Miss Julia Takes the Wheel by Ann B. Ross

Author:Ann B. Ross
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2019-04-01T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

—

I’d just walked through the kitchen door with my mouth open to speak to Lillian when the phone rang. Lillian gave me a questioning look as she answered it, then handed it to me.

“It’s Mrs. Allen,” she said,

My word, I’d barely gotten home and already she was calling.

Taking the phone, I said, “Mildred? What’s wrong? You ought to be asleep.”

“I know,” she said, “and I will be just as soon as I tell you this and get your opinion about it. See, Julia, I’m thinking that I ought to get Horace a new car. What do you think?”

I could scarcely believe she was lying awake after watching Horace being brought back from near-death and was now thinking of a new car. Why, the man might never recover at all. Why did she have cars on her mind?

“I haven’t thought about it at all, Mildred,” I said, somewhat testily, which was the way I felt. “Why are you thinking of such a thing?”

“Well, because,” she said as if it was obvious, “Julia, you know he drives that little foreign sports car that he just had to have, and he loves it. But it’s hard to drive. Why, Julia, that thing has a six-speed dual clutch manual transmission, so he has to shift gears all up and down the gearshift every time he slows down, speeds up, or comes to a stop, and that’s such a strain. I’m not sure he’ll be able to manage that after a heart attack. And it’s also very low to the ground—you have to go through contortions to get in and out of it. I won’t ride in it myself. I like a big, comfortable, easy to drive car, and I think I ought to have one like that waiting for him when he’s able to get out and around again.”

“Well, that’s thoughtful of you,” I said, wondering what in the world she’d think of next. “But I’m not sure I’d trade in a car he loves, even if he can’t drive it, without mentioning it to him first. The shock might set him back.”

“Hm-m,” she said, “I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe I’d better discuss it with someone who knows something about cars. Somebody who’d know how much of a shock it’d be to find, say, a Mercedes S-Class in the garage rather than a Porsche Boxster.”

“Good idea,” I said, then, almost asleep on my feet, I went on. “And I know just the someone you need to talk to. J. D. Pickens is an expert on cars that meet the needs of each particular driver.”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.