Bay City Runaway

Chapter 6

Laura and I decided to break up the spring of our senior year of high school. She had chosen to go to a small private college in St. Louis, and I would be staying in Oklahoma to study computer science. We wouldn't write or call. That was the deal. But we would reconnect in the summers--no questions asked. Summer became my favorite season.

It was the week after our junior year in college, 1995. I had totaled my Ford Festiva out in front of my bank a week before. Bijan said he would get his dad to cut me a deal at the dealership where he worked. My dad and I drove up to the city to look around the lot. Much to my father's disapproval, I intended to by a pickup truck. I felt that I would be moving around a lot in my twenties and might benefit from it. He had never owned a pickup truck and didn't like unknowns when it came to a large purchase like a vehicle.

We met Bijan's Dad, a small Iranian man with receding salt and pepper hair, and he showed me a few Isuzu pickups, which I liked, but nothing really grabbed me until I saw a brand-new antique silver one. I could see myself driving that silver truck back into Norman. He said he would cut me a deal--$8900. It seemed like a good enough price. We arranged the financing. I'd have to cough up $135 a month. Then my dad took me aside.

"James, are you sure you can afford this?" he asked.

"Yes! I'm working at Arbys and the church, and I'll pick up some extra money this summer housesitting with the Perez's."

He patted me on the arm and nodded.

Mr. Ayari handed me the keys and shook my hand. But I didn't just shake his hand. I looked him square in the eye and gave him a little wink, man to man.

"You betcha, Mr. Roberts. This very good deal. I think you'll be very happy in this truck," he said with a serious demeanor. "Drive safely."

This was not a little first car teenage piece of shit. This was a brand-new truck—a man's vehicle. I hopped in and imagined myself peeling out of the lot but thought better of it with my dad watching.

As I cruised down I-35 to Norman, I didn't even consider where I was going. There was a storm blowing in from the north behind me. I rolled down the window to feel the rapidly cooling air and cranked the radio up; AC/DC "Back in Black" pouring and thumping through my new speakers; a bigger sound than my old car stereo by decibels.

Before I realized where I was going, I was pulling into Laura's parents' neighborhood and right up into her driveway, hoping she would be there. I wanted her to be the first to celebrate this purchase with me.

I might have just honked, but I knew her dad would kill me for it. He was raising Laura to go for guys who treated her with respect, so I rang the doorbell. She answered.

"James! What are you doing here?" she said with an open smile and laugh.

"Come out. I have something to show you." I grabbed her hand and pulled her out onto the driveway with me, a look of triumph on my face.

"Holy shit! Is that yours?" she said.

"Yup. Just bought it from Bijan's dad."

The storm began to blow hard all a sudden. The temperature dropped, and the wind kicked up her hair. I got a pang of love and lust for her in my chest. I pulled down the back gate, and we sat on it.

"When did you get back?" I asked

"Just last night. I had to do some extra packing at school before I left Webster."

"Oh yeah, why?"

She smiled at me with her topaz eyes, and I knew.

"I'm transferring to O.U. to finish my degree here. What do you think about that?"