Sunday Drive

There was nothing peculiar about the way the morning started that day. Felix awoke at the same time every day, to the same familiar alarm. He poured the same, boring cup of coffee as he perused the Classified section of the Sunday paper. Sure, there were more efficient ways of car shopping but Felix preferred a much simpler way of life. He took things one day at a time and felt like technology would only complicate things. He began to give up on his search when he came across a listing that caught his eye. The listing simply read,“CAR FOR SALE: ONE OWNER/MUST SEE” with only a phone number and address. Usually, this would not be an effective listing due to the lack of details but Felix was intrigued. This was a bit out of character for Felix as he normally would require more information, but he figured this car could not in any worse condition than the piece of junk he was currently driving. He felt his heart racing a bit faster as he found himself dialing the number with no idea what to expect! The phone continued to ring long enough to realize no one was going to answer and they obviously did not want anyone to leave a message. The address listed was only about 20 minutes away so he decided to take a little road trip to discover if the vehicle was indeed a “must see”. After a good 5 minutes, his car finally started only further solidifying the notion that he definitely needed to find some other form of transportation soon! He wasn’t necessarily expecting to meet the seller because they did not answer their phone but he figured he could at least catch a glimpse of his potential purchase. As he neared his destination, Felix wondered why he had never noticed a car for sale because this address was nearly the halfway point on his daily commute to and from work. He soon realized it was because the car was not displayed near the road but only a nondescript sign that read “CAR FOR SALE” with an arrow pointing toward the house. He slowly passed by without stopping but it did not seem like anyone was home. He found the first spot to turn around and decided to give it one more pass by. As he was heading back, he could spot the nose of a vehicle peeking out from behind an old barn and decided to turn down the driveway. Felix did not feel completely comfortable turning into someone else’s property but figured they wouldn’t post a sign if they did not want people looking. After a few moments of reflection, Felix began to inch his way down the drive only to have his car sputter slowly before stalling completely. He popped the hood and attempted to start it once but he knew his car very well… it was going to need a few minutes of rest before trying again. He figured he might as well walk the rest of the way to see the car while he waited. He gave the property one more look around for any signs of life but still did not see anyone other than a few seemingly stray cats. As he approached the vehicle, he could finally see that it was indeed in very good shape as the shiny red paint glistened in the sun. There was no information posted anywhere on the vehicle but Felix could tell it was at least 10 years newer than the vehicle he was currently driving! It was all very promising but it didn’t seem like this was going to be in his price range. As he peered through the windows, Felix found himself daydreaming about the trips he could take in this vehicle without constantly worrying about being stranded on the side of the road! “Oh, what a beautiful thought”, he said to himself, quietly laughing. Before he could turn completely around, he noticed a shadow approaching from behind!

He turned quickly as a gruff voice questioned, “Are you lost? Do you need some help?”

In a startled tone, Felix replied “ No sir… I was just driving by and noticed you were selling a car.”

Gesturing toward his incapacitated car, he started to explain just as the man interrupted “I see… It appears you came to the right place! The name’s Hank… take her for a spin and let me know what you think.”

Felix replied with a bewildered look on his face, “Oh… I don’t know if I should. I’m sure I cannot afford this car so it’s probably best not to get my hopes up.”

Before Felix had even finished his sentence, Hank tossed a set of keys toward him and insisted with a wry grin, “Go on… be careful and make sure to have her home by dinner!”

Felix had an uneasy feeling in his stomach due to the fact that he didn’t know the first thing about this man. Everything had happened so fast and before he knew it, he was getting in the driver’s seat of an unfamiliar car! This was all very uncharacteristic of him but he figured he definitely needed to find something to drive, soon! A few minutes had passed and Felix found himself daydreaming again as he traveled through the most beautiful countryside he had seen in a while. The car was perfect which was going to make it even harder to turn Hank down. As he returned to the house, he noticed his car was no longer blocking the driveway! He noticed Hank under the hood, inspecting the heap of scrap metal as if he knew what he was doing.

Hank said with a perplexed look on his face, “I’m surprised you made it this far in this thing! You should probably look into something else.”

“I would love to”, sighed Felix, “but like I said before, I can’t afford your car. If you’d be willing to get my car back up and running, I’ll gladly pay you for your troubles and be on my way!”

“Nonsense!” Exclaimed Hank. “I’m sure we can reach some sort of agreement. What do you want for your car?”

“Uhhh… what are you talking about? I guarantee you don’t want my car”, said Felix with a laugh.

Hank would not take no for an answer. “I collect all sorts of things for parts. Tell you what… give me your car and $2,000 and we’ll call it a deal!”

Felix was blown away at the offer! This car was everything he needed and more but it almost seemed too good to be true! He found himself pulling out his checkbook and trading cars with a man he had just met roughly an hour beforehand! Overwhelmed, he got in his newer car and headed home. Felix woke up the next day with a feeling of excitement he had not felt in a long time. It was so refreshing to have the option of listening to music on a stereo that didn’t sound like it was coming from inside a tin can! He was truly enjoying the experience in his new vehicle when he decided to open the glove box, which contained only one item. It was a little black book that appeared to have most of the pages ripped out! Felix pulled over to the side of the road and decided to investigate the remaining contents of the book. There was only one page with any writing on it that read “Old Mill Rd - 2.3 - middle”. This was obviously some sort of message, leading to something which definitely piqued the interest of Felix! He definitely knew the location of Old Mill Rd because again, he passed by it everyday on his commute. Surely, there was no harm in checking out the origins of this message... after all, the car was now his property! As he turned onto the very narrow road, he began to feel that similarly bad feeling to when he pulled into Hank’s driveway. There was basically only room for one vehicle on this road so he felt he needed to venture on. His best guess as to the rest of the message was 2.3 miles... he had come this far; he owed it to himself to find out what exactly was going on here! He watched his odometer as it neared 2.3 miles and the road widened to a fork. Right in the middle of the fork were three very old trees. Using his skills of deduction, he figured the “middle” part had to refer to the middle tree in the group. It was worth a shot. He got out and walked up to the trees and noticed a string sticking out of the dirt directly behind it. Unfortunately, he had not come prepared with a shovel in the new car so he searched the area for anything to dig with. After a few minutes, he came across a large, sharp rock and decided to get to work! He didn’t have to dig far as he noticed the string was leading to a rather large bag below the surface! As he finished digging it up, he slowly unzipped the bag to find quite a surprised... it was a bag full of money! He could not believe it! He knew his name meant lucky but he definitely did not expect to find this! He looked around frantically to see if anyone had noticed but there was not a soul in sight for miles! His heart was racing and he knew he had to do the right thing. He quickly ran back to the car and raced toward Hank’s house. What could possibly be the explanation for leaving a large sum of money in a bag with clues for someone to else to find??? Before he got back to the Highway, he stopped to count the money... he recognized the bands around the bunches of money to equal a sum total of $20,000! He could feel his blood pressure rising as he stepped on the gas pedal! About 12 minutes later, he arrived at Hank’s driveway, ready to get some answers and ultimately return the money to the rightful owner! However, as soon as he pulled in, he realized it was not the same as when he had arrived just 24 hours prior! Felix walked up to the porch to take a peek in the windows for any signs of life but there was even less than before! Not even the stray cats guarded the property! He saw nothing but an empty house with no evidence that anyone had lived there anytime recently! What in the world was happening?! This is one time when Felix did wish he showed more interest in technology as he did not even own a cell phone! Just as he began to walk back to the car with the bag of money, he heard sirens off in the distance coming closer! Moments later, 5 police cars raced into the driveway with all their lights and sirens on followed by a cloud of dust! It was at that moment, Felix realized he looked very suspicious as he heard the officers shout, “DROP THE BAG AND PLACE YOUR HANDS ON BEHIND YOUR HEAD! GET ON THE GROUND!” It all happened so fast that Felix did not know how to respond! He complied and laid on the ground, replaying all the events leading up to this moment. Unfortunately, he had more questions than answers at this point in his quest... Perhaps, he shouldn’t have skipped his morning coffee!