If It's Not One Thing, It's Old Buddy

Hick picked up his precious dumpster for the senior apartments on Monday. I passed him on the way home, as I was going to town. When I got back, he was in the garage, leaving for the auction. He had no time for stories then, but had plenty to talk about when he got home from the auction around 9:00.

"That Old Buddy costs me money every time I turn around! I guess he just don't think. I need him to work for me, but he needs to get his heat outta his butt! We got the dumpster, and got it loaded in my truck. The lady had a couple other things I wanted. And a couple things Old Buddy wanted. I put mine in the back seat of the truck. They took up most of the room. So I told him to finish loading stuff in the back. The lady said we could lay that dumpster on its side, and put the other stuff in it, so it didn't blow away. She went back in, and Old Buddy finished loading.

When we got back and had the dumpster out of the truck, I told Old Buddy, 'You can go ahead and put that stuff in your car. I'm not doing anything else today.' And Old Buddy looked at what we had set out of the dumpster, and said, 'I didn't buy it.' So I told him, 'I didn't buy it!' And he said, 'I thought you did. It was sitting on that cart by your stuff, so I thought it was yours.'

The lady called me, saying I took too much stuff. More than I bought. I told her I just realized that when we were unloading. She said she had set it aside on a separate cart, for another buyer to pick up on Tuesday, and that she should have set it farther away. I told her I'd bring it back. She asked how far I had to drive, and I told her 90 minutes one way. Then she hung up, and I realized I can't do it Tuesday, because the guy from the electric company is coming to approve the new service entrance on the flip house after I put it in. So I sent her a message that I'll bring it Wednesday, but I haven't heard back from her.

There must be $200 worth of extra stuff I didn't buy! I got myself a deer head, and a fish, and a pheasant. Also a shovel and two axes and a hoe. Plus two lids for a bushel basket. I ain't never seen lids before. I wanted them to hang on the wall. Also I got a box of miscellaneous stuff, like linch pins and roll pins and coffer pins.

Old Buddy had loaded up a nail gun, and five baskets: three bushel and two half-bushel. He also had some kind of metal drawer full of stuff, and a piano bench kind of thing with claw feet with marbles in them. He said, 'Well, I guess I can drive them back.' But I don't know if I trust him to do that. He cain't seem to do anything right if I'm not watching him."

"So now she thinks you're shady, and you stole stuff from her!"

"No, she said she should have put the other stuff farther away. When Old Buddy was loading it, I thought it was stuff that he bought for himself, because we both was buyin' stuff. I told her I'd bring it back, but now I don't know how, because she ain't got back to me."

Hick has a doctor's appointment on Wednesday, halfway towards where he stole the stuff, heh, heh bought the dumpster. So he's going to drive the stuff up to the lady afterwards, even if he hasn't heard from her, to see if she's there, and give it back.

Hick is many things, but a thief isn't one of them.

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UPDATE:

Hick talked to the lady, and she said Wednesday will not work for her. But after that, she will be available, and Hick can bring back the items within 8 days. I'm not sure what that means. I guess she might be gone again. Hick says it's a big warehouse that the lady and her people are cleaning out, selling what they find. So it's not like he could just drop off the stuff at her house.

Hick told her he will bring the things back on Monday. He says that Old Buddy will be accompanying him, but that he will NOT be getting paid for his time. __________________________________________________________________