MA PAR

by bartermn

1/20/98
   Ma Par is having one of her temper tantrums again! I don't know how she
overheard us talking last night, we were in the cabin and she was sitting
out in the yard, right where she's been since we got the Toy back from the
body shop. In order to cover th e cost of a new battery, I agreed to sell
her for fifty dollars more than the three hundred I'd told the guy I
needed for her last month, when I also said it would be about two weeks,
before learning that the Toy needed more work than the original estimate.
Maybe I should explain...
   Ma Par is a '77, '78, and '79 Dodge 4x4. She is built from six or seven
other Dodge trucks that I bought, bartered for, and had given to me back
in '92, when I decided a two wheel drive just wouldn't cut it anymore, I'd
walked up the hill to get a shovel to dig my way out of a snow bank, I
had a load of hay on the truck and my cows were hungry. After finally
getting the load up the hill I had to carry it down to the barn through
three foot drifts. Even without the snow, I had been stuck in the barn-yard
many times before while delivering hay, hauling livestock, or moving
compost and manure, not fun at all. I vowed that I'd have a four wheel
drive by the next winter.
   And I did. Ma Par had been a faithful, if occasionally tempermental,
tractor, manure spreader, wagon, and even a truck for more than five
years, until a friend offered to sell me the Toy, an '84 Toyota 4x4. The
Toy had sat in a barn for five years and had only eighty thousand on her,
the body was in excellent shape,(under two inches of pigeon manure), and
the price was right.
   The Dodge had been taken off the road, used strictly as a tractor,
until a minor accident caused major damage to the Toy and it went to the
truck doctor. A tune-up and some air in a tire, and Ma Par took me to work
and back home again for most of two months. It seemed like she didn't
care for rain or snow very much anymore, each time I complained about the
weather, (I was doing a siding job at that time), she wouldn't start. Of
course I wouldn't mind, seeing as how I don't really enjoy working in the
wet either so I just called the owner and said, Hey, my truck won't
start, I'll be there tomorrow." Self-employment has it's benefits.
   The Dodge went back to it's spot on the lawn when the Toy was finished
and sat patiently waiting for the guy to call back, I'd just about given
up on him when he stopped by the other night to verify buying her. I said
come back in the daylight and take another look at her, I'd get her
running and warmed up so he could hear her purr. The next morning,
yesterday, I had to pour a bit of gas into the carb and charge up the
battery but got her all ready for him. He called at noon to say he
couldn't make it but would be here the next day, today, with the money.
   I called the owner of my current job to say I'd be late if I came in at
all, and decided to make one final hay run before saying goodby to Ma Par.
She won't start! I've been working on her for four hours, cleaning
terminals, checking for shorts, laying in the snow to tap on the starter
with a hammer...I give up! The guy who is buying her can fix her! I'll
knock off the fifty bucks I'd added.

SONRISE