Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

How a Stranger met his Wife

How a Stranger met his Wife

I love to write…and my writing is important to me….but that isn’t all I do. When my wife doesn’t have designs on my time I work out in the shop rehabilitating old trucks….I used to do all my own work but now the heavy stuff is getting to be too much and I have a friend Bill who runs a shop in Adams who helps with the work I am no longer inclined (capable) to perform.

Anyway today….Friday is the day I pop in on Bill…he was very busy and he told me to hang loose…that he had some things to take care of… and so while I waited I got to talking to a nice older gentleman (My age… ah-hem, ah, hem) and he latched on and started telling his tale of woes….I must have a sympathetic face….boy is that deceptive….He told me his passion now was Christ and that he was depressed ever since his wife died two years ago….Listening is not one of my strong suits and I’m sorry….life to me is too precious to be preaching the gospel all day and grieving over a wife dead two years….I’m sorry but life is something that is intended to be lived in the present and some reflection on the good times is wonderful and I have a smidgen of faith myself but I subscribe to the Greek adage…nothing in excess….

Anyway he asked if that 40 Ford Sedan was mine and I told him it was…

“How do you ever find time to work on that?” he asked…

Duh! Does it look like I’m working on it…(I didn’t say that)

“I have Bill putting in the flathead engine,” I told him…

“That’s got a flathead?” he replied….“I didn’t see one when I looked at it…”

Bill walked up and said, “Does Bob have a flathead….(Not a pinhead) Its over here on the test stand….Want to hear it rumble?”

The guys eyes got wide….“I used to build flatheads….As a matter of fact I worked in a diesel shop for forty years…”

“No kidding,” said Bill, turning the key as it rumbled to life…

“Wow!” said the Gentleman, walking around stroking his jaw listening to the resonance…“How do you ever find the time…?”

“Every day I do a little bit,” I answered….“Don’t you have an old vehicle sitting around?”

“Why I have a ’55 Chevy Pickup in my garage….its been sitting there the last fifteen years….The muffler had a hole in it and I was going to get around to it and then the tires started going flat and I’m sure the gas has soured in the tank… I think I’ll call the salvage guy and get him to haul it away….Haven’t been out to the garage in a while…”

“You spent a career in automotives and have a ‘55 Chevy sitting out there…Why don’t you make it go room, room room!”

“I’m afraid its too far gone….but that truck sure has some memories…my wife and I took a trip to Canada camping, after the kids left….was that ever fun….You did that engine all by yourself….?”

“I assembled it…sent it out to get bored….just like this ‘40 Ford in for the engine to be installed..”

“Maybe I ought to go out to the garage and see if I cant get the old Chevy to running….”

“That’s’ a good thought I told him….You know if you did a tire a day in four (4) days you’d have the tires fixed….and in four more days you could bleed the brakes and see if they still worked….then you could drain the tank and put some fresh gas in….while you had the battery charging….All it takes is a task a day….just think that in a year that adds up to 365 tasks… “

“What do you do for a living?” he asked.

“I’m retired”

“So am I….so what do you do all day long?”

“I work on my trucks and I’m a writer…”

“What do you write…”

“Romance novels….”(My stock answer)

Ever been published?

“No.”

“Why not….?”

“I guess I’m not romantic enough….”

“Talk about romance, let me tell you a story of how I met my wife….. “