I Feel Lucky by cmsix

Chapter 52

I guess Bill decided to cut his losses on the joke front for today. He didn't try to make any more Karen or Sharon McKelvy jokes anyway.

When we got to the truck, Mom led the girls inside while I took the driver's seat and Bill rode shotgun. There was no question about backing out yet, since the driveway was still a gleam in mother's eye. I took off down the street after everyone was settled and Bill showed me how to turn around in the cul-de-sac at the end of our street.

Bill had me head toward the get-on for I-20 and I got a little nervous. I kept quiet about it though and as we got closer I realized that there was more room on streets that normally saw big truck traffic.

Mom had been pretty quiet since we took off but when she spoke up I knew right away that she was not amused.

"Bill, I don't know how you and Jimmy are going to fix this but me sitting back here on the bed and not being able to see what's going on has to be taken care of. I'm going to suffer through it this time," Mom said, and I knew from her tone that it would be the last time.

"That's no problem and I should have thought of it myself," Bill said, getting out of his seat and going into the sleeper.

Mom was in a better mood at once as she plopped herself down in the passenger's seat.

"Can you help Jimmy from back there?" she asked.

I knew that help me out or not, Mom would stay in the passenger seat for the rest of this ride.

"Not a problem," Bill said.

Turns out that it really wasn't a problem. Bill was sitting in the middle of the bed and I guess he could see fine. When we saw the sign saying that the weigh station was coming up in one mile Mom spoke up.

"When I called, before we left the house, they said for you to come right on in when you got to the scales. They flipped the sign to keep everyone else out until our visit was over," she said.

Bill laughed about it but he didn't elaborate. He was a big help when we pulled up on the scale and he got me stopped in the right place, and thanks to his hints, I didn't stab the brakes and make the scale wiggle. He told me that scale-masters always hated that.

The guy inside told me to just park it on the scale and come on inside. I was surprised but Bill said he thought he knew what was going on. Mom spoke up and said she was sure she knew what it was about.

It was about coffee, donuts, and snacks. Before Mom called the scale house she had called the Limo service and made arrangements for more bribery of the state police. The giant coffee service was already in place when we got inside and there were tables full of goodies.

Officer Jergenson welcomed Mom with open arms and she gave him a kiss on the cheek when he did. Bill and I both shook his hand and then I introduced Karita, Klara, Katrine, Jennifer, and Kate.

We all had a nice coffee and donut break and then Officer Jergenson asked if we wanted a weight on the truck we were in today.

"It won't hurt anything and I had him stop in the right place," Bill said.

Bill, Officer Jergenson, and I went into the scale's office and Officer Jergenson took a look outside at the truck, I guess he was making sure that it really was in the right place.

"Bill, isn't that a completely different truck? I noticed that it was a different trailer but I think I remember that the first truck had a much bigger sleeper," he said.

"It's a completely different truck and trailer. Mrs. Breslin didn't want Jacob and Jimmy to have to share a truck for their lessons and it will take a few weeks for another one exactly like the first one to be built. Sharon decided that we should get another truck for practice," Bill said, as if the whole thing were sensible.

"I didn't realize that she was going to take such a close interest in the lessons," Officer Jergenson said.

"I don't want to belabor the point, but how many other of your customers has the Governor dropped in to see?" Bill asked.

"You're coming in loud and clear driver, five by five on this end," Officer Jergenson said.

"Mrs. Breslin enjoyed her last truck ride so much that she's decided to put in small cattle operation near their home. I believe she said they were going to specialize in top quality beef.

"Don't be surprised if a big Bar-B-Que breaks out here at the scale-house someday. Be sure not to mention it to her, she wants it to be a surprise," Bill said, and even I knew he was toweling it on.

Officer Jergenson face lit up and he smiled wide; he didn't waste any time getting us a weight ticket either and then he went rushing back outside to talk with Mom again.

"Bill, what have you done?" I asked.

"Relax, you know your Mom loves stuff like this. I'll bet she'll be glad to throw a Bar-B-Que out here, and if she doesn't want to, Jergenson will blame it on me," Bill said.

"Now that I think about it, you're right. Mom likes little surprise distractions and she'd probably be happy to serve every truck driver and policeman on this side of the state at the scale-house Bar-B-Que. It'll probably be a lot of fun.

"I'm gonna be like Officer Jergenson though, if it goes over with her I'll let you have the credit but if it doesn't I'm gonna be glad it's you that gets the blame," I said, and then I laughed at him.

Bill took it in stride, no doubt thinking that his idea would be well received by Mom. It turned out that he was more right than he dreamed.

When the coffee break was over for us we mounted up again and left the scale. I couldn't wait to hear what Mom had to think about the Bar-B-Que Bill had dreamed up but we didn't get to it right away. Mom reminded Bill and I that she was paying attention as soon as we pulled off the ramp and were back on the highway.

"Jimmy, where is the other stick for this truck?" she asked, using her no-nonsense tone.

"That's my doing, Sharon," Bill said, "Baugus didn't have another truck equipped like Jimmy's first one. In fact, the transmission in that truck is out of favor now. Shifting it is too complicated for most drivers and it is more fragile than later model transmissions.

"We took this truck because it was the closest Baugus had on hand to the truck Jimmy had already bought. Jimmy told me that you'd notice and I wasn't trying to slip anything by on you, besides, it won't hurt anything for Jimmy and Jacob to learn how to use more than one transmission," Bill said.

"I hadn't considered that and I'm glad you did. There's something else that is different about this truck though and I can't put my finger on it. Of course I know that the sleeper isn't the same but that isn't it. This truck just sounds different. I thought it might be different stacks but these look the same," Mom said.

"We knew better than to bring it home with different smoke poles," Bill said.

"Then why does it sound different? Wait a second; maybe it's the speed. Take it up to a hundred and ten Jimmy and see if that makes a difference," Mom said.

I'll admit that I wasn't sure about that. On the highway the truck seemed even more stable than a car, but I thought that seventy was about as fast as I wanted to drive it right now. Bill came to my rescue and solved the problem too, without even meaning to.

"I don't think this one can do a hundred and ten, Sharon. It doesn't have a V8 cat. This truck has a thirty-four-o-six cat," he said.

"Can you tell me what that means in English, Bill?" Mom asked.

"Jimmy's other truck has a thirty-four-o-eight, it's a V8 and this one is a thirty-four-o-six, a six cylinder," Bill said, explaining.

"I hope Mr. Baugus has already ordered a V8 to put into this one. He has, hasn't he?"

"If he hasn't, he will before the day is over," Bill said.

"I guess that will have to be good enough. I think I'll still call him and give him a piece of my mind. He knew I wanted all my trucks to match," Mom said.

"He was on a tight schedule, and this truck was just to get us by until Jacob's other truck gets here. I'm sure that he can get the engine changed as soon as we have the other truck here and can let this one sit still for a while," Bill said.

"He didn't try to get out of putting the train horns on this one did he?" Mom asked.

I knew that was my cue and I gave them a good honking, or as good as I could. I still wasn't able to make them sound like a train.

"Maybe we can get by with this one for a while then. I want you and Jimmy to go see him as soon as you let us off though. I don't think he's moving as quickly as he can for us. Let him know that money is not the problem but delivery looks like it's getting to be," Mom said.

"We'll do it, Mom. We'll go right to his place as soon as your ride is over," I said.

"See if you can light a fire under his ass about this. If it will help, order twelve or fifteen more trucks and don't forget the trailers. And that's another thing, I want a wider seat on this side. Karita could ride up here with me if the seat was even a little wider," Mom said.

"I would like to see a little more of the scenery," Karita said.

"Come on up here, I can sit in your lap like I did Jimmy's last time. I'm not that heavy," Mom said.

Karita was up front in a flash. Mom stood up and let her take the seat and then sat in her lap. This was really more like a bunch of kids riding around in a car than a truck-driving lesson. I didn't mind though, actually it was fun.

"This is much better. The ride is fine back there but with no windows you can't see much," Karita said.

"That's it, windows. You tell George I want some windows in back for this truck. I know it won't do any good to put one on the back wall but I want big windows on each side, as big as he can get," Mom said.

I told her I would but wondered how it was going to go over. No matter, whatever Mr. Baugus thought about it, we would have windows in this truck's sleeper soon.

We just rode around for another thirty minutes and I think I was even learning a little about driving the big thing. After we let Mom and the others out at the house we went directly to the truck lot. George was outside waiting before we got stopped.

"Jimmy, Bill, I'm glad to see you two. I just got a call from Mrs. Breslin and I am very confused. I hope you can shed some light," George said.

I could see that Bill was about to get started but I beat him to it.

"In the first place, Mr. Baugus, you have to stop thinking of what we buy as normal trucks. They are for my mother's entertainment. I'm sorry that I didn't make that clear from the start, but even I didn't realize she would be so enthusiastic about them.

"We have to get passenger seats that are wide enough for two small people to sit in," I said.

"But we can't. Those seats have to be able to pass government regulations," he said, nearly whimpering.

"No, they don't. There isn't a police officer in Georgia that will mention it, not a second time anyway. If by some chance it does get attention that we don't want, we won't have any worries until after it's been through the courts," I said.

"Oh, I see. I guess the same thing goes for the windows in the sleeper?" he asked.

"Is there some regulation about no windows in a sleeper?" I asked, surprised.

"Not exactly, but the windows that your mother described would mean that we have to get rid of the escape door back there. That will surely be against regulations," George said.

"That's no problem," Bill said, "just get rid of the bunk and replace it with more seats, then it won't be a sleeper. If any cop wants to take on Jimmy's Dad over a technicality I'm sure that Jack will be happy to oblige him."

George laughed about that, in fact, it took him a couple of minutes to calm down.

"Just what the United States needs, good old cop tweaking Bill Green working for a take no prisoners lawyer whose wife wants her own trucking company. I think I've ended up on the winning side for once and I don't even understand what we're fighting for. It doesn't matter, let the games begin," he said.

"I'm glad you think it's funny, because Mom told us to come down here and speed you up. Will things go any faster if we order more trucks?" I asked.

"It'll make me try even harder but a couple more trucks won't make much difference for the manufacturers," he said.

"How about twenty-five more trucks?" I asked.

"That isn't a big fleet, but even Peterbilt will pay more attention for twenty-five. Let me call and see what I can do. It isn't that the tractors are that far from normal, it's the sleepers that are holding us up. That's a real pisser too, because the place that makes those is right in Atlanta.

"I'm afraid they're about to fold too, the owner of the place is in trouble with the IRS and it looks like he could be taking a vacation at government expense," George said.

"That may be a lucky break for us. Give me a few minutes," I said.

I walked off a few paces and called Dad on my cell phone, he answered right away.

"Jack Breslin," he said.

"Dad, it's me. Do you have a few minutes? I've run into a little problem," I said.

"Of course I have time. Is anyone hurt?" he asked.

"No, nothing like that. It's a truck driving thing and Mom is not pleased," I said.

"If your mother isn't happy, Jimmy, you don't have a problem - We have a problem and it's now at the top of our list," Dad said.

"I don't have to explain how Mom wants what she wants do I?" I asked.

"No, you don't have to teach your dad to suck eggs, get on with it," he said, laughing.

"Mother is a little impatient with Mr. Baugus since he's having a hard time getting Jacob's truck ready in a timely manner. She told me to try speeding him up by ordering twenty-five trucks.

"Mr. Baugus was thrilled, but he says that the main holdup is the place that makes the giant sleepers. It's right here in Atlanta, but the owner is in trouble with the IRS and Mr. Baugus thinks he might lose his business and have to go to jail," I said, explaining.

"One of the things that makes me so proud of you, Jimmy, is that even at your young age you're able to spot an opportunity for the use of just a little pull.

"Go see the guy and call me from his office. We'll have his trouble with the IRS fixed up today, but it won't be final until we see some assholes and elbows from his direction," Dad said.

"I was hoping you would say something like that," I said.

"I'm glad I could help out and proud that you thought of me," Dad said, and rang off.

I went back to the truck and Bill and Mr. Baugus were talking about the windows for the sides of the sleeper.

"Mr. Baugus, can you give us directions to this sleeper place?" I asked.

After he told us where it was we got back in the truck.

"Jimmy, why don't we go over there in your truck, so we can show the guy exactly what we want him to do again?" Bill asked.

"I'm glad you though of that. I was shocked that Dad seemed so happy about me asking him to have the IRS leave the sleeper man alone and I guess I'm kinda in a daze," I said.

"I'm just trying to be worth my exorbitant salary," Bill said, grinning.

"Damn, I forgot to asks George about the V8 for this truck and I didn't tell him to go ahead and order the other trucks," I said.

"I told him to get his ass in gear on the V8 and to make sure we started seeing more trucks here pronto. He also said he'd call the seat manufacturer and get them started on loveseats for the passenger side," Bill said.

"I don't know how I ever got anything done before I met you," I said, and I meant it.

"Before you met me, you weren't worrying about anything except sniffing around the girls," Bill said, and laughed at me.

He'd parked my other truck at the Cadillac lot and when we got there he took it. I followed him to the house and all the way there I thought about how odd it was for a fourteen year old kid to be driving a big truck around by himself.

Damn, I didn't even have a regular driver's license, and I knew the CDL required to drive the truck was strictly regulated by the Federal government. After a second that eased my mind, Dad seemed to be getting along just fine with the Feds right now.

This little jaunt was going to fuck up everyone's schedule but there was no help for it. Mom had spoken, and we were going to get this mess out of the way, now.

We left the practice truck parked by the curb near our house and headed for the sleeper place. It wasn't hard to find but it was halfway around Atlanta and I was glad that Bill was driving. I noticed right off that I-285 was no place for me to be practicing.

The building we found was neat looking and pretty big. There was plenty of room for us to park and several new looking tractors scattered around, most of them with sleepers mostly attached.

We found the office and went inside; they had the cutest little thing there for a receptionist. Her face was really pretty but she seemed to be a little down. Bill introduced us and told her we wanted to see Carl Jenks, the owner.

"I'll put you down but he may not be able to see you today. He's on the phone now and it won't be good for his mood," she said.

"We'll wait, and we will be good for his mood if he can see us," I said.

Bill and I sat in the little waiting room. I figured it would be a while so I was paging through an old magazine. It wasn't as long a wait as she'd thought though.

The phone buzzed and she picked it up.

"Yes, he just came in," she said.

She was looking at me like I was a ghost or something and then she said, "Yes sir, I'll send them in," and hung up.

"Mr. Jenks will see you now," she said, getting up and showing us to his office.

We went in and she introduced us to Carl Jenks. After she left, closing the door behind her, Mr. Jenks waved us into chairs in front of his desk.

"I don't want to be rude, but I am confused. I just got off the phone with the lead prosecutor for the IRS's case against me and he told me that you would be coming by today. He encouraged me to see if I could come to terms with you. Who are you?" he asked.

"If you can fix me up, I'm the answer to your troubles with the IRS," I said.

"The prosecutor hinted that might be the case, I just don't understand why or how," he said.

"First things first; I have to know if you can keep quiet about this. If I get you out of your mess, can you keep it to yourself?" I asked, and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Believe me, the fewer people that know about my troubles the better off I'll be," he said.

"I do believe you, and the answer is simple. I need something out of you and I have the political pull to help you out so you can be around to help me out. None of this will stand up in a court if you should change your mind about talking," I said.

"That's the last thing I'm thinking about. Hell, they have me dead to rights. I'm guilty. I over extended myself and made the mistake of trying to fix my problem by borrowing from the IRS. It didn't work out for me," he said.

I noticed that Bill was taking all this in but being unusually quiet. I wondered about it for a few seconds and then blew it off.

"If that's the case, Mr. Jenks, I'm sure that I can cure your ills," I said.

"I want to believe you. I can't tell you how much I want to, but I don't understand how you can," he said.

"I can because of my situation and because I know who to ask to get it done and the one I'll ask won't mind doing it. The IRS isn't short of people to prosecute. If there's someone that they'll listen to who tells them you're needed elsewhere, they can just drop it and move on to the next poor soul. I have someone they'll listen to."

"But how can I be sure of that?" he asked.

"You can make sure by doing what I want done," I said.

"That sounds good, but the IRS wants a million six from me and I can't take any chances," he said.

"You've already taken chances, Mr. Jenks, and now your ass is in a crack. I'm betting that I'm the only one that's been interested in helping you out so far."

"That's the damned truth, but I don't understand how it will all work and I don't know you from Adam's off ox," he said.

"I'm sorry you feel that way Mr. Jenks. It is going to cost me some extra time, but if you don't want my help, Bill and I will be going," I said, standing up.

"Wait! Please wait. I didn't mean to insult you but I don't know how you can possibly help. I just don't understand," he said.

"And I'm not going to tell you. Who do you want to hear from to convince you? You said that the lead prosecutor called you, isn't that enough?"

My cell phone went off then and I nearly ignored it. I made excuses to him though and answered it.

"Jimmy Breslin," I said.

"This is Dad, Jimmy. Did everything work out?" he asked.

"Mr. Jenks is having a hard time believing my offer," I told him.

"Didn't the prosecutor call him?"

"Yes, but it seems he still isn't convinced," I said.

"We should just let the tax cheating son-of-a-bitch spend a little time in jail. Tell him the prosecutor will be calling back in two minutes or less and that he'd better pay closer attention this time," Dad said, and dropped off.

"Mr. Jenks, the prosecutor is going to call you again. I don't want to seem bossy, but I suggest you listen more carefully this time."

He barely had time to give me a funny look before we heard the phone ring in the outer office. Shortly after that the phone on Mr. Jenks desk rang. He picked it up, listened for a bit and then told her to put the call through.

I assumed that it was the prosecutor and at first I wished I could hear the conversation. I changed my mind after only a little bit though. Carl Jenks' face went so pale that I was afraid he'd faint. Finally he said goodbye and hung the phone up.

"It seems that I'll be able to help you after all Mr. Breslin, if you think I can. That was the prosecutor calling back and he let me know that my bail had been rescinded. I'll be spending my time in jail unless you tell the Marshals that are coming that we have an agreement," he said.

"I'm sorry it had to come to that, Mr. Jenks, but I don't know what else I could have done. I can't tell you how the world works just to get a few sleepers installed. Now, are you ready to listen to my problem?" I asked.

He was more than ready, and after he found out what it was he looked really sheepish and couldn't quit apologizing.

He had plenty of the sleepers like I wanted already made up, and they were a big part of his problems. He had been sure they would be best sellers right away and he'd put too much money into them before he had a market.

The big sleepers weren't all he'd done wrong but they were what tipped the balance and made him start short changing the IRS. When he found out I wanted to buy all of them and that I wasn't interested in slashing the price he nearly wet himself.

I decided to ask him if he could help with the other sleeper then. It seemed logical to me since I needed something done to a sleeper and he made them, albeit the ones he made weren't the run of the mill kind.

I explained what I wanted with the smaller one and a smile lit his face. He said they could put in the windows with no problem, and he suggested he could build in a wall-to-wall sofa for the back instead of installing in regular seats. Now that he was with the program he was gung-ho for the deal.

The only snag left was his money problems and I knew I had the cure for that too.

"Why don't you sell me part of this business? You're the sole prop rioter aren't you?" I asked.

"Yes, and though I thought it was what I wanted at the time, I hate it. I just wish someone would buy it and let me keep working here," he said.

"Done. Tell me what it's worth and I'll get it taken care of. We'll own it and you'll run it. You will need to come out to the house for your check though. My Dad's secretaries will need to talk over the details with you," I said.

Bill gave me a look and then had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing. I could see him shaking and trying not to.

"Will it be ok if Ginny comes with me? She knows more about the details than I do," Carl asked.

"Who's Ginny?"

"My daughter, you met her when you came in. She takes care of most of the paperwork for me," he said.

Bill started coughing then and excused himself to go get a drink of water. Strangely I maintained a straight face somehow.

"That will be fine Mr. Jenks, but I might as well tell you now that she won't be able to join you for your first meeting with the secretaries," I said.

"Why?" he asked, and then I could see that he was so sorry he'd asked.

"Because my mother rules the roost at home, and any girl or woman that comes to our house has to spend the first hour or so being greeted like a long lost loved one. You'll understand after you see the process in motion but you might want to warn Ginny," I said.

We shook hands after that and even though Mr. Jenks still looked confused, he also looked relieved and happy. Bill was over his coughing fit by now and was sitting in the waiting area.

Carl followed me out and made the happy announcement to Ginny. She looked at me like she couldn't believe it and I'm sure it was a shock. Bill and I were able to get away after only a few more minutes though. Carl said he and Ginny would be there in about an hour.

When we were back in the truck, Bill couldn't hold it any longer. He laughed, shook, and kept pointing at me, trying to say something. He wasn't able to for nearly five minutes.

"I can't believe it was you I was watching in there. When did little Jimmy grow that set of balls? You had poor Jenks ready to kiss your feet before I had to get out of there, and he'll be ready to kiss your ass after Julian, Francis, and Marsha get done with him.

"Poor bastard has fallen onto the gravy train and he doesn't even realize it. Besides that you picked up another sweet treat with his daughter," Bill said, laughing again.

"Do you think I can talk her into a little slap and tickle?" I asked.

"Didn't you notice how her face lit up when he told her that you were going to buy the place and cure their problems. It's no wonder she looked so gloomy when we came in, she thought her father was going to jail.

"In rides Jimmy with the checkbook on steroids and everything is right with the world again, just like that. You've become her knight in shining armor and there's no telling how often she'll want to thank you for it," Bill said, grinning like a fool.

I remembered to call Mom and check in, and it was a good thing I did. She said she'd round up her team and slip Sherilyn into the closet so Carl would have someone to listen to while he was sleeping off the best fuck of his life. She was going to get a welcoming party arranged for Ginny too.

We got home quicker than we'd made it to Carl's place. The traffic was lighter in the direction we were going for some reason.

The practice truck wasn't parked at the curb when we got there and after we'd gone inside Mom said that Sherry was with Jacob and they were driving around a little.

I hadn't even known that Sherry knew anything about the trucks, but Bill told us that she had the same kind of license he did and that she'd had plenty of driving time.

I gave Mom the whole Carl Jenks story and damned if she didn't start pacing around like Dad did sometimes. She was glad that we were going to get our hooks in the sleeper place but nearly ecstatic that Ginny coming out too.

"We'll give her the greeting and then disperse to give you a chance to get her on the team. I hope Bill is right about her wanting to thank you early and often," Mom said.

A week ago I would have been upset with that kind of talk, but I'd come to the realization that I really liked fucking a lot of different women. I knew that she'd love it after the fact and I figured that she'd be better off protected against a chance encounter with the other bastards that were doing the same thing; besides, she made my dick hard.

Maybe I was rationalizing my behavior, but if I was, I was. If she gave me a chance I was going to fuck her off into dreamland, ASAP.