|
Return to
Current IPS Features
IPS Features
Return
to Catalogue
IPS
Features Staff
International
Press Service
|
|
MILEAGE
We ask
him again, but he sets his jaw, shakes
his white-rimmed head: No! It's a classic!
Worth thousands to the right person!
We sigh that he can no longer see the once
maroon and black Hudson driven beyond
worth, rusting in front of the garage, torn
headliner hanging like a rotted shroud,
ruptured seat covers spilling dirty cotton,
miasma of oil and grease--dust unto dust
and scabies of rust. In his eyes,
I suppose it still sparkles under Simonize.
Doubtless as he rocks and nods, he's
steering it down some highway of his dreams,
years falling behind like mileposts--rolling
through those little Southern towns,
favorite places for lunch and beer in
summer heat, flirting with waitresses,
telling them boastful tales and later,
driving from office to office, talking
it up, flattering secretaries, charming buyers,
chasing those big dream sales that loomed
ever larger in his head, like the great green bass
he often chased in rented boat after the day's work,
on a nearby river or lake. His oft-told tale:
How once in St. Augustine he sold two
calculators and caught a twenty-pound sea bass,
all in the same day, and would say: "What
more does a man need for happiness?"
All of which means we must hold our
impatience in check; he's still getting
mileage from that moldering old wreck.
|