Risk

The Risk Inspection

“Ooh, Toyota. What’s this thing got, four cylinders? It must torque like a beast.”

“Just get in and spare me the wisecracks. It’s great on gas.”

“But can you cruise chicks? That’s what I’m talkin’ about.”

“No, I’m sure they wouldn’t spit on this car if it was on fire.”

“Well, we might need to get you a new car for your general image makeover. And definitely not a beige one.”

“I didn’t know I was getting an image makeover.”

“Oh, yes. If you want to get with the ladies, you’re going to have to loosen up a bit. We’ll work on it.”

“Who said I want to ‘get with the ladies?’ More trouble than they’re worth, if you ask me.”

“Everybody wants to get with the ladies, hotshot. Fact of life. How about putting it in ‘D’ so we can get out of here. We haven’t got all night, you know.”

“Oh, sure. I just like to let it warm up a little.”

George gave him a look, and then shook his head. Martin put the car in ‘D,’ and drove out of the parking garage and up to Finch Avenue, heading eastbound. George fiddled with the Perly’s guide, looking for Silver Star Boulevard.

“Ah, here it is. So we’ll take Finch eastbound all the way to Midland Ave.”

“Okay.”

Martin drove in silence for a couple of minutes as George familiarized himself with the map.

“So what about this architecture thing? Have you ever thought of starting up the job hunt again?”

“I tried it a couple of times, but there was nothing. The further you get from graduation the less likely you are to get a job. There’s a big hole in my resume, you know? Huge. If I don’t have a job in my field by now, they figure there must be something wrong with me. Just bad timing for me, I guess. If only I could have waited out the recession, and then graduated. I could have gone part-time, taken basket-weaving. But I don’t think my parents would have appreciated that.”

“Wow, that is rough.”

“It’s not that bad. This isn’t a sob story. I’ve done okay. Money isn’t everything, and I like my job. It’s a great job.”

“I didn’t mean to imply that it wasn’t.”

“I know. Sorry, I’m a little sensitive about it because Gina has been harping on me lately that I should find some new career. Which I suppose I should, eventually. Any openings in the insurance world?”

“There’s always postings in the staff room. I could keep my eyes open for you, let you know when something comes up.”

“Thanks, that’s nice of you. But I was just kidding. I don’t know if I’m cut out for that kind of work.”

“No one is.”

“The next one’s Midland. You want to go left on Midland, and Silver Star is your first left. Here we go.”

They pulled into the industrial park road, which looked very dark and deserted. All along the street were huge non-combustible Industrial plazas or warehouse-type buildings. There weren’t too many cars around, and they drove along slowly looking for number 50. It wasn’t until the dead end of the street that they came upon it.

“There it is. Hey, there’s a car out back.”

“Oh, yeah. Should I turn around?”

“Yeah, turn around and drive back toward the front, but don’t turn in. Good. Don’t drive too slowly. Oh, yeah. There’s flashlights moving around in there.”