Bicycle in the back office

I started out driving my father’s orange 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970 Chevrolet pickup truck. One day that fall, I was assembling bicycles in the backroom of the Western Auto Store. I came out of the back room rolling a bicycle and saw there were customers everywhere and no one to help them. I tried to go back towards the back room but there were people there. I could not go forward with the bike for the same reason. So, I just stuck it in my mom’s office. I then began helping customers.

About an hour later I finished with the rush of customers. My father, mother and Marlene Hanks (one of our employees) had come in and were helping. As I started towards the back my father opened the office door and saw the bike I put in there. He cussed me with every name you can think of. He called me stupid, lazy, and thoughtless for leaving that bike there.

Well, my mother and Marlene (who was just like one of the family) lit in on him like a cat on a June bug. They both told him that he always rode me too hard and that I might have a reason for not putting the bike where it belonged. He came up to me and asked me why I put it where I did. I explained and then he realized it was his fault. He had left the showroom with no one there to wait on the customers. 


He told me to go to town and pick out any $500 car I wanted and that he would pay for it. I had about some money  saved myself and so now I could buy a better car.  If you are reading this I know you are thinking that $1,000 wouldn’t buy much of a car today. Well it wouldn’t buy much of a car then either. I started looking but did not find anything I liked.


Later I will tell you about the car I did get. See the Swamp Buggy.