“You damn boys might be MP’s but you ain’t the boss of me, so you can just hold your high horse,” he said fishing around in his pocket for the key. “Besides, I see this lady here seems to have an eye for fine cars.” He watched me looking it over. “She might like to crank it. It’s stick though, honey, so you’re gonna have to push in the clutch and put her in neutral.
“I can drive stick,” I smiled, taking the offered key.
Andy and Ty made a collective noise like they were impressed that I could drive a manual. Ryan just laughed. He’d ridden with me and he knew what I could do behind the wheel.
“Give the gas one tap, before you turn the key,” Pearly stated.
I did as instructed and the engine came immediately to life. I liked the sound right away. “Can we test drive it?”
“I don’t know,” Pearly stated, giving me and Ryan a hard look, “can you afford it? I want eighty-five hundred for her.”
“Do you have a current tag on it?” I asked.
“Yup, just renewed it about five months ago.”
“Yeah, we can manage the price-if it runs good.”
“Well, come on, darlin’ let’s take her for a ride.” He motioned Ryan around to the passenger’s side. He looked at Ty and Andy. “You boys can wait here, cuz the trunk ain’t big enough to hold both of you!” he laughed. He had me lean forward as he tipped the seat up and crawled into the back.
I could see the disappointment written on their faces as they watched me drive away.
“Which way?” I asked reaching the end of the drive.
“Turn right and then I’ll show you where you can stretch her out a little.”
Within a few blocks we were in an area that had a few closed up warehouses, and basically no vehicles in the street.
“Okay, you’ve got about eight blocks of nothing, so check her out and punch her d-”
He didn’t get to utter the last word before I dropped the pedal to the floor and burned down the street. The transmission was in excellent shape and the engine responded like a dream. There was plenty of room in an empty parking lot as I neared the end of the vacant road and I slid her into it, spinning one-eighty and heading back down the way we’d come.
Pearly made no comment about my driving, but he was grinning from ear to ear when I looked into the rearview. Now I could see why they called him Pearly-he had the whitest teeth I’d ever seen. I slowed before turning onto the street that would take us to Ty and Andy. “Ryan, you want to give it a go?” I asked, unable to get the smile off my face.
“It’s your money, Leese. You’re the boss.”
“I’m paying, but I’m not getting the car for me, it’s for you.”
“How about I get to drive it to Andy and Ty’s house?”
“Deal,” I said, reaching over and squeezing his hand.
We pulled the car up behind the Caprice and followed Pearly inside to pay him and get the title. He pointedly told Andy and Ty they could wait outside.
His house wasn’t well lit and the curtains were drawn, but we made our way to the couch as Pearly left the room for the paperwork. I pulled out a pack of hundreds and tucked them behind my purse.
“Leese, how are we going to transfer the title and get insurance on the car?” Ryan quietly questioned.
“Let me handle that for now,” I whispered my response as Pearly returned to the room.
“Okay, I don’t take checks,” Pearly began.
“I’ll pay cash, but I need a couple favors from you.”
At this his eyebrows went up, “I knew you was gonna be too good to be true,” he said, shaking his head.
“No, it’s nothing bad. It’s just that we’re trying to stay out of my crazy ex-husband’s reach. Can I pay you ten grand and I get to keep the license plate? I’d appreciate it if you didn’t drop it from your insurance for several months, so we’ll have time to figure out how to insure it without sending up a red flag that says ‘here we are,’” I finished.
“Crazy ex-husband, huh?”
I could tell he wasn’t totally buying my story, so I reached into my pocket and pulled out my rings.
“Damn, he’s probably crazy ‘cause he wants those back! Not that you ain’t a package worth reclaiming yourself, but them rings cost a pretty penny, I can tell.”
I returned the rings to my pocket and took the bundle of hundreds that had been hidden by my purse, “So, do we have an agreement?”
“Is that his, too!” he exclaimed. “I don’t want him looking for me if he’s got that kind of dough.”
I laughed, “No, the money is mine.”
He reached into a drawer in a small table beside him and pulled out what appeared to be a magic marker. “Not that I don’t believe you, but I’ve been burned before,” he said, reaching toward me.
That was when I realized it was a counterfeit marking tool. I handed him the money as he put it under the light from the table lamp and marked a random sampling of bills.
“You got a deal, lady,” he chuckled, flashing his bright smile.
We shook hands and left with the title.
“Did you buy it?” Andy asked with a hint of excitement in his voice.
“Sure did. We’ll follow you guys,” Ryan confirmed, taking the key from my hand.
I tried to talk him in to stopping somewhere so I could pick up some black hair dye, but he said we would do that later because he didn’t quite remember where he was headed and he didn’t want to lose the crazy driver in front of us.
Twenty five minutes later we pulled up to an older tri-level home with a stone facade and an ancient tire swing in the front yard.
“I used to live in that house there,” Ryan pointed to the large brick house next door. “These idiots were my neighbors.”
“I’m surprised you survived it.”
Our bags were in the trunk of the Caprice and Ty had already unlocked it and was pulling them out. “Which ones are yours, Leese?” he asked.
I tried to grab mine, but he slung them over his shoulder.
“I don’t want you to have to carry them, I just wanted to be sure I wasn’t carrying Pumpkin Heads,” he said, throwing the other two bags at Ryan.
I could hear the air leave Ryan’s chest as the bags smacked into him. “Thanks a lot,” he gasped. “You’re a real great host.”
We walked into the house and a familiar odor hit me. Garlic bread? Lasagna? It was some kind of Italian food being prepared.
“Ma, were home!” Andy yelled out.
A heavy set woman with a kind face and an oven mitt on each hand came around the corner. “Ryan? Is that you? Good Lord, baby, what did you do to your hair?”
“Hey, Miss Naomi.” He dropped his bags and gave her a warm embrace.
“I know it’s you, ‘cause it’s the same handsome face and those perfect blue eyes,” she said, with an oven mitt cupping each of his cheeks.
“Ouch! Hot, Miss Naomi,” he whined.
“Oh, Lord, I’m sorry. I forgot I just took a big pan of lasagna out of the oven with these dumb things.” She pulled off the mitts and tucked them under her arm. “You’ve grown a foot since I seen you last. How’s your momma?”
“She’s fine,” he replied. Both of his cheeks were as red as if he’d been out in the sun too long.
She looked at me waiting patiently behind him and she smiled, “Well, who is this pretty young woman you’ve got with you?”
“This is my good friend Leese. Leese, this is Naomi Saint-George, mother of thing one and thing two,” he said pointing to Andy and Ty.
“It’s just George,” Naomi corrected him. “I’m no saint.”
“Sure you are,” Ryan continued, kissing her cheek, “You’ve had to put up with those dummies for twenty-
