ART AUCTION, BUDDY'S BRAKES AND MY BROKEN WALLET

          Since the last auction I had selling a piece of my art went so well, I've decided to have another one.  It's being held on my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Len-Sherman-Canadian-Artist/222245371206927  The bidding is starting at $25.00 with a $20.00 shipping fee (can't believe how expensive postage has become) so if you're even a teensy-weensy bit interested in purchasing this painting - check out the auction.

Midnight Rider

          It's a sunny morning, here at the base of Green Mountain in Fosterville, New Brunswick and the snow that fell over the past few days is once again melting.  "Buddy" our mean, green big old diesel 3/4 ton truck gave us a might of trouble yesterday afternoon as we made our way home from the Woodstock Farmer's Market.  It was in the wee hours of the morning, daylight just breaking over the ridge, when we headed out down the windy, bumpy road to town, the truck slipping and sliding a bit on the ice that was just beneath a thin layer of powdery snow.  And it was then, Sarah began mentioning the brakes were a wee bit spongy and Buddy wasn't reacting in his usual manner.  After we left the farmer's market and were heading down the highway towards Houlton, Maine in the US, Sarah looked at me with a somewhat worried expression on her face and said, "When I step on the brakes, the pedal goes all the way to the floor, which even for a mechanical greenhorn like me, didn't sound too good because we still had a long way to go before we reached home.  Thinking perhaps, the brake fluid needed topping up, about the only fix I'm capable of doing - mechanical devices are as strange to me as a woman's behaviour - Sarah parked the truck in the VIP parking lot where we outfitted Buddy last fall with a set of brand new, black, shiny, rubber winter tires.  However, when the young fellow with a thin face, black gelled hair pushed up into a peak on the top of his head, a black goatee and wearing a debatable black earring through one ear and looking every part like a magician or hypnotist, laid down in the parking lot and peered beneath Buddy he said, "Your truck needs more than brake fluid, the brake line is blown and the cylinder may need replacing."  When we told him we had very limited funds and home wasn't very close by he said, "If it were me; I wouldn't drive this truck any further."
          His words brought back memories of while we were travelling across Canada hauling a trailer full of things, furniture and such to our new home, when Buddy broke down several times and was hit by a big semi-truck just this side of Thunder Bay, ON.  I could hear my already deflated wallet gasping as I rubbed my ass-back pocket.  So there we were, with about 30 bucks in our jeans, which we were going to put into Buddy's gas tank and I'm thinking - a thousand dollar bill - it had always cost us a $1,000.00 or more during our trip, whenever the truck broke down.  Since the young fellow wasn't a magician, he wasn't able to conjure up a miraculous remedy for Buddy's ailment, he brought in a very congenial, heavy set mechanic, with hands the size of a big league's baseball catcher's mitt - fingers like small cucumbers.  The mechanic, after checking out Buddy's condition, was in agreement with the man with the black goatee and said with a wry grin, "If it was me, I wouldn't drive the truck.  Well, there's no problem driving it down the road but it's not going to stop."
          Well what could we do; I could feel my VISA card cringing as he said, "So far, if all I have to do is replace one short piece of brake line, at $65.00 per hour, you're probably only looking at about $75.00 but who knows what kettle of worms is waiting when I take the back wheel apart."
          We gave the mechanic the go ahead, I mean what else could we do, we weren't even in our own country, let alone even a short bus ride to our home.  As we sat in a couple of chairs situated around an oak simulated coffee table watching 3 big men talking about football, the congenial mechanic returned and said, "Yup.  Just as I suspected, the cylinder needs replacing, the brake shoes are shot and hopefully we won't blow the rest of the brake lines when we fix it.  What would you like me to do now - you're looking about 3/4 of an hour labour and parts. The total will be about $190.00?  And, you should probably have all the other brake lines done as well, although if you're lucky, they should hold up for about another 3-5,000 miles."
          Sarah looked very sad, almost on the verge of tears when I said, "Fix it and we'll deal with the rest of the problems later, which estimated to a little over $800.00."
          So, after paying the bill, 20 bucks for lunch, 10 bucks for gas, we were back on the road again - however, we had to backtrack now - because the border crossing near Fosterville would be closed by the time we arrived.  At least it wasn't a thousand bucks but when you add the repair job and the estimate of repairs to come on the brakes together - well - there's the thousand dollar bill again - cheers, eh!