Dollar Runaways

Chapter 5: Immersion

MEGAN PAID THE cab fare to the driver but also gave him an extra fifty to stay put for a while, just in case the car was a bust. She looked over at the car sitting in the driveway with a 'For Sale' sign on it. It looked like it was in decent shape on the blue exterior. She didn't see any signs of hail damage and the windshield still looked pretty good too.

The door to the house opened and a Hispanic man who was about forty or so came out.

"Hi, are you Amber?" He asked politely.

"Yes sir, this is the car?"

"Si, it was my mother-in-law's car, she took real good care of it until she passed away last month."

"Sorry to hear that," she said.

"Well, it is what it is. She's in a better place now. You want to look inside?" He asked.

Megan nodded and began looking through the car. It seemed clean, and to her amusement there was a very worn and faded pink booster seat in the back. Everything seemed to be in good condition and this guy seemed trustworthy.

"When was the oil changed last?"

"Today," he answered with a smile. "When you called, I did that and washed her up. You can never know for certain of course, but everything looks good under the hood. I think she'll be a good car for you."

It was a risk, she was terrible with cars, but there weren't a lot of other options and the man seemed trustworthy. "You said you want thirteen?"

Megan had that much, but she wanted to pay less.

"That's what the Blue Book asks for..." He looked at her for a moment. "I have a feeling I should sell it to you for less though. Something seems wrong with that amount. How about ten?"

"Deal," she said and they shook hands. Ashley had watched quietly and the man asked, "Is this your daughter?"

Megan shook her head, "No, she's my baby sister. Our parents are on vacation and I took her for the week to spend time with her."

"That's mighty sweet of you to do for them."

"She's a sweet kid, I love her to death, I don't mind." Megan said and gave Ashley a sideways hug.

The three of them went inside and Megan gave the man the cash. "That's dangerous to be walking around with that much money," he told her.

"It's dangerous to go anywhere," Megan told him back. "This isn't normal though; I've been saving up for a new car from all of my part-time jobs the last few years." It was a plausible lie.

"Well, I hope it does as well for you as it should. Tires are pretty new too, so you should have a couple years to go on them. When you get the new plates would you please turn in the old ones to the DMV?" He asked.

"Absolutely, no problem there!"

Megan walked outside and told the cab driver he could leave, and then helped Ashley into the back seat and the well-worn booster seat. It took her a few more minutes to get her pedals attached, and then they were off. "How is that booster seat?" She asked. It was a bit more age appropriate in appearance for her.

To her surprise Ashley said, "I like mine better... It's a lot more comfortable."

"Even though it's more babyish?" Megan smiled at her and was rewarded with the tongue she knew to expect. "Better watch out or a birdie might just come and peck that tongue right off!"

Ashley giggled with that, and Megan realized she wasn't thinking of her as Tony. She kept thinking of herself by her real name, but Ashley wasn't the same thing. 'This got out of hand on every level so quickly,' she thought. 'I know Ashley complains about the age thing every ten minutes, but she hasn't complained about the girl thing nearly enough..." Megan sighed and noticed that Ashley was now watching the road pass by her window. 'If it wasn't for the fact that I think this may be our only real hope for staying off of the family's radar, I would let her go back to being Tony in a heartbeat. I'm not sure when or if that's going to ever be possible though,' that broke her heart in a big way.