Edna had forgotten.  When she went to get the pickup so that she could follow Dennis to the rise at the oak tree on the highway, she realized the pickup wasn't there.  Tim took it, of course.

All this afternoon she had been picturing Tim driving home in the new red Toyota, but she forgot that he had to drive the pickup to town to get the Toyota.  Now that puzzled her.  Who was going to drive the pickup home?   Surely, Tim wasn't planning on leaving it at the auto dealership as a trade-in. He really needed that truck.

As she hurried down the drive to the road where she hoped to flag down Dennis, she thought about Tim and the pickup.  Would he really sacrifice his truck for her, to take her on a honeymoon in a real car?  That dear man, of course he would.  She thought about Tim and knew she couldn't let him do it.  That pickup was his life.

Dennis's truck appeared and she flagged him down, got in and told him the situation.  No mention was made of the meeting planned at the rise under the oak tree.  Instead, Edna babbled on about Tim and the new car and the trip they were planning.  Would Dennis drop her off at the dealership? All he could say was, "Why not?"

Edna arrived breathless at the dealer's office, where she saw Tim's keys to the pickup on the desk.  "You can't do it, I won't let you do it," she cried out.

When Edna told them what she had on her mind, the dealer quietly handed the keys back to Tim.  There had been no talk of a trade, although he had agreed to drive the truck to the farm, following Tim in the Toyota, with Mia following him in his car.

As Tim got into the new car, he tried to tell Edna how fast it was, how safe it was, but Edna was eager to get home, fall into Tim's arms and tell him about the rat.

"I'll race you home!," she said, and ran around the car toward the pickup truck.  As she passed the red car, she thought of what Tim had said about its speed and safety, and, patting the Toyota, she whispered,
"_  _  _  _    _  _  _  _,   _  _  _  _    _  _  _."

(4 letters, 4 letters, 4 letters, 3 letters)

 Copyright 1998 J.J. Schnebel
All rights reserved

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