Part 3 (1/2)

-I mean stuff. Ten bucks an hour for hauling stuff. You want or not?

Chev came around the front of the van.

-He wants.

-Hey!

Chev put a finger in my face.

-He wants because the fridge is empty and it's his turn to fill it and I'm gonna start eating all my meals out so there's nothing for him to graze on, so if he wants to eat this week he'll take the job.

Po Sin took a notepad from his back pocket and started scribbling with a nub of pencil from behind his ear.

-Good. Here's the address.

He handed me the paper.

-Seven in the AM AM. No later.

-No problem, just swing by and pick me up.

Midway pulling himself up behind the wheel, Po Sin stopped.

-Pick you up? My a.s.s. Drive yourself.

Chev shook his head.

-He doesn't have a car.

-I have a car.

-No, you don't.

-Yes I do. I have a great car. I have a cla.s.sic nineteen-seventy-two Datsun five-ten.

-You have car parts. You do not, in fact, have a car.

-Yes I do. I have parts in sufficient quant.i.ty and variety that when a.s.sembled in their proper order they will const.i.tute a car. I have, de facto, a car.

-You have a de facto pile of sc.r.a.p in the driveway is what you have, dude.

Po Sin turned the key and the van started up.

-The bus is a buck fifty. You got a buck fifty?

I stuffed my hands in my pockets, looked somewhere else.

-I don't ride the bus.

Po Sin pointed at the number 10 stop, up at the corner.

-Public transportation is a wonderful thing. Saves money, saves the environment. Gets you to a paying job. Take the bus.