Chapter 163

Sleeping in my own bed appealed to me, even if it wasn't as comfortable as the Mexico City's fancy bed. It belonged to me and no crazy drug dealer was likely to come for me. The Box House was cool at night, which was okay because it was summer and the temperature didn't get too cold. It was hot in the midday sun, but that wasn't too back because the ceiling fans kept the air moving, and the 20 inch box fan, I converted to an exhaust fan, pulled the stale air out and the fresh in. There was always a breeze in the Box House.

So far it seemed to be a pleasant alternative to the heavily manipulated air in most houses. Well it probably helped that I lived in the mountains as well. If I had trees where the house sat, it would be even cooler. I was on a piece of land that had been a farm's field many years before, till they wore the soil out. Any profit from crops in my field would have been severely cut by the cost of the fertilizer needed to grow the product. I had those thoughts while I rode the bicycle to the plaza and had breakfast at Hardee's.

I knew the land was in the recovery phase. Wild grasses had grown in the field. The fields, on both sides of the road, were probably five to six acres. The other acre or two were in woods down by the creek. The woods were mostly fur trees of some kind. The hard wood trees were gone, probably logged out in the thirties.

I returned home from breakfast to reread the snail mail that started me thinking about the land. I had received it while I was in Mexico. It was from the State Forestry Service, and it was an offer to every land owner of more than five acres in Warren County. The offer was from the state, It was to subsidize the planting of two or more acres of land in trees and wild flowers. There was a limited to ten acres of subsidy.

I hated having them poke around my property but if I ever wanted to do it now was the time. The way the subsidy worked was they furnished the manpower and machines and I bought the trees and flower seed. What the fuck, I thought and answered the letter in the affirmative. I promptly forgot it.

The main reason I forget it was the garage/junk yard call with the news on the Toyota. "So Tim what's verdict," I asked after some small talk.

"It's worse than we first thought. Some how the starter locked and shorted out the wiring. Didn't you smell the computer burn up?" he asked.

"There was no burning smell at all," I said.

"Well every module was burned up. The fuse panel for some reason allowed enough current to make toast of it all." he said.

"Okay what's the bottom line," I asked.

"The car is ten years old. If it were in perfect shape with no dents or faded paint, had a perfect motor and good tires it would be worth about two thousand dollars.

"To put the motor in good condition replace the modules and the wiring. Put a new starter on it and fix the body and paint would cost you between 1800 and 2000 dollars," he said. "So its a wash."

"Now skip the body and paint and save about 500 dollars, which happens to be what it is worth to part out. So to put it back like it was the day you parked it, the cost is about 1000 to 1200 dollars," Tim informed me.

"I'll take the 500 bucks and you take the Toy," I said.

"Actually it 450 bucks I towed it here and diagnosed it," Tim said.

"Fair enough," I said. " I guess I better start looking for cars."

"I'll send you a check," Tim said.

"That's fair," I said.

So I need to start looking for used cars, I though. I was truly pissed, but I wasn't shocked. I had driven the Toyota almost five years and it hadn't been very expensive, when I bought it the same day I was discharged.

I found a spiral notebook in one of the boxes under my sofa cushion. I wrote, what I need in a new car. I drew and x over the word new and added used in it's place. I wrote the word small, then I wrote cargo space. When I wrote that I was thinking about maybe distributing again. I could have written things like, sporty or comfortable, but those things didn't matter to me. It was a motorized box with wheels, that's all it was to me. As I always do, when I begin to look to buy anything, I went to the Internet.

I allowed myself 5,500 for a car. I picked that figure because I could easily come up with it from the Swamp Dog funds I hadn't touched. I had a about half a dozen choices it seemed. The only person I knew with any motor knowledge was the Monk, so of course I called him.

"Monk, you friend told me the Toyota was toast. Can I trust him, or do I need a second opinion?" I asked.

"It is toast, you have my word on it. He called me before he called you. I went over and looked at the modules. I also took a look at the test results from the computer read out. It was zero. It wouldn't even recognize the test signal. That computer is out completely. It took all the electronic stuff with it. I know because I saw it all. I wouldn't let them cheat you Sylvia." The Monk replied.

"So I guess I need to look for a car," I said.