Installment #29 Tucker

     Tucker stared at the passenger side of the Subaru.  He glared at the driver of the Mustang.  “Look what you did to my car!  The whole side is caved in.  You did that on purpose!”

      The younger man looked at Tucker incredulously.  “You made a left hand turn in front of me!  I had the right of way.  How do you figure this is my fault?”

     “You were speeding!  You saw me and you floor boarded it.  This is clearly your fault.”  Tucker turned back to his car.  That damn kid was going to try to blame this on him!  He had judged correctly.  He had made this turn a hundred times before.  He had plenty of time.  He played it over in his mind.  He had looked up the street and seen the mustang pulling out of the parking lot.  He had plenty time to make the left hand turn onto Pearl.  The next thing he knew was the car was spinning around and when it came to rest the passenger side was caved in.  Damn!

     The policeman was very nice, but he was against him also.  He did not give him a ticket, but he sure could have.  Failure to yield the right of way.  He tried to tell the cop that the Mustang had been going too fast, but it did not seem to matter.  He did let him drive the car home.  It was only two blocks.  As soon as he got home he warmed up a cup of the now three day old coffee and reached for the phone.  Cyn would understand, or so he thought.

     “I just got t-boned over on 4^th and Pearl.”

     “Oh, Tucker are you alright?  What happened?”  Tucker was touched by the concern in her voice.

     “I am fine, but the car is a mess.  I was making a left hand turn, and I had plenty of time.  It was not my fault.”

     “Yes, it was your fault.  If you had time then he would not have hit you.  That is just how it is.”  Tucker let it go.  He knew he was right, but he could not convince the Mustang driver, the cop, or Cyndi.  No sense trying and he sure did not want to make her mad again.  He knew he was right and that was all that mattered.  Since he was such a good driver, he only carried liability insurance.  He was going to have to pay the full cost of fixing the Subaru.  That damn kid would not.

     So he dropped the subject of the wreck and told her all the mundane things that were going on in his life.  “I have a doctor’s appointment this afternoon.  I would like you to go with me."

     “Oh, Tucker, is there a problem?”  She felt a little uneasy at this request.  Doctor’s visits were personal and while they were friends, he usually did that on his own and never even told her when it happened.

     “No.  It is just routine on the blood pressure and my PSA test.  I just thought we could run on out to the Pueblo West Safeway and pick up some fresh bagels and a cup of coffee in the deli there.  Have you ever been there?  You do like Bagels, right?”

     Cynthia laughed softly.  “No, I do not eat Bagels!  I ate one once and I am still trying to digest it!  But that does sound like fun.  Surely there is something I could eat there.”

     Tucker was taken aback at the prospect of anyone not eating Bagels.  Hell, they were a staple at his house, but he was not going to belabor the point at all. 

     So the day was planned.  Cynthia arrived at 1:00.  His appointment was at 1:30 and it was a ten minute drive.  She was always early.  Tucker frowned.  He as not quite ready and now here she was, early, and he would have to rush or she would frown at him.  Not that the frown hurt anything, it was just that he did not like to see it.  So he dropped his knife and change in his pocket, picked up his newsboy hat, hooked his keys on his belt loop and started down the stairs.

     Cynthia was in the kitchen loading the dishwasher.  The woman never stopped.  He had planned on doing that earlier, then he had planned on doing it later, and he was for sure going to get to it tomorrow, but now it was done.  As soon as she saw him, she rinsed and dried her hands and picked up her purse.

     “Ready?”  She smiled brilliantly.  She always smiled.  Tucker suspected that if she were falling over a cliff the last thing he would see would be her smiling at him.  Silly girl.

     “Well, yes, but we have plenty of time.  My appointment isn’t until 1:30.”  He glanced out the window at Cleo staring in at them.  He suddenly felt guilty.  “Oh, I have to give Cleo fresh water!”  He started for the back door.

     “I already did that.  We are going to be late if we don’t leave right now.”  Cynthia frowned.  Oh, there it was again, but he was unperturbed.

     “Cynthia!  My appointment isn’t until 1:30 and it is now 1:15.  We still have 15 minutes!”

     “Tucker!  You need to be at the office in 15 minutes.  Inside the office in 15 minutes and we are still inside your house and if we were in the car we are 10 minutes away from his office.  That is assuming there is no traffic tie ups.”  With that the light went on inside Tucker’s head.

     “You are right!  We have to be there at 1:30, not leave here at 1:30!  That is the part that confuses me!”  He stood and faced her.  “I always think of the time as when I need to leave, not when I have to be there.  Damn!”

     “It is alright, Tucker!  It is part of the dyslectic problem.  I have been reading up on that.”  And with that she smiled and headed for the door.  Tucker followed.  Now he understood.  And now she understood that if she wanted to be there at a certain time, she would need to move the time up and trick his mind into compliance.

     As Tucker settled into the passenger seat of the Ford he thought briefly about how he had never ridden shotgun with a woman at the wheel before, but this seemed natural.  Cynthia was his friend.  His confidante.  He trusted her at the wheel and in most other areas of his life.  In another time and place, she might have been his lover and his wife, but this was here and now and he took comfort in watching the scenery flash past.  Get the doctor out of the way, and then off to the Safeway and a fresh Bagel. A strawberry one with strawberry cream cheese.  That was what he wanted.   Life was good.