The Nissan still smelled like a new car, which essentially it was, at least to me. I leaned across the seat and unlocked the passenger's side door. A few seconds later Andrea walked around the corner of the building; carrying her purse and the leather bag containing her lap-top. She also had a paper cup filled with coffee and a change of clothes tucked under her arm. She had on a white button up shirt, lightly colored purple scarf and white sport coat, white pants along with her Harley-Davison boots. She had on stylish sunglasses with her hair parted in the middle and hanging loosely around her shoulders. She opened the passenger's door and handed me her coffee cup, Andrea then swung her left leg into the car and sat down with the scent of perfume entering with her. My heart quickened a pace at the sight of her.
"Good morning! Is it alright if we stop and eat something in a little bit, I'm hungry." She said, fastening her seatbelt.
Handing her coffee back now, I assured her that I was of the same mind and that I knew a good place an hour away. I then started the car and began typing Ricky's address into the Garmin while Andrea watched me. I wanted to play around with the device and figured that the trip to Ricky's would be a good introduction, since I already knew the way.
"I've always wondered about getting one of those things. What's it called?" Andrea asked.
"It's a Garmin; they've only been available to the public for about twenty years now, Andrea." I said rolling my eyes at her.
I finished typing in the address for Ricky's place. The Garmin then displayed a little pink colored pathway with an icon of the car in the center of the screen.
"Turn right at the stop sign." The device suddenly said.
"Hope you didn't have any trouble finding my condo this morning, Tim." Andrea retorted, sipping her coffee.
Snickering at her remark, I turned the Garmin's volume down then and glanced at the clock on the device as I slowly backed out of my parking space. I noticed that Hans's truck was gone from its parking space and thought about Hans and I joking, the morning before, in regard to the parking stripes but decided not to mention anything or make any sarcastic references to the stripes. "Forgive and forget" as a friend of mine says. I decided to keep my mouth shut about the stripes this morning. "No one is perfect and the perfect relationship doesn't exist." Mom would always say. Andrea was fine looking company and I was intrigued to discover how compatible we were. Humor was a part of flirting but wise ass remarks were demeaning and hurtful.
"Aren't you clever." I said dryly as I put the car in gear.
It was good to be going someplace and the weather forecast on my phone promised a nice day for it. After driving a huge gravel truck all through the Alaska summer, it was fun to just drive the little Nissan with no thought of time schedules or weight slips. No two-way radios or loud Jake-Brakes either.
"Karen's car got stolen on Saturday, the Miata." Andrea said.
"I know, she told me, that was such a cute car too. She sounds like she might be interested in a truck now. I'm going to help her look when she gets back." I replied.
"I think she was showing some interest in the Honda Ridgeline or something comparable. In real-estate you really need a vehicle that can accommodate clients as well as something that you can haul for-sale signs in and the Miata was never really good for either. I think she bought the Mazda out of ego but yes, it was a cute car." Andrea said.
"Karen is such a good person and hard worker too, and then someone rips-off her car, sheesh." I said.
"It's just a car, Tim." Andrea said.
"It's probably in a shipping container and half way to Hong Kong by now anyway." I said as we got underway.
"She said she's going to install a LoJack on this next vehicle, this is the second one that's left without her." Andrea said.
"Wow that would get annoying very quickly, two cars stolen. Tell me about the dude ranch, sounds like you all had fun Andrea," I said.
"It was fun. All four of us had gentle mounts and we probably rode close to thirty miles. I haven't been on a horse for a while so my legs and bottom are still a little sore but I'd do it again today. The gal that owns the ranch was one of my colleagues in real-estate for years and this is kind of her retirement venture, she's actually done quite well with it. It's a lot of work but her and her husband love horses so it's not really work for them." Andrea said.
"So you were there all day, then, it sounds like?" I asked.
"Pretty much, nine hours, I think." Andrea said.
"A Person has to get out and play some once in a while, Andrea; otherwise what's the point of anything?" I asked.
"Exactly, Tim. My last few years of working made me a ton of money but if I'd kept going at that pace I'd probably be dead, it was killing me, literally. I still like to dabble a little bit but it's on my terms now and I do it when I want to. In fact, I've got a piece of dirt to go look at next week in Phoenix, you're welcome to come if you'd like, might be an overnighter." Andrea said.
"I would like to, I need to see what happens with finding Karen a car first and I promised to help. I'll let you know." I replied.
"How do you like this car so far? It seems to be running quite well. Are you going to fix the dents in the door and fender" Andrea asked.
"I am very pleased with it Andrea, especially for what I paid for it and the gas mileage is insane. I'm not going to bother with the dents, as you say, it's just a car. Oh, by the way, I want to stop in Reno and look at a bicycle that I found on the internet, today, if you don't mind. I've already talked to the guy and he's expecting us in the afternoon, sometime. It's right on the way and shouldn't take too long." I said.
"Sure Tim, I'm just along for the ride. Like you said last night about your trip with Hans, I just wanted to go someplace." Andrea replied.
"I think we'll have fun on this trip Andrea and the weather forecast is calling for mild weather." I said.
"What exactly are we going to do in Seattle, again, Tim?" Andrea asked.
"Visit with my brother and his girlfriend, if they're home, and I also have to finish getting Mom's stuff out of her house. They're about to bulldoze the entire neighborhood because of a City reclamation act and there's only a few weeks left for us to claim any possessions that are wanted from the houses and properties. There are still a few things left in Mom's house that I want to retrieve before the whole thing goes away; it should just take a few hours." I said.
"Oh, I know what you're talking about now, Tim, the Stony Brook Waste Water Treatment Plant Project. I have a friend in real-estate that's been in on that project from the ground floor, it was in litigation for years." Andrea said.
I was suddenly very offended at hearing the neighborhood being referred to as "The Stony Brook Waste Water Treatment Plant Project." The neighborhood where I had grown up and where Mom had lived for most of her life had been a place with dignity and the reference Andrea made was degrading to the neighborhood and to me personally. I knew that she had meant nothing by the comment and that the news media and City officials had bombarded the airwaves with news of the "Stony Brook Waste Water Treatment Plant Project" for the last five years so I just took a deep breath and answered "yes" to Andrea's comment. "A gentleman is always patient and kind, giving a lady the benefit of doubt" Mom had tried to teach Ricky and I. After a few seconds I was suddenly glad that I had held my tongue with Andrea. She had done nothing wrong.
I suddenly thought of Brenda's YouTube video of "urb ex or urban exploration" entitled "Abandoned Neighborhood." Brenda had done a twenty minute walk-through of the abandoned neighborhood and boarded up houses while verbally chronicling some of the history of Stony Brook without mentioning its name or location, doing that would have encouraged more vandals and looters. Brenda had also gone inside a few of the houses and the deserted recreation center and shot video there as well. The dark and empty swimming pool inside the Stony Brook Recreation Center had been the creepiest part of the video in my opinion. The video was less than a year old but already had over a million views and thousands of "Likes."
"What kind of bike are we going to look at?" Andrea asked.
"It's actually two; they're "Bike-E Machines" recumbent bicycles. From the photos they don't look like they've been ridden at all and the guy only wants five hundred dollars for the two of them. Bike-E Machines or "Bike-E Corp." went out of business in two thousand and two so now I have to find used ones if I want to buy one. I have several at home, Alaska, but I would prefer to just buy one or, two in this case, to leave permanently at the condo and not bother with shipping one down here. Shipping one to Nevada would cost almost as much as buying one already here." I said.
"Maybe we could do some riding, I bike a lot, Tim." Andrea said.
"Karen mentioned that and I saw your bike the other night at your apartment, Andrea, I'd enjoy a ride together sometime. ...You said earlier that this was Karen's SECOND car that got stolen, tell me about the first." I said.
"It was a Ford Ranger pick-up, I think. It got stolen outside of her dentist's office while Karen was having her teeth cleaned, a few years ago. Can you imagine? The kicker is that there was a State Trooper getting his teeth cleaned at the same time as Karen was, in the same building!" Andrea said incredulously.
"You can't make this stuff up, no one would believe it." I replied shaking my head.
"Whoever stole it did get a nice supply of for-sale signs, if they ever decided to become a real-estate agent." Andrea said dryly.
"It's probably in Hong Kong by now." I said.
Andrea and I drove and talked for an hour or so until we came to a large truck stop whereupon I dove into the paved lot and stopped at a gas pump.
"Want to get us a table while I fill-up?" I asked.
"Sure, because I sooo do want to show you that I can think about someone other than myself and show some initiative, when I want to, Tim." Andrea said rolling her eyes at me as she opened the door.
