I woke up around 8:00 a.m. Today is the last day visiting my father in Arizona.
Around 9:30 a.m. my aunt asked me if I wanted to load up my father’s van with a bunch of junk that he collected from the dump while he was working as a security guard there and bring it back to the dump. I’m not overly excited to do this, but I know that It’s important, so I went outside and I got the van started. I backed the van up to a gate that opens to my father’s backyard on the side of his house. This whole area is just packed with junk that’s been baking in the sun for years.
During one of my father’s manic episodes, while he was working as a guard at the dump, he invited a homeless man to live in his house and he and the homeless man robbed the dump of all kinds of junk. I remember asking my Dad once why he took all that stuff and packed it in his house. His answer to me was that he saw things and knew that they could be useful down the road. I replied, but Dad you never end up using it.
My aunt and I put on gloves and we filled the van full of crusty old junk. We called the dump, and they said it was fine if we brought a load down there, it would cost us 15 bucks to dump it.
While my aunt and I were driving down the street we came to a stoplight at an intersection and stopped. Suddenly the van began to sputter out and then it stalled. We had to think of a plan fast. There was a plaza entrance a couple of cars ahead of us. I let the car sit and cool down for a second while we waited for the red light to turn green. As soon as it turned green I started the van and was able to pull it into the plaza where there was an automotive center. I popped the hood of the van and I checked the oil, it was bone dry, the van had probably been burning oil for a long time. The van had 340,000 mi on it.
There was a kid working at the automotive place and I asked him if I could buy some oil from him. He filled a jug with oil and came over and topped us off. His name was Ben.
While I was talking to Ben, my aunt asked Ben if he wanted to buy the van. This was a brilliant move, because we wanted to sell that piece of junk anyways. Ben said, “yeah I’ll buy it.” I negotiated with Ben. Ben said that the junk value was 350 bucks and he would give me a hundred over that 450 bucks. That was a deal and I shook his hand. I told Ben about the junk in the back and he said he’d take care of it.
My aunt and I walked back to my father’s house. It was only about a 20 minute walk away. I was glad that the van didn’t stall on the highway. That could have been fatal. The series of events was a blessing from God or whatever forces that be. When we got back to my dad’s house we were able to find the title to the van. My aunt and I drove my father’s truck back to the automotive center where I began to transfer the title to the van over to Ben. There was a space on the title that required a notary or the DMV to be witness to the title transfer. Ben told me that they changed the law a year ago but because it was an old title we had to get it notarized.
There was a notary in the plaza and when we went there they said that they had lost their notary license. The next plan was to see if there’s a notary at Desert Blossom assisted living home where my father was, so we could get the title notarized. My aunt and I drove to see my father. When we arrived, I asked the woman at the front desk If they had a notary on staff. She said that they didn’t, but she did have cards for mobile notaries that drive to you. While my aunt and I were visiting my father in his room, I called a couple of the mobile notaries. One woman named Carmen was very kind, she told me that I did not need to notarize the title since they changed the law, and it would be a waste of my money to have her come out. This was wonderful.
After having a great last visit with my father. My aunt drove me back to the automotive center to meet up with Ben. I gave them the title which my father had signed, and Ben gave me 450 bucks cash. We exchanged numbers in case anything happened. Ben told me that my father could bring his vehicles over there if they needed work anytime. I was really happy to meet this kind fellow. It was a reminder of the friendship that runs through all of humanity.
After a long and exciting day, my aunt and I were famished. My aunt gave me carte blanche to pick a place to eat. I picked the Mandarin super buffet that was close to my father’s house. My aunt and I went out and had a great meal, this was one of the best buffets I’ve ever been to.
After dinner my aunt and I spent the rest of the evening collecting our things and doing a few more projects at my father’s house. We took a lift at 9:30 p.m. to the Phoenix airport. Our plane left at 11:50 p.m. Phoenix time. It was a long flight. I didn’t have earphones but I watched a movie with no sound while I periodically slept. The movie was called The biggest Little farm and I really loved it.
Our plane landed in Massachusetts Eastern Time 8:00 a.m. around.