The 'Cousins'

Part Twenty: Greg Meets Jennifer

‘That’s not a problem. There’s not much I can tell them. I’d only been in town for a day or so when it happened and I hadn’t met anybody I could say I upset enough to want to do that to me. But why haven’t they got me a replacement car already? You said yesterday it would be here today?’

Greg watched his question cause extreme discomfort to the clerk whose face reddened deeper and the man’s throat gurgled nervously as Greg stared at him and waited for a reply.

‘To be plain honest with you Sir, the company’s worried somebody might have a vendetta against you. They don’t want to lose another car if they try again.’

‘That’s why we all have insurance isn’t it?’ Greg asked with false bravado.

‘Yessir, It is sir, but please note these are not my words, the Regional manager said they might get lucky next time and it’d be plumb bad for publicity having you crash and maybe die in one of our cars.’

Greg didn’t know why he laughed at this, it wasn’t funny at all, but he felt rather light headed.

‘What you’re telling me is they’d prefer me to hand over the keys to this car and go away?’

‘Yessir, I can’t deny in these circumstances, until the person that did this is discovered, they think it would be in their best interests to do as you just said.’ The clerk looked distraught and shrank away.

Greg stood silent while he thought for a few seconds before offering the keys to the Geo and said as if it was of no concern to him, ‘There you are then Mr… ??’

‘My name’s Yocum Sir, Alfried Yocum.’

‘Thank you Mr.Yocum, for your honesty and forthrightness. Can I take it that you don’t work for the rental company. That it’s not your main business here?’

‘No sir, we’re a family business of automobile and farm machinery engineers. We are only a local sub office of a regional franchisee for Hertz.’

‘I was thinking on the way over today that a rental car’s not suitable for what I have in mind. I need to buy a small truck or pickup, diesel engine, reliable and not too costly. Can you help me.’

If Mr. Yocum’s face had been Winter, Greg’s question turned it instantly to Spring.

‘I just might have the very thing for you it came in only yesterday. A Ford F-350, 1996 with 187,000 miles showing. It’s been worked hard, but there’s a whole lot of good work left in her.’

‘Would you show me Mr Yocum.’

‘Sure, call me Al, everybody else does!”

They spent the next 20 minutes looking over the truck with its faded, chipped white paint work and grime encrusted interior that reeked of old oil and nicotine.’

‘We can get all that tidied up for you.’ Yocum’s words were an apology.

‘Does anything need replacing?’  Greg asked.

Yocum caught his enthusiasm and replied warmly. ‘I’ll put it through the bay for servicing and inspection. It’ll need new rubber on the wheels real soon, but it all seems good at the price.’

“What is the price?’

‘$5700 as she stands.’

‘ I don’t know anything about these trucks or their prices, but that sounds cheap from what I’ve seen of prices on others like it on forecourts I’ve passed.’

‘It’s a bank repo. The owner couldn’t keep up the payments. We only have to get that for it. It’s a steal at the price.’

Greg screwed up his nose as he said. ‘That’s the way of this world, one man’s misfortune is another’s good fortune and only the Banks win- everytime.’