pawn shop adventure
early morning ride up I-16 from Savannah
took a few hours
dark black pre-dawn sky, red tail lights
slowly morphed into pastel purples and blues
I drove on through the break of dawn
at a rest stop saw a lady truck driver who didn’t look at all like a truck driver
or at least my idea of what a truck driver should look like
she could have been anyone’s aunt or grandmother, a librarian or a teacher
glasses, curly grey hair, pleasantly chubby, kinda waddled along in her comfortable pants and stylish pullover
after we both had stopped in the shiny new facilities and stretched our legs she climbed right back up into her big rig and slowly rumbled down the highway
I made it to the pawn shop just before ten
they were just opening up
felt like I was on one of those reality tv shows
three dudes
the old man was putting pistols back in the glass case as the big guy with the gold chains and scruffy chin beard went to get the digital piano I had bought on ebay
the third guy looked at me kinda strange from behind the counter
he was skinny, arms crossed, wearing a bulging holster
the bearded wonder emerged from the back pushing a hand truck with a massive cardboard box
“Here she is! Brand new, still in the original box. We only opened it to make sure it played ok.”
I had my doubts but it was too late, I had already made the payment. He helped me load into my truck and I was on my back home by ten thirty.
Made it home by three pm
my girls set it up while I went for a bike ride to de-coagulate my blood
by the time I got back
my daughter was playing her working piece
it sounded absolutely beautiful.
Sometimes we get lucky.
