Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to begin my weekly blog. My novelist has chosen to hand the blog over to me indefinitely and I have decided to share my writing with you. Under the tutelage of my novelist, I have begun to dabble in the art of storytelling and am now prepared to share my work with the world. I will be releasing the story on the blog as a serial novel and will be delivering it in weekly installments. I call my piece, What I Found in the Trunk by Gigi the parti poodle. This is a great celebration especially since the Maltese is presently getting his first professional grooming in a year. I am most delighted with his suffering. So, without further ado here is my first installment in the story. Profiter!

What I Found in the Trunk

by

Gigi the parti poodle

Chapter One

“She’s a real beaut, isn’t she?” Gary said moseying up to his first victim of the day, a pretty college aged woman sporting a mini skirt and a red scoop-necked t-shirt.

The coed looked the twenty-seven-year-old car salesman up and down. He must be sweltering in that suit she thought. “I’m not here to buy a car,” she replied. “I’m here to sell one.”

“Oh…,” he said disappointed. “Well, that’s…uh…I didn’t see you pull up.”

“My car’s right over there.”

The young woman pivoted in her white leather sneakers and pointed to a 1994 red Chevy Beretta. Gary frowned. That thing was near thirty years old. 

“Wow. Really?”

“I just need to sell it.”

“Well…we do buy cars. That’s what the Larry’s Luxuries sign says. Larry’s my dad you see. But the point is the sign says Luxuries. That’s the operative word here: Luxuries. Your little job there is not what I’d call a luxury. In fact, it’s one of the worst cars from the nineties.”

“The car is in great shape.”

Gary noticed how nervous she was. The way she bounced her hip and the vague wrinkles in her forehead that were not from age. Whatever this lemon was she was selling she was desperate.

“Well…I couldn’t give you much for it. The car is older than you.”

“There’s always a market for vintage cars.”

“That car’s not vintage. It’s old. Best I could get out of it is to sell it off for parts. And I’m not running a chop shop here you see.”

“I’m willing to bargain,” she told him in a despondent voice.

“Do you have the title? Because I’m beginning to wonder if the thing is stolen.”

“Of course.”

The young woman unzipped her cheap quilted cotton purse and produced what was, after Gary looked it over, a title claiming legitimate ownership of that piece of garbage parked by his dad’s business.

Gary shrugged. “I’ll give you four hundred for it.”

“Four hundred?! It’s worth at least seven!”

“No, it isn’t.”

“How about seven?”

“How about three?”

“Oh, come on!”

Gary wasn’t sure if she was angry or just putting on a show. “Four hundred and that’s my final offer.”

“Seven. Please.”

Gary looked her up and down. Sure, she was cute. Maybe more than cute. But he wasn’t a sucker. “Five and that’s my final offer.”

The young woman bit her lip and grimaced. “Okay, fine,” she grumbled.

Gary knew his dad was going to call him an idiot for closing this deal.

“Son, you’re an idiot,” Larry the paunch bellied sixty something owner of Larry’s Luxuries bellowed at Gary when he arrived at the dealership an hour later. “This is the last time I let you open my business in the morning ever again. I’m putting you on closing detail, you moron!”

“We can sell it for parts.”

“Are you kidding me?! We’ll be lucky if we can sell the rearview mirror! I can’t believe you let that girl walk in here and railroad you!”

“Oh, like you’ve never made a bad deal in your life!”

“I know when to buy and when to tell a con artist to hit the road. You should have told her to hit the road!”

“I test drove the thing and it runs smooth.”

“Son, I sell luxury cars and a 1994 Chevy Beretta ain’t no luxury car. This place isn’t called Larry’s Lemons it’s called Larry’s Luxuries. Now get out of here and park that tin can out of sight. Five hundred dollars! You know how much beer I can buy for five hundred dollars? Enough to forget about this screw up, I tell you what!”

“Alright, dad. I’ll go park the car around the back.”

“And call Doug. He’ll know what to do about that thing.”

“Alright, dad.”

Yep, Gary muttered to himself as he walked out of the office. He called me an idiot. Gary slogged out to the car and unlocked the driver’s side door. He got inside, sighed, and loosened his tie. He just wanted to help the girl out. It wasn’t like business hadn’t been booming for the last couple of years. He started the engine and began backing the car out. That’s when he heard something go clunk in the trunk.   

My Books

You can check out my books Chicane and the first four installments in my Musicology book series Musicology: Volume One, Baby!, Musicology: Volume Two, Kid!, Musicology: Volume Three, Twist!  and Musicology: Volume Four, Sweetie! on Amazon in Kindle and Paperback editions. You can also check out Musicology’s web site at www.musicologyrocks.com and vote for who you think will win Musicology!!!

STREAM OF THE WEEK: SOUND OF METAL (2019)-Amazon

On Monday, this film garnered six academy award nominations: Best Picture, Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, Actor in a Leading Role, Film Editing and Best Sound. It’s a profound movie that haunted me long after the ending credits. As I was watching it before the Oscar nominations came out, I thought, wow, the sound in this is amazing. But because a lot of movies that get nominated for sound are big splashy action films and this one probably will unfairly get passed over. Thankfully, I was wrong. The sound in this film is not only amazing but it is a character itself. Ruben (brilliantly played by Oscar nominee Riz Ahmed) is a drummer for a punk band he and his French girlfriend Lou (Olivia Cook) are in. When Ruben starts to develop tinnitus, he goes to an otolaryngologist Dr. Paysinger (Tom Kempt) and finds out he only has a little over twenty percent of his hearing left. The doctor warns him to try and protect what hearing he has and decide how to proceed with treatment. But Ruben is dedicated to his music and decides to keep playing. However, fate has a different idea and Ruben later meets Joe (Paul Raci in a terrific Oscar nominated performance) who presents Ruben with a new philosophy.