I deserve a new truck

Around the beginning of my junior year of high school, Jeremy Roland got a new Ranger pickup.  This triggered something in me that in hindsight made me a real ass, but regardless, such stories are what this site is for.  I looked around my class and realized that I spent more time and effort working than anyone else, so I should not have to drive a piece-of-crap Blazer that only ran some of the time.  When the Blazer didn’t run I had to drive the family van or Hughie’s Caprice Classic.

My parents did not pay me by the hour back then because they did not have the cash so I kept track of my time and knew they would make it right when they could.  I figured it was time to pay up and I needed a new truck too.  I looked around at my options and when I decided what I wanted I confronted Dad one evening while he was at the table eating dinner.

I approached cautiously and he asked, “What the hell do you want?”  I just came out with it. “Dad, I deserve a new truck.” 

“What the fuck do you mean?” he replied. 

“I want to get a new truck.”

“Let me get this straight, I am driving a pickup with 250,000 miles right now and you think you deserve a new truck?”

“Yes…”  It was about this time I began to catch on that I was being a little ridiculous.  And then Dad did his classic, with both hands, hit his index fingers against the sides of his head and said, “You are fucking kidding me.”

I do not remember if anything else was said, but I know it ended with me putting my tail between my legs and leaving the room.  I was disappointed but I got over it.  Dad would retell this story at various times to show how ridiculous I was back then and I could not do anything but agree with him.  I mean, there he was with a 6 year-old truck with 250k on it and I was saying I deserved one more than him.  Sometimes kids need to get a taste of reality.

Shawn