It has been so long. How long has it been? A long time since we had a visit by our friend Jerome from Kern County. He is always good for a story.

It is a quiet day in the Editorial Offices on the Voices campus. We have these. It is close to lunch time, or decision time, where to go for lunch. Then out the window we see an old vintage, original condition pick-up truck pull into one of our guest parking spaces.

We are not surprised when we see Jerome step out the driver’s side door, on which faded letters spell Outer City Minerals. We think Jerome is in town to see to his media proposals, which we suspect are still in ‘pre-consideration.’ We will not ask. We do go out to greet him and ask about the truck.

“It made it up the hill boys.” Is his greeting to us. “A long-time neighbor had it in his barn out in the desert. He said I could have it if I towed it away. I turned I over to a mechanic I trust and he got it running like new, for it’s new, that is, for much less than a new truck. I polished out the finish, took the dirt and patina off. Several coats of wax.  And so you can read the original company name on the side.”

Soon we are back at our favorite sidewalk restaurant. We ask Jerome if he is in the minerals business now. That gives him an opening. “No. but I brought some ‘jewels’ you might want in the next issue.” He hands us an envelope of handwritten sheets of paper that show some age. “Wrote these down years ago, late at night, when I worked the all-night shift in that gas station out in the desert.”

Actually, Jerome’s writings show early promise and you can read them. They are short, or very short, listed under Fiction, this issue.

Jerome didn’t come all this way just to bring his writing or show his truck. He came down to help a friend, well more an acquaintance, you have met him before, Marlin LaPoint. The ‘gun guy.’ Jerome left Marlin off at an auto auction and will check back on him later, and give him a ride back home if necessary.

He says when he got down here Marlin greeted him flushed with pride and all smiles saying “they wanted it.” We think a story here, and we are right We will let Jerome tell it.

“You know, ol’ Marlin is what you might call ‘suggestable.’ And he tends to make decisions, on the fly, without thinking them through or talking to anyone else. So he drives down to the beach to do his laundry once a week or so. He listens to the radio on the way there and back. The commercial breaks regularly include a pitch to ‘donate your car.’” You have heard these, "Kars for Kids." So Marlin feels bad some kid out there doesn't have a car.

 “So he thinks about his car, looking down at the steering wheel and dashboard. ‘I wonder if they would take it?’ ‘Does my car have the right stuff?’ Those sort of thoughts. You know what happened next. I have to say he was proud that his car was ‘acceptable.’ But now he wondered how he would get anywhere. ‘I need to do some laundry.’ I suggested another car and he brightened up. And so down here to get him to the auction.

Afterword

Several days later we received a message from Jerome. Marlin did find a car at the action. It got him home and able to go do his laundry again . And as things turned out,  it was his old car, the one he donated. He said to me ‘I think this was all meant to be.’

END