Chuck Fair

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I strive to write novels that entertain, inform and provoke thought...

Excerpt

"Young man, I'll be candid with you. I represent the Terrific Twelve. You must have seen them on TV. I know you have. They are the most dynamic, inventive group of car dealers in this country. They started the first auto mall. They took a vacant meadow in the heart of the city, nothing but grass and trees and squirrels that crawled over everything and put down thirty acres of the most beautiful stucco and steel architecture this country has seen. Asphalt as black as pitch shimmering in the morning sun. They next stocked it with fifteen thousand cars for people to buy at discounted prices, which they advertised in the newspapers, generating revenues and jobs for everyone. The auto mall was genius at work. Theirs! Every morning fifteen thousand engines hummed joyfully as they are started and placed in perfect straight lines for the public to admire and, of course, buy. These cars are what the American Dream is all about."

"Moving metal."

"Very funny. It's about clearing land, slapping down asphalt, raising steel and cement and glass to glorify man. Making money and putting people to work."

"Can you get my mom a job there?"

"I'll get to that. But first, the Terrific Twelve want to buy your dog."

"What do they want with a dog? They sell cars and trucks. Not dogs."

"Purely business, young man. Look at it this way. Your dog would live like a queen. Her every need taken care of, her every whim humored. She would be the happiest dog alive."

"Plenty and I are happy now. We like feeding people the liquid that makes them strong, smart and happier than before we found them. It costs Plenty nothing to do this. And it only costs mom and me the price of few bags of dog food a week."

"Costs me, you mean." Mom gave me another jerk of the jersey to get my attention. "You turn this nice man down again, and you'll stay in your room until you are eleven."

"I'm sure we can come to an arrangement." He smiled at my mother. She smiled real goofy-like back at him. I wanted to vomit after seeing the disgusting look the two exchanged. The man picked up the computer he just offered to me. "May I," he asked me. I shrugged, and he picked up the computer. "You're a tough negotiator. This is what the Terrific Twelve are prepared to offer you."

I looked at the computer's screen and saw a figure followed by five zeros. My mom's eyes grew round like two pancakes.