Page 13 of Missed Exit

Anyway, he works nights, so it’s not like he’ll even be available to watch every game.

“Who’s your favorite team?” I ask.

“The Astros. But if they don’t make the playoffs and the Rangers do, I gotta support Dallas at that point. After that, I’m for any team that’s not the Cardinals.”

“Why do you hate the Cardinals?”

“It’s a long story.”

“They’re my favorite bird.”

“That’s not how you pick a team.”

“It might not be how you do it.”

“You know nothing about baseball, do you?”

“I know I’m a Cardinals fan.”

“It’s going to be a short season for you then.”

“When does it end?”

“Regular season runs through September. The post-season can go into early November. And then preseason starts again in February.”

“There are only a few months out of the year when there aren’t baseball games happening?”

“Don’t worry. Your team will be out early.”

“You don’t know that. This could be their year. In fact, I know it is. I can feel it. They’re going to take gold at the World Series this year.”

“That’s not how it . . . you know what? I bet they’ll at least get the bronze.”

“Oh, they will. You’ll see.”

6

Law

Flirting in This Economy

Greta’sreactionwhenshefound out that the cost of the parts to fix her car was only a third of the total estimate the shop had given her will live in my head forever.

She was ready to burn the whole place to the ground.

The only thing that calmed her down was when I assured her that I could definitely do the work and asked, “Can you afford the parts? Because that’s all that matters right now.”

Once she accepted that, her mood improved considerably. I slipped the youngest mechanic in the garage twenty bucks to help me push her car into the drugstore parking lot next door so their customers wouldn’t see me working on it in front of their shop.

His boss let it happen, primarily to get Greta out of there, I’m sure. Not that I’m going to tell her that.

“How did you know you could make a side deal like that?” she asks, sitting on the tailgate of my truck with her legs swinging in the breeze while she watches me work on her car.

“It’s not a side deal to buy the parts and do the work yourself. You weren’t going to pay them to do it, anyway, so it’s not like I undercut them to get the job. There was no job in it for them to begin with.”

“But I didn’t even buy the parts from them. Why weren’t they mad that we went to the auto parts store, bought the parts, and then just took my car away?”

“Because they don’t need your car taking up space if you’re not a paying customer. They’re not hurting for business over there.”

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