Chapter 27

Sean stepped out of the front door to wait for Sam to arrive. His excitement made waiting difficult. Sam was finally delivering the truck and Sean had grand plans of taking Suzie out for a drive in it. Spotting Chom and the other Dwarves standing around, he asked, “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” Chom said looking up at Sean with an expression on his face that was just a little too innocent. The other Dwarves stood around nonchalantly looking into the air with their hands behind their backs.

Considering that the clanging, banging, and yelling from the workshop had stopped earlier that morning, Sean asked, “Did you finish what you were doing in the workshop?”

“Well, we’ve got some crude tools built. We’ve banged together a small anvil, hammers of various sizes, and tongs,” Pip answered.

“Don’t forget about the vises, devices, and advices,” Thur said.

“What’s an advice?” Sean asked.

Pip answered, “The best advice I know is to watch where you’re stepping when you’re walking in a barnyard.”

All of the Dwarves broke out into laughter. Some were laughing so hard that they fell to the ground and rolled around. Slapping his thigh, Thur said, “They always fall for that one.”

Holding her side, Clea said, “I love that joke.”

“Me, too,” Grum said.

Liam rolled his eyes and said, “Blacksmiths think they have a good sense of humor.”

“We all know that cobblers have the best sense of humor,” Agar said.

Sean was too interested in the truck that turned into the driveway to follow up with additional questions. Waiting three weeks for the truck had been a lot harder than he had thought it would be. Excited, he shouted, “Here it is.”

“It is about time,” Chom said rubbing his hands together.

Sam pulled up in the truck and got out while Sean stood near the door. He looked at the Dwarves all lined up eyeing the truck. He was reminded of runners waiting at the starting line of a big race. Handing the keys to Sean, Sam said, “I guess the truck is now yours.”

“My own set of car keys,” Sean said looking down at the keys in his hands.

Noticing that as soon as he had handed over the keys that the Dwarves had charged across the short distance to the truck, Sam said, “It is in good mechanical shape. I don’t think you’ll have any problems with it for a long time.”

“That’s great,” Sean said. “I now own my own truck. I can’t wait to drive it.”

“That’s good because I could use a ride home,” Sam said with a smile.

“Let me get my driver’s license and I’ll give you a ride,” Sean said. He noticed the Dwarves climbing all over the truck, but didn’t give it much thought.

“Okay,” Sam said.

“Why don’t you come in the house for a minute?” Sean said opening the door.

“That would be nice,” Sam said following Sean into the house. He stood by the door looking around at the décor of the living room. It was a much nicer house than he expected based on the reputation of the family as a bunch of oddballs.

Lily, seated upon the couch watching cartoons, looked over at Sam and said, “Hello, Sam.”

“Hello, Lily,” Sam said.

Lily asked, “Did you bring the truck?”

“Yes, I did,” Sam said.

“Sean was so excited that it only took me five minutes to wake him up this morning,” Lily said.

“Only five minutes? How long does it usually take you to wake him?” Sam asked.

“Half a day,” Lily answered.

Sam frowned while thinking about all of the early morning visits Sean made to the store and said, “It seems to me that he’s up pretty early. He has staggered into the store before sunrise on some occasions.”

“Didn’t you know that by the time the sun rises that the day is half over?” Lily asked.

Sam answered, “No, I didn’t.”

“It is,” Lily said as if stating a well known fact. She pointed to the cartoon playing on the television and asked, “Are you familiar with this cartoon?”

“Yes, it is one of my favorites. I’ve always liked the cat,” Sam said.

“I like the mouse. It is smarter than the cat,” Lily said.

In that condescending voice that adults often use around precocious children, Sam said, “I guess you like the mouse because you’re smart like the mouse.”

“That’s right,” Lily said with a sweet smile. Someone talking to her in that tone of voice irritated her. She said, “I wonder what liking the cat says about you.”

“I don’t know,” Sam said frowning at her.

“Why am I not surprised by that answer?” Lily asked in a bored voice while turning back to the television.

Sean returned and said, “I’ve got my wallet. We can go now.”

“Great. I’ve got a lot of packing to do before leaving for school tomorrow,” Sam said. Looking over at Lily, he said, “Goodbye, Lily.”

“Goodbye, Sam,” Lily said.

Sean opened the door and stepped out with Sam leading the way. They both stopped a few steps from the door. Sean asked, “Where’s the truck?”

“I don’t know,” Sam answered with a frown.

Holding up the keys, Sean asked, “Is this the only set of keys?”

“Yes,” Sam answered. Looking around the empty driveway, he asked, “Where are the Dwarves?”

“Uh oh,” Sean answered. He ran to the backyard as fast as he could with Sam close behind him.

If it wasn’t for all of the truck parts scattered across the entire lawn, Sean would never have known that there had been a white truck anywhere within miles of the place. The frame had been taken apart along the welds. Even the paint had been removed from the metal. A hubcap was hanging off the head of the Gnome who hadn’t moved since the day he had arrived. Sean stared in shock at the mess.

Chom was standing in the middle of the yard holding up a cam shaft. He asked, “Does anyone know what this is?”

“No, but I’m sure that we can straighten it out in no time,” Pip said.

Sean squawked, “What happened to my truck?”

Stroking her long thin beard, Clea answered, “It was in real bad shape. It is going to take a long time, maybe months, to fix all of the problems.”

Tugging on his beard, Pip said, “Maybe years.”

Nodding his head in agreement, Thur said, “Years and years, maybe longer.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Chom said.

“Years?” Sean asked in a state of shock.

Liam was holding up a small piece of the seat cover. He said, “Look at this. It isn’t even real leather.”

“Horrible,” Agar said shaking his head in dismay.

“It can’t take years,” Sean said.

“That’s where you are wrong. It could take forever,” Chom said.

“And a day,” Pip added. He looked down at the section of tailpipe in his hand and shook his head. He said, “It is going to take ages to straighten this out.”

Sean said, “It only took you three minutes to take it apart.”

“That’s the easy part,” Chom said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

“The hard part is figuring out what to do with all of the parts that are left over when you try to put it back together,” Pip said.

“Sometimes you run out of parts. That really slows you down,” Clea said. A couple of the Dwarves nodded their heads in agreement.

“Nothing is worse than trying to figure out what parts had been left out when they made it the first time,” Thur said.

“That’s definitely hard to do,” Grum said.

Wiping his forehead, Sean said, “I need to take Sam home.”

“No need to do that,” Chom said dismissively.

Pip said, “He can stay here until we get it put back together.”

“No, he can’t,” Sean said.

Chom snorted and said, “That’s rather rude.”

“That’s no way to treat a guest,” Pip said.

“You can say that again,” Clea said.

“If you insist,” Pip said bowing to Clea. He repeated, “That’s no way to treat a guest.”

Sean rolled his eyes and said, “I’m not being rude. He has to get back to school.”

“That’s true. I do need to leave,” Sam said. He couldn’t imagine living in the same house with Sean. He’d be checking into the hospital within two days.

“Oh,” Chom said.

“That’s different,” Pip said.

Thur said, “There for a minute I was worried that you had lost your manners.”

“So put the truck back together,” Sean said.

Chom said, “That’s not possible.”

“Impossible, absolutely impossible,” Pip said.

“I need it now,” Sean said.

“Well, we could get it done in a year,” Thur said thoughtfully scratching his chin.

“Only if we were properly motivated,” Grum said.

“You know, we could possibly get it done in half a year if we were really motivated,” Pip said looking around at the other Dwarves and the two Leprechauns to see if they agreed.

“A month if the motivation level was really high,” Crom said pulling on his beard.

Sean raised an eyebrow and asked, “What kind of motivation are we talking about?”

“Let’s say another one of those big bottles of soda each,” Grum said.

Agar nudged Grum and said, “You were supposed to say two bottles, not one.”

“Oh, sorry,” Grum said. He looked at Agar and said, “I thought you said that we were going to settle for one bottle each to get it done it four weeks.”

“You don’t start with the end when negotiating. You have to start with the beginning where you ask for more than what they are willing to pay,” Agar said shaking his head.

Grum said, “I keep forgetting that.”

Liam looked over at Sean and said, “Never let a Dwarf negotiate a deal when you have a Leprechaun around to do it.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Sean said.

Sam said, “Maybe you could negotiate on Sean’s behalf.”

Liam said, “I could do that.”

“Do it,” Sean said desperate to get his truck rebuilt.