The Red Convertable

Things are wild and crazy today in my attempt to publish twice the number of stories per week until the end of the year. That's right - a Monday publication. Today's is shorter piece, but pay attention to how the simple writing style slowly reveals something larger and much darker than expected.

The author, Steven Finkelstein, has written three novels, a screenplay, a comic book series, and many short stories, essays, and poems. His work has been featured in Farmhouse, Freight Train, Expressions Journal, Kaleidoscopic Resonance, Perceptions, Oysters and Chocolate, Three Pillows, Bare Back, in the anthology Patchwork Path, and most recently in the U.K. publication Scarlet. After reading his story, The Red Convertible, below, please go check out his website, www.stevenfinkelstein.com.

The Red Convertible

By Steven Finkelstein

Buzz had very few memories of his father, an insurance salesman, who had left him and his mother when Buzz was very young. His recollections were of a square jawed, smiling giant who would arrive home after days on the road to scoop Buzz up and place him on one of his broad shoulders, gripping his knee with one huge paw to keep him from falling, parading him around the driveway. Buzz would shriek with laughter as his mother stood in the doorway looking on, her arms folded across her chest. And as vividly as this, Buzz remembered his father’s car, a 1952 Cherry Red Cadillac Convertible, his pride and joy. 

Buzz had grown up when interest in the space program was reaching its height, and he loved to sit in the car and pretend it was a spaceship, what with its size, its sleek tail fins, and its chrome grille that was always shined to a high gloss. When his father had driven out of Buzz and his mother’s life forever, the last the boy had seen of him was the receding taillights of the red Caddy.
 

Buzz passed through his teenage years, growing to man’s stature. He was reckless and often in trouble, and his mother was only too glad to usher him out of her house for good when it became legal for her to do so. Buzz eventually managed to put himself through a small community college, majoring in business, and after trying a few career paths he ended up becoming an insurance salesman. The insurance game had changed since his father’s time, and the days of salespeople traveling from town to town peddling policies were long since over. Now it was all done over the phone, and Buzz discovered that he had a great aptitude for it. He excelled at convincing people that he had their best interest at heart, and although he was successful at his job, there were many other aspects of his life that were lacking. He felt a general feeling of being unfulfilled, and there was little that brought him any real joy.
 

One night he was walking home from work, and he happened to pass by a tiny hobby shop he’d never noticed before. In one of the windows there was something that was so arresting that he simply stood on the sidewalk, transfixed, unable to tear his eyes off it. It was the box for a model car, and the picture on it was of a 1952 Cherry Red Cadillac Convertible, the identical car that his father had owned. 

He rushed inside, but when he approached the counter, he found a man ahead of him who was just then requesting for the same model Caddy to be taken from the window. Buzz spoke to the man urgently as he made his purchase, attempting to explain his position, but the man would not sell. He was adamant, for as he explained, the model was for his son, to complete his collection, and this particular model was very rare and difficult to find. Buzz followed him outside and up the street, using all of his finely honed persuasive abilities, but the man would not budge. Finally Buzz, becoming angry at the man’s obstinacy, pushed him into an alley and threw him against a wall. In his anger he’d been much rougher than he’d intended, and the man struck his head very hard. Still, when he sunk to the ground, Buzz had no qualms about grabbing the desired piece of memorabilia and fleeing the scene. 

It was only several blocks further on, when Buzz had torn off the wrapping and thrown aside the box, that he got a look at his treasure and was dismayed to discover that contrary to its depiction on the box, the convertible inside was not Cherry Red after all, but Burnt Sienna.