentence and headed toward the office.

"Hang on, Tom. Do you have a trailer we can haul the big bastard on?" Bill asked, and I nearly showed I hadn't been paying attention.

I'd assumed we'd load it onto the trailer we had, but when I thought about it I knew it was too big to fit. Besides, I didn't have any idea what it weighed. I knew it was a lot bigger than the track-hoe and the trailer we'd bought for it was rated for seventy-five thousand pounds. Come to think of it I was pretty sure the big loader would weigh more.

"I sure do. You realize you can't haul it while the tires are on don't you?" Tom asked.

"We knew. I've seen them in transit before. Hell, the tires are an oversized load by themselves. At least they aren't real heavy," Bill said.

Tom took us to another part of his lot where he had even bigger trailers. They were a little like the one we'd bought yesterday, except where the other one had a gooseneck which fitted to the fifthwheel, this one had a gooseneck which went back to a set of dolly wheels and then another gooseneck from there to the trailer.

The back of the trailer didn't really have wheels either. It had an extension which looked a little like the gooseneck. The extension attached to the top of another set of dolly wheels. The front dollies had four axels and the back had eight, twelve in all and they had four wheels each. Shit, I'd hate to have to change the tires on the thing.

Bill and I hung back behind Tom as we all headed into the office. He went to talk to some of his office workers about papers and an invoice and such.

"I let him know you'd mentioned yesterday you hadn't seen Glenda in years, and you still remembered when she was a cheerleader for the high school. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if she came down to see you any minute now. I couldn't figure out how to bring Petey boy up though," Bill said.

"No worries on that score, I'll just call Mom about the check and tell Tom she asked specifically to have Pete come out and get it. Maybe I'll even get her to talk to him."

Talk about money greasing the skids, it was doing a hellacious job this morning. Tom was already on the phone to someone in his shop, giving them instructions about which trailer to put the giant loader on.

He asked Bill and I how we were going to get the thing unloaded and reassembled and Bill came up with the magic words right away.

"There's a pretty large construction crew out at Jimmy's house this week putting in his new airstrip and helipad. I'm sure they'll be able to help us out. I saw them doing the same thing to one of their loaders yesterday," Bill said.

Huh, I hadn't seen it and I wondered when Bill had. No matter, if they could do it they would be glad to and if they couldn't we could get it done somehow.

Tom's office girls didn't waste any time getting the damages listed and he handed me the invoice. I excused myself to call Mom on my cell and I had a more respectable tab for her to cover today.

"This better work, Mom, it's going to cost us seven hundred and sixteen thousand dollars," I said.

"What about Tom, have you asked him to send Pete out here yet?" Mom asked, not slowing down a second for the mention of mere money.

"No, I thought I'd let you make the happy announcement, and I haven't seen Glenda yet either, though I think Bill has spilled the little spiel you dreamed up.

"Oops, speak of the target and up she pops. I haven't seen her in years, but I think those are Glenda's titties leading her into the office. I'll get Tom for you," I said, going over to Tom, asking him to talk to Mom, and handing him my phone.

Just in the nick of time too, because it kept him from complicating the conversation when Glenda came up.

"Is that you, Jimmy?" Glenda asked, when she reached me.

"It's me, I've grown a little and you're even more beautiful than I remember," I said, knowing it couldn't hurt.

"I was surprised when Daddy told me you'd come by here yesterday and even more excited when he called and told me you were back today. I rushed right down to catch you," she said, giving me a big cheerleader smile.