Okay. That title might be a slight fib. If life gave Hick lemons, he would first try to sell them at his Storage Unit Store for a dollar profit. Then he would use them for a do-gooder mission. Hick's largess is going to get us in trouble one of these days. I hope it turns out to be later, rather than sooner.
Monday, Hick drove neighbor Tommy to the doctor. I may or may not have mentioned that Tommy had the VIRUS. He was sent home from work, with slight symptoms, after testing positive around September 27. We wouldn't have known, but Tommy called his buddy Hick, to explain his situation, and ask if Hick would call him every day to make sure he was okay. Hick did.
Apparently Tommy got better and returned to work. Or at least went out and about after approximately a week of staying in. I passed him in front of our second 10 acres, next to the BARn field, as I left for town Friday. I mean PASSED him. His car was sitting on the same side of our gravel road, a little bit off to the side, and I had to go around him. Timmy had just gotten out, to walk around the front of the car. He waved, and I returned it.
A hundred yards down the road, slowing to descend Hick and Buddy's Badly Blacktopped Hill, I wondered if I should have stopped. Maybe Tommy needed help. Not that I could be of any help with the car we bought him three years ago for $900, that even then had 239,000 miles on it. Besides, if he needed to leave the car, and walk back home, it was less than a quarter-mile. Still, I decided I'd call Hick and tell him about it as soon as I got out of the Creach valley and up where there's cell phone reception.
Whoops! No need to do that. Halfway down Hick and Buddy 's Badly Blacktopped Hill, I had to ease two of T-Hoes tires off the "pavement" to make room for a tow truck coming up. I'm pretty sure I knew where it was going.
Anyhoo... Hick didn't hear from Tommy that day. But Monday morning, Tommy called to ask for a ride to the doctor.
"I said I'd pick him up at 1:30."
"He has THE VIRUS! You don't need to be riding in the truck with him!"
"He should be over it by now."
"Then why is he going to the doctor?"
"I don't know. Maybe for a checkup."
"Keep the windows down!"
"I'm not worried about it, Val. I'll keep my window down."
Turns out Tommy woke up not feeling well, and thought he had a fever. The nurse told him he did not have a fever, but his blood pressure was up, and the doctor might want to change his medication. Also, Tommy tested negative for the VIRUS at his appointment. He wanted to stop by Walmart before returning home. So Hick called me while waiting in SilverRedO.
"Tommy asked if I knew where to buy a car. They told him his car needs a transmission. But when I heard what was wrong with it, I told him he needs to take it somewhere else. It's something with it not getting fuel. He said it will run, but then it just quits on him. There's a couple other things. But if it was the transmission going bad, he wouldn't be driving it like that. I told him he needs to go to one of those buy here/pay here lots if he's going to buy a car. He has a job. He shouldn't have no problem getting one."
"I'm surprised this one lasted as long as it did."
"Yeah. It did good for him. And he got a job that he's been able to keep for two years now. But we can't buy him another car."
Not that Tommy asked. Back then, or now.
He is kind and fair!
ReplyDeleteTo everybody else! Another example coming up tomorrow.
DeleteIt sounds like there might be small blockage in the fuel pump and if that gets cleaned out Tommy won't need a new car.
ReplyDeleteBut he SHOULDN'T have been going out after only a week at home. The recommended quarantine is two weeks. but since he tested negative I guess it worked out okay.
Yes, Tommy gave more information when he called Hick this morning saying his car wouldn't start. He had to keep cranking it. Said the car putt-putts going up the hill. Hick said that's not the transmission! That the car would lock up or not go into gear. Hick told Tommy to take it to Mick the Mechanic.
DeleteHick thinks it's something with the fuel not getting through, or the ignition. He says it could be something as simple as a loose battery wire.
Hick said, "I could go over and look at his car, and figure it out, but then Tommy would call me every time something goes wrong, and I'd become his mechanic."
We don't know exactly when Tommy got the VIRUS, but Sept 27 is when he first called Hick. Tommy is not good with details.
[I wrote this up once already, and Blogger ate it. But this is the gist of it.]
A good man, giving. But Tommy? Hmmm.
ReplyDeleteTommy has some issues. He's around 60 years old, never worked, lived out here with his mom until she died. He walked over a week or so after the funeral, and stood on the road by the BARn, waiting for Hick to appear.
DeleteTommy said he only had $2000 left, and didn't know what to do. No car, no job. He'd been calling a taxi to go to the store. Hick told him not to waste money on the taxi, that he'd drive him to town when he needed to go. Hick also took him around looking for jobs.
Then I suggested we could get him a car, and let him pay us back if he could (never expecting to get anything). Tommy did make one payment after he got a job. It's been one of our best investments.