“Well, no, it’s not that I mind paying," the young man said as he adjusted his John Deere cap. "But, damn it Ted, I think you should have told me how much these repairs was going to cost me before you went and fixed my car without an okay or something.”
Charlie had been taking in this conversation while he filled the tank of his cream-colored Cadillac. Charlie screwed the gas cap back on and, with his monogrammed hankerchief, he wiped a drop of gas from the chrome strip. As he walked toward Ted and the young man, he took out his comb and ran it through his jet black hair.
“I'm not a lawyer, but I think you could get arrested for that." Charlie's words startled Ted who hadn't heard Charlie's footsteps. "You didn’t even give this man an estimate?”
“I don’t mind really," said the young man. "But I ain’t got enough money. I’m coming up short. Ted won’t give me my car keys ‘til I pay the whole bill.”
“Well, you should mind, son, cause this man has taken advantage of you being young and all.” Charlie continued, “How many mechanics have you had to deal with in your lifetime?”
“Just Ted. My daddy did business with Ted. So I started coming here. Been coming here ever since. My daddy said Ted is the kind of mechanic you can trust. Ain’t many of them. My daddy said most these mechanical types might would tell you all kinds of lies. But not Ted.”
Charlie turned and looked down at Ted. He stared Ted right in the eyes while he slowly shook his head from side to side. Ted looked away, then looked back a couple times as if he was about to say something but had changed his mind. He was a scrawny, dirty man, and he was feeling might scrawny right about now. Charlie was rocking back and forth in his Wingtips still staring at Ted.
Ted looked down at the ground where his foot was grinding a cigarette butt to smitherines. “Well, in memory of your daddy and all, if you could just give me what you got today, we will just call it even.”
Charlie raised his head back with even more indignation, looking even taller. “Ted, you know damn well when the meat processing plant pays out. You do work there, don't you boy? Figured you did. So, this boy is going to need a little money left to tide him over ‘til then.”
By the time Charlie had finished with Ted, the bill had been cut by about a third and the boy paid half of that today with the promise of paying the rest next week. Then they all left Terry’s Trading Corner...Ted's tow truck, Charlie's Cadillac, and a quieter 1983 Grand Prix that had finally got a new muffler.
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