The Smell of Roses Part 3

Jackie shifted uncomfortably before the massive white woman who filled the doorway. "If this is a bad time," she began.
"Naw," smiled the woman " He just gets busy tinkering and talking to his girlfriends-He will be right down. " She frowned a little , then yelled over her shoulder " Ricky! You are keeping this nice lady waiting."
Ricky kissed his mother on the side of her head- he was taller than she by about eight inches, well tanned , with dark hair and the deepest brown eyes that she had ever seen. " I got it." he replied as he bounded out the door. Turning to Jackie, he said" Cm'on , its over here to the side of the house. " They passed her Civic as they walked. " That yours?" he asked. " I will stay with it if you want to test drive mine- Hondas get ripped off alot for the parts. " they continued walking until they were almost to the rear of the building. Ricky unlocked a chain link fence and pointed. " Isn't she beautiful? I rebuilt her myself. "

She watched as he unlocked the door on the ivory colored car. She recognized it at once. She had once dated a man who was into classic cars and he had owned one. The karma on this vehicle would be good, she mused. "

" Go ahead," He began trying to keep the excitement of a possible sale out of his voice. " Look inside, the interior is all new. I took classes at Voc. for the last two summers to learn how to do this. " The Studebaker Hawk was cosmetically perfect. " Its an eight cylinder, which is why I am not charging more . With the price of gas these days , eights are harder to sell. Redid the body work and paint. Not that there was much to be done, never been in a crash. As old as it is, never been smacked. Go ahead run a Carmax on it- you'll see how cherry she is!" He smacked the hood solidly- " New transmission, all points and plugs , new alternator and starter...I even redid all of the weather stripping..."

" If she is so perfect , why are you selling her?" asked Jackie, doing her best to look as if she would walk away.

' I would keep her if I could but I am studying film at state and will be needing money next year for my senior project. It gets professionally submitted. The right project COULD make my life a whole lot easier. " Ricky looked like a child being asked to give up his favorite puppy to pay for dinner to feed his family.

Jackie looked at her watch and frowned. " I am ," she began " running a little late. Perhaps I could come back after I picked up my daughter and took her to her soccer game. I do want to test it."

Ricky , fearing the loss of the sale, thought a minute. " How long would you be? "

Jackie stood silent for a minute , appearing to consider his question. " About an hour, I think- ninety mins at most, Why?"

" Why don't you test it while you do that? I have your Honda. we will switch places with the cars and you can have yours back when I get mine back?"

" I suppose before I do that , I need to ask the price. "

" $13, 900. "

" That is a good price. But as you say, its an eight. I will fill it before I return it. You seem to have it almost full now."

Jackie walked back to her Honda, opened the door and waited for Ricky to back out the Studebaker. Then she pulled the Honda forward into the yard, walked to the back of the Honda and pulled out the colbolt nylon gym bag. When she stepped out of the yard, Ricky handed her the keys to his car. She placed the gym bag on the seat beside her. The engine sounded perfect, just as Rickey had said. After watching her pull away from the curb, he walked back into the house and shut the door.(to be continued)