In 1991 Morry asked me and my wife if he could park his car in our yard. It wintered there among the snow and a variety of stunted brush and weeds. When spring came, the weeds surrounded the car and reached into the engine, choking it. Morry came for his car in May, but it didn’t want to cooperate. He called a tow truck, and had a new transmission put in. Then he sold it to us for $100.
He told us that this car was his home when he first came here. “I didn’t have enough money to rent a place,” he said, “so I lived out of the car.” He went on to explain how he learned the ins and outs of being a cabbie–how to find a rest room or a free shower, how to eat cheaply, and which places cater to cab drivers’ appetites.
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We wrote him a check, and he filled out the paperwork. A week later he was back. “How’s the car doing?” he asked, and then he went into the yard where it was parked on a new bed of stone. He looked it over while we were busy cutting down weeds in the part of the yard we wanted to civilize. A half hour later he approached me and said, “It needs an oil change. I need to borrow the keys.”
Our $100 Chevy passed the 300,000-mile mark, and we hadn’t put a dime into it for nearly three years. But winter was fast approaching, and we knew the car needed to be winterized. My wife and I decided it was time to declare our independence and claim the responsibilities of ownership. When Morry stopped by, we told him firmly but politely that we no longer needed his assistance. The car was, after all, ours, and we would take care of it. He still asked for the keys so his mechanic could give it a once-over. “And when did you last change the oil?” Morry demanded from me as he looked directly at my wife.
Later that evening I bought a refurbished alternator for 50 bucks and put it in the trunk. The next day the car broke down on the way to my wife’s dance class. We pushed it into a no-parking zone. I asked a StreetWise vendor if he’d help me install the alternator for $25.
“You crossed the alternator wires,” he informed me.
He fixed more than he had to–throwing in free tire rods because I paid him the $150 on time.
