responded, drawing a look from her daughter. “I guess we could go as high as eighteen and meet you half way.” I acted like I was pondering this. “We could go to the bank and get the cash right now and come back.” She added.
“Oh alright.” I said. “You’ve got a deal. Go ahead and get the money, I’ll get the pink slip and you can take the car. I think eighteen is a good deal.” We all got out of Herb’s car and they told me they’d be right back. Sam did a little skip of excitement as she crossed the lawn. I leaned on the car and watched them drive off. Michael let me in the back door and I could see that he was in a state of nervous anticipation.
“Well, how’d it go?” He asked.
“They’re going to the bank and coming back with one thousand eight hundred dollars cash dude. That’s nine hundred apiece. You were right man, we’re gonna be rich!” I said.
“That’s awesome! You did it.” He yelled. We were actually jumping up and down when our celebration was cut short by a loud knock at the door. “Fuck.” Michael said. “Who could that be?”
I was about to grab my skate and run, but then I remembered. “What time is it?” I asked.
“A little after one.” He said.
“It’s probably just the next guy here to look at the car.”
“Oh yeah, you’re right.” He said. “You better look out the window just in case though. Whoever it is knocks like a cop.” I peeked out the window and saw a prematurely bald man in a windbreaker standing there. He didn’t look like a cop. I opened the door and stepped onto the porch. “Hi,” I said, “you must be here about the car.” I shut the door behind me, but not before he noticed the pile of mail.
“That’s right.” He said looking me over.
“I’m sorry. I was just kicking myself for not getting your number. See, I just sold the car a minute ago. I’m really sorry.”
“That’s not it in the driveway?” He asked.
“Oh, yes. That’s it, but the woman who bought it just went to the bank and she’s going to come back and pick it up.”
“I see,” he said, staring at me. “You don’t mind if I take a look at the car anyway do you? You know people have a way of saying one thing and then doing another. She may never come back you know.”
“Oh I’m sure she’ll come back. She seemed like a very honest person.”
“Come on, show me the car. I came all the way out here, and you never know, she might stiff you.”
“Sorry. The car’s sold. There’s absolutely no reason for you to look at it.” I said.
“Well, just out of curiosity, how much did she pay you for it?”
I shook my head. “That’s between me and her.” I said.
“She gave you two thousand for it didn’t she? You know you got robbed? The car is worth more than that.” He crossed his arms. “It’s real strange, a young kid like you, selling a car for so much less than it’s worth.”
I forced myself to look him right in the eye. “Strange? What are you talking about?” I asked, as if he’d said something incredibly stupid.
“I think you know what I’m talking about.” He said.
“Listen mister, You’re making me uncomfortable. I want you to leave right now.” It seemed like what an innocent person would say.
“I just want to take a look at the goddamn car.” The guy growled.
“If you don’t leave right now I’m calling the cops.” I said. I went into the house and slammed the door behind me. Michael was standing by the window looking nervous. He’d been listening.
“I doubt it!” The guy yelled. He stormed off and we listened to him drive away.
“Fuck man, what are we going to do?” I asked.
“Don’t worry about it. Even if the guy calls the cops, we’re gonna be long gone before they ever get here.” He said. “They have no way of tracing it to us.”
“They have no way of tracing it to you. They have my telephone number, remember? Fuck.”
“He’s not gonna call the cops. Don’t worry about it. You were brilliant, you know that? When you threatened to call the cops on him I nearly shit. He was just mad ‘cause he thought he was gonna get over on someone today. He was a shady dude, he wont call the…” He stopped when we heard car doors slam shut in front of the house. We both froze. Michael looked out the window. “It’s them.” He whispered. He must’ve seen that I was about to run because he added, “not the cops, those women.”
Before I opened the door I scooped up all the mail and shoved it on a nearby shelf. Michael handed me the manila folder and a pen and retreated to the kitchen. I opened the door. “Hi… That was quick. I thought it would take at least a half hour.” I said.
“Oh no, there’s a Bank of America right down the street.” The woman answered.
“Well, come on in and have a seat.” I hadn’t planned on inviting them in, but it seemed odd to be doing paperwork and a large financial transaction on the front porch. I felt light headed and jittery from my encounter with the bald guy and I wondered if it was noticeable. They sat down close together on the couch. “Can I get you something to drink?” I asked. “I’m not sure what we have.”
“No thanks.” The woman said pulling out an envelope. “Here’s the money. Go ahead and count it now.” She said handing it to me.
My hands were shaking as I opened the envelope and pulled out a large stack of new twenties. “Who’s this in the picture?” Sam asked gesturing to a photo in a gold frame on the coffee table. It was a black couple, probably Herbert and Michael’s Aunt.
“Um. That’s some friends of my father.” I said. They looked at me. “He does missionary work in Zaire.” I thought I heard a snort from the kitchen, but they didn’t seem to notice. I began to count the twenties while they sat quietly. I was afraid they would notice my hands shaking. Twenty, forty, sixty, eighty, one, twenty, forty, sixty, eighty, two, until I reached eighteen. “It’s all there.” I said. “Here’s the keys, and of course the pink slip. You’re going to have to sign and date that and we’re good to go.”
I handed the manila folder and the pen to Sam and she opened it. “Oh wait.” She said. “This has to be witnessed by a notary public.”
“Oh does it?” I asked.
“Yeah. It says so right here.” She held the document up and pointed at the place where the notary was supposed to stamp it.
I glanced down at the money sitting in a neat stack on the coffee table. “Hm. I don’t even know where we would find a notary public.” I said. “I mean, are they in the phone book you think?”
“Banks have notaries.” Sam said. “We could go right down to the bank.”
I fought the urge to jump out of my chair and run. “…I guess we could.” I said. “But it seems like a waste of money to pay a notary for something like this.”
“That’s right.” The girl’s mother agreed. “And if a notary witnesses it we have to pay the taxes Sam. Mr. Weller here is doing us a favor by not insisting on a notary.” I took a deep breath and smiled at them through clenched teeth.
“But the car’s legally mine right?” Sam asked.
“Oh yes.” The mother answered. “You have the pink slip. The fine for not reporting an auto sale is about thirty bucks, whereas the tax on a sale like this would probably be seventy five or eighty. No one pays taxes when they buy a used car from it’s owner.” She explained.
I nodded at Sam as if I had already known everything her mother just said. We stood up and I slipped the stack of twenties back in the envelope and put it in my pocket. “Good luck with the car, and god bless.” I said. I shook hands with both of them and walked them to the door. Sam got in the stolen car and the woman got in the one they came in and they were gone. I put the mail back on the floor and went to the kitchen where Michael was standing by the back door with our skates.
“Let’s get the fuck out of here.” He said.
I shook my head in disbelief. “Holy shit man, it’s more cash than I’ve ever seen in my life.”
11
We went to my place to split up the loot. I had nine hundred dollars, my money problems were over. I’d had some fun stealing it too. Sure, I was still worried about the bald guy and his suspicions, but I erased all the car-related messages from Kate’s machine and I felt better. I called Jordy in Culver City and told him the car was sold, and he was nice about it. Michael had a huge smile on his face. “What are you gonna do with the money?” He asked.
“I guess I’ll pay my rent for the next two months. Of course I’ll have to spread it out to avoid raising suspicion with Kate. Other than that, I don’t know.” I said. “How about you?”
“I’m gonna get some Jordans and a CD player. I’ll still have a gang of money left over. I gotta save some of it though, ‘cause eventually I want to get a car. I can’t be riding my skate everywhere for the rest of my life.”
“This shit’s incredible isn’t it? We should celebrate. You want to go in on an O-Z?” I asked.
“Fuck yeah, that sounds good. I never bought that much all at once before. We could roll nothing but super fatties for a long time.” He said. “You wanna go see if Sheck’s holding?”
“Don’t Jessie and them still sell weed?”
“Yeah, they sell weed. Jessie’s gone all paranoid though, so you gotta approach him the right way.” He said. “You think he’ll remember you?”
“Oh he’ll remember me, don’t worry. We have history.”
“Alright, we’ll go check him out, but no way am I going over there with all this money in my pocket.