Riding with Private Malone

Loosely based on the country song.

Ever since Darryl got his drivers license, he wanted a car of his own. His parents didn't want to get one at first, but after quite a bit of discussion, they finally gave in. Darryl didn't have a lot of money to spend on a new car, so he decided to start out with a used car, so he looked in the classifieds. He marked down the cars that looked good until a certain ad in the paper caught his eye. The ad read simply:

Old Chevy For Sale

Phone 555-1975

Darryl phoned the number and asked if the car is still available, and was relieved that it still was. After getting the address from the lady on the other end of the line, Darryl went there with his dad.

Once there Darryl knocked on the door and waited. After a couple of minutes, the door was opened and Darryl introduced himself as the guy who had phoned earlier. The lady invited Darryl inside. Once inside Darryl asked "So about the car, the ad said that it was a Chevy, but that was all that was mentioned about it. Maybe if you could give me some information about it."

The lady said "The info about the car was all that I know about it. I don't even know if it still runs or not. So are you interested or not?" Darryl said that he would like to see the car first before making up his mind, so they went to the garage. The lady told Darryl that the car was underneath the blue tarp. Darryl noted that the tarp was covered in dust and that it looked like the tarp had been on it for many years.

Darryl finally asked, "So, after all these years, why have you decided to sell the car?" The lady said that she was retired and will be moving soon, so she decided to sell it.

Upon removing the covering, Darryl's breath was taken away because he reckonized the car was a 1966 Chevelle Malibu. After recovering, Darryl turned to the lady and said, "I will buy the car, maam." So Darryl bought the Malibu for $1000, which was the amount he had on him at the time. As soon as he bought the car, he sat behind the wheel and noted to himself that it was a thrill to be sitting behind the wheel of a very fine car. After a moment, he noticed the glove box and opened it, hoping to find some information about the car or its owner.

In the glove box, Darryl noticed two pieces of paper. One was a picture of a guy in an army uniform, whom Darryl guessed was about 18 years old. The other piece of paper was a note from the owner. The note read as follows:

Sunday, July 23, 1967

To whom this is concerned,

My name is Private Andrew Malone and tomorrow I will be heading over to serve my country in Vietnam. If you are reading this note, then it means that I have died while on duty. Even though my dreams may be over, I hope yours will come true. So my wishes to you are to accept this gift from me and to make it your own.

Private Andrew Malone

Darryl showed the lady the picture and the note and asked her if the guy was Andrew. The lady said "Yes, the young man in the picture was my son. What happened was when he graduated high school, he got drafted into the army. Before leaving me, he wrote the note and put those two items that are in your hands into the car glove box. A few months later, I got a letter from the Army saying that Andrew had died while fighting the Viet Cong." Darryl thanked her for the info and the car and left.

Following the advice on the note, Darryl cleaned and polished the car so that it looked like new. When he was finished, he would drive around town doing stuff for his parents. Darryl noticed that since getting the car, he has been getting a lot of attention from the pretty ladies.

One day Darryl decided to take a fellow student out on a date to the drive in movie. After taking her home, he headed home himself. His parents noticed that Darryl had something on his mind and asked him about what happened on the date. Darryl replied "Tonight Cheryl and I went out to the drive in movie. The movie was called National Lampoon's Van Wilder."

Darryl's dad asked him "What was the movie about?" Darryl admitted that he didn't know. Darryl's dad said "I know what you and your date did and that happens all the time."

Darryl replied "I know that. The weird thing happened afterwards. As I was coming home from dropping her off at her place, it seemed to me that I wasn't alone. So at the next traffic lights, I looked closely and it looked like the guy from the picture. I tried to talk to him, but the only thing he did was point at the lights. When I looked back at the lights, it had turned green, so I had to go. When I tried to talk to him again, he had vanished." When he had finished speaking, his parents were silent for a while.

Ever since the incident, Darryl noticed that whenever the guy in the photo appeared, he would sit in the shotgun seat and that he would always appear whenever Darryl was alone. Of course, when he told this to his friends, they wouldn't believe him.

One night after a date, Cheryl invited him into her place. They went up to her bedroom. They talked for a couple of minutes, but before they had a chance to start kissing, they heard her parents downstairs. So the two of them went downstairs to the main floor and talked with her parents. Then Darryl left for his place. As he was leaving, the rain started coming down. Darryl was usually a careful driver, but at one corner, he took it a little too fast and lost control of the car.

The next thing Darryl knew, he was in a hospital bed surrounded by his parents and Cheryl. Darryl told them all he knew about the events leading up to the accident, but couldn't recall the accident itself. Darryl asked about the car and his father said that it was a write-off since it was a fiery crash. Darryl was saddened for a moment until he started to wonder how he was saved and who saved him. Cheryl said that some people said that a guy in an army uniform pulled his unconscience body out of the car and left without answering any questions. She also said that the guy who did so looked like the guy in the photograph.