Chapter 1

Day One - Monday

I wasn't very pretty. When I went to Alaska, I quit getting a haircut so now, over three years later, my hair was either a bushy reddish halo around my head or tied into an unruly pony tail. When I had hit the oil platforms, I decided to grow a beard. A year later I had a long bushy reddish beard. The only clothes I owned were ratty jeans flannel shirts and high-top leather work-boots making me a candidate for Esquire. Not!

Everyone who saw me thought I was one of the homeless guys that wander the streets. One guy on the bus even gave me a couple of bucks telling me to get a good meal.

I walked away from the bus station thinking that I wanted to buy a car or pickup truck so I could get around. Downtown Miami is not a place to find car lots so I went into the first bar I found to ask where I could find car lots.

The bartender hollered at me, "Get out of here you bum. We don't allow you guys in here."

I ignored him and sat on a barstool pulling a twenty from my pocket. The bartender came over to me, looking at the twenty and asked, "Whaddaya have buddy."

I asked for a draft beer and when he brought it to me, I asked where I could find a place to buy a car or truck.

"Can you afford a car?" He asked.

"I think so. I just got back from working out of the country and need something to get around in."

He turned and yelled, "Joey, come over here, I gotcha a live one."

A skinny guy in a worn sport coat came over. The bartender told him I wanted to buy a car or truck. The skinny guy looked at me real hard then stuck out his hand. "I'm Joey Glazier. Who am I going to help today?"

"Steve," was all I offered.

"What are you looking for?" Joey asked.

"Probably a used pickup. Doesn't have to be that nice looking. I'm on a long vacation and need to have something to wander around in."

Joey still stared at me for a few minutes then stood up, "Come with me for a minute."

We went out the back door of the bar to a small parking lot. Joey walked up to an older Chevy half-ton pickup truck and pointed, "This might be what you want. Just traded for it this morning and haven't cleaned it up yet. It has about 75,000 miles on it but seems to run real good. It's only a V-6 with a straight shift but it does have power steering and cold air."

The body was straight but the dull blue painted truck had probably never been waxed. The bed was in surprisingly good condition as was the interior. It had been a cheap truck when it was new and probably wasn't worth all that much now.

"Looks about what I might want," I told Joey as I waved at the truck. "How does it run."

Joey opened the driver's door and handed me the keys. I stepped up into the truck, put the key into the ignition, shifted into neutral, stepped on the clutch and turned the key. It started instantly and ran smooth. I turned on the air and cool air, turning to cold, came out of the vents. I shut off everything then handed the keys back to Joey.

Now I looked at the truck a lot closer. The tires were decent, probably less than fifty percent tread wear. The body was straight. No gouges, or dents. It didn't even have any big scratches. The glass was all there, even a tinted front windshield. At the back was a step bumper with a hole for a trailer hitch.

I looked at Joey, then at the truck, then back at Joey. "Let's go inside and have the rest of my beer and talk about it."

Back at the bar, my mug had been topped off and was still frosty. The bartender brought Joey one too.

"Okay. How much do you want for it?" I asked not looking at him.

Joey sipped his beer then took a deep breath, "You a vet?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

He turned and looked right at me and asked again, "You a vet?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Thought so. You limp a little but hold yourself straight and still walk like a GI."

"What's that got to do with the truck?" I asked wondering where this was going.

"I give breaks to guys who served. You in Desert Storm?"

"Yeah, I was there."

"You hurt there?" Joey asked.

"Yeah but I'm okay now."

"Don't matter; you gave of yourself for everyone here. I've always been too little, too weak, too sickly or too something for them to let me join. So I've had to let guys like you do the dirty work. I make up for it by helping you guys when I can."

Joey had been looking at me the whole time. He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and asked, "Wanna buy the pickup?"

"How much?" I asked turning to look him in the eye.

"I gave the guy a grand trade-in on an almost new truck. He was a vet too and I think that's about what the truck's worth. I haven't put a nickel in it so far so if you want it, you can have it for a grand."

I took a big drink of my beer then smiled. Putting the glass down on the bar I said, "That's a great deal Joey, I'll take it."

Joey stuck out his hand and we shook on it.

"Here's the title, let me take you to the DMV to register it so you can get some tags. I won't process it through my lot so you can just do it like a private sale. Come on, we'll do it together." Joey got down from his stool and waved at the bartender, "Later Jake."

When we got into the truck, Joey asked, "Oh yeah, how you want to pay for it?"

"We'll stop by a bank before we go to the DMV. What about insurance?" I asked knowing you usually have to show proof of insurance.

"There's a place next to the DMV that sells coverage. Just buy six months worth then get some cheaper coverage when you land some where."

Joey pulled up at a City Bank branch, "This okay?"

"Yeah, be right back," I said getting out of the truck. Actually, City Bank was perfect as that was where my VA benefit was being direct deposited every month.

I had the cash in my pocket but I didn't want Joey to know I was carrying about four weeks pay in cash on me. I went inside and asked to change a hundred. While I was doing that I separated ten big bills then put another two hundreds in my shirt pocket. The teller was obviously scared of me, as she was very hesitant about even changing my bill. I showed her my passport then my City Bank savings bankbook and she changed her attitude.

I put the grand in an envelope she gave me and stuffed the little money in my pants.

When I got back into the pickup, I waved the envelope at Joey and said let's get it done.

The insurance guy and the DMV didn't take long. Joey then drove us to "Joey's Buy Here Pay Here" used car lot and parked in front of the sales building. Actually it was a converted office trailer made to look like a real building.

The place was busy. Several people were wondering around on the lot while it looked like all of his salespeople were making deals in small glass walled offices. Joey smiled at me, "See, I can give you a deal when I have all these other folks buying from me."

"Damn Joey, you are busy," I said wondering how come he had so much traffic.

"I have a good reputation for being fair. I don't sell junk and best of all, my salesman are all BI-lingual. If you don't speak Spanish here, you can't deal with half your customers. Let me get the second set of keys for you so you can get out of here." Joey handed me a screwdriver and said, "Take this screw driver and put your plate on your truck."