Chapter 319

"You are going to need to start looking for a car. Your check has been mailed it should be in your hands by the end of the week." the insurance agent's secretary told me.

"Okay well I guess I'll have to take a look around to see what's available." I suggested.

"Yes, when the check is delivered we expect the rental car to be returned that same day," she said.

"That certainly sounds reasonable enough," I said into the phone.

When the call came in, Sylvia was sitting at the industrial stainless steel table used in my house for a dining room table When the call ended she asked, "Are you going to buy another car like you had?"

"Lord no, I would have to go all over hell to find another of those. Since they are off the phone, and I know I'm getting paid for the stolen car, I am going to go to Craig's list and look. While I do that, you call the A1 people. I want that building.

We were both on the phone for a few minutes at a time. I called three people until I found one who had what I wanted. For the last couple of years I had been wishing for a small pickup truck. It seemed to be the right time to take some concrete steps toward one. By 3pm I had an appointment to see a bright orange Nissan pickup. It was five years old, but the owner swore that it had not been abused. The guy agreed to ride with me over to my mechanic's place even.

Since I saved the mechanic's ass, he should be up to checking out the truck for me. Problem was that he got sick of the thugs and moved on. I knew one more mechanic. I drove the truck, with the owner inside up to the back of a mill house. When I beeped the horn a man in coveralls came out the door.

"Is that you Maxine?" the man my age asked.

"Yeah its me Simon. So how you been?' I asked.

"Oh I been good," he said.

"You still mess with cars?" I asked

"Yeah, I still buy and sell them now and then. What you need sweetie?" he asked.

"Take a look at this pick up and tell me how bad I'm gonna' get stung," I demanded. It looked as though the owner wasn't going to take offense.

"Well, if the mileage is right it is mid range. The motor looks clean and sounds fine. Brakes and clutch seem strong. Tires are not too bad, it say this truck is in average to slightly above average condition. Hold on while I get my laptop."

"The owner said, "If he tells you it worth more than I'm asking, do I get the difference."

Simon came back and told me the truck was worth about two hundred bucks less than the owner was asking. "You heard the man," I said smiling.

"Well I have wasted a lot of time with you, so let's do the deal." the owner said. I showed him the wad of money in my shoulder bag. "Lets go where there is a notary public."

"Suits me," he replied.

It took the rest of that day to get the tittle straight and the registration. I explained about the stolen Cruiser at least five times. I did finally get permission and paperwork to drive the truck home for the evening.

When I walked through the door just before five, Sylvia was waiting. "Is there any reason we can't take another look at the A1 building tomorrow?"

"None that I can think of," I replied.

"Good, I have made us an appointment, 1PM." she said.

"We should be able to do that no problem," I suggested.

Sylvia was in a rush to leave, so I assumed that she and Peter were doing something. I really didn't want to know what they were up to. It was none of my business, so I set my mind to other things.

I went into rest mode and tried to power down. It was hard to power down, but I did manage. The operation we had just finished ran through my mind. I wondered how much the CIA knew. I firmly believed that they had turned the Senator. I had my doubts about his good intentions, but blackmail is a strong motivator to do the right thing.

Before I realized it a new day had begun. I did my usual things. In other words I did nothing constructive till almost noon. Still there were only three days till Christmas. Not wanting to get involved in anything that was going to drag out seemed reasonable to me.

Before I even got back from my morning walk the phone was ringing. I was half way around the top floor of the mall for the third time when it rang. "Hello," I said cautiously.

"Maxine it's Reverend Archer, I need a favor." the voice said.

"Oh what kind of favor?" I asked.

"There is a turkey processing plant in Wilkins. That's about a hundred miles away. Anyhow they are having labor trouble, so they had a plant walkout last night. The supervisors managed to get the birds into the freezer. So now they got a couple of hundred turkeys they will donate to the Christmas dinner, if we pick them up."

"When do we get to the 'why you need me' part of this fairy tale?" I asked.

"They have some bad ass labor agitators from New York. I don't want my people to get hurt, but these people need to eat as well." Archer said angrily.

"Reverend you better not be selling my services as a strike breaker. You know you don't want me pissed at you," I informed him.

"You can buy coffee and dough nuts for Jimmy Hoffa as far as I'm concerned. I just want that food for hungry people." The Reverend sounded convincing, I will give him that. I let him stew a little, then agreed. Hell I wasn't doing anything else.

"Can we hold off till three?" I asked.

"I will have a truck in the parking lot behind your house at three pm," he said.

"Fair enough," I agreed. What I didn't say to him was that I would be up to my ass in real business until probably the last second. It was hard to concentrate on finishing the walk after the call but I did anyway.

At noon when Sylvia arrived, I had been home two hours at least. After I explained everything to Sylvia she said, "So this is your good deed for Christmas?"