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“I told you my price, sir. If you can’t match it then hand me back my keys,” she held out her hand for her key fob.

  “But your father–” he began to protest and she rudely interrupted him.

  “Doesn’t own the car,” she finished for him. “I do, and I told you my price.” She knew if she had just managed to paint it that she’d get more than double what she was asking. If she could have afforded a candy-apple red paint job she would have gotten thousands more, but that type of paint job was one of the most expensive because of the color.

  “Allyssa…” began her father warningly, afraid she would ruin the deal he had already finished in the car with the man, a friend of his son-in-law’s. Derek’s friend wouldn’t make a bad deal with them.

  “Father, it’s my car and I’d rather see it junked than me getting ripped off. Even if I put it in the paper tomorrow I’d have it sold next week…” she tried reasonably to appeal to her father’s sense of fair trade.

  “I can’t have that in the driveway for a week,” he pointed out. “Regal Crest Gardens won’t allow….”

  “I know, I know, I heard you,” she dismissed angrily. “However, unless you can come up with the full amount, I’m not selling,” she had turned back to Ken who had listened unashamedly to her father’s admonishing of her.

  “Well, I just don’t think I…” he began, but was astonished when Allyssa reached out and snatched the keys back from him.

  “Then we have nothing more to say, sir,” she told him rudely and began to walk back up the drive. Her father reached out and grabbed her arm.

  “That was rude, Allyssa,” he told her firmly.

  “And he is being insulting by offering nearly a third of the value of the car,” she retorted angrily.

  “It’s not a third,” he began.

  “Well, I guess I could come up to a thousand,” Ken offered generously.

  Allyssa turned, whirling in a way that dislodged her father’s grip on her arm, which had begun to hurt as he angrily held her in place, his anger transmitted through his fingers.

  “I’m sorry, sir, but the car is no longer for sale. I won’t sell it to you,” she told the surprised buyer.

  “But…but…” he began and then Bob cut him off.

  “And where will you park it?” he asked his daughter angrily.

  “I’ll rent a storage unit,” she told him defiantly, turning to look up at him but barely. Her height was nearly at the same level as his.

  “With what money?” he asked. “I pay all your expenses…” he began and Helen cut him off.

  “Bob,” she said warningly, glancing around to see if the neighbors could hear them.

  Father and daughter stared at each other angrily, both unwilling to back down. This was unprecedented. Allyssa always backed down and obeyed her parents in the end.

  “I don’t want to cause any family disharmony,” Ken began, sounding condescending again. “All right, little lady, I’ll go as high as fifteen hundred.”

  Allyssa looked at him as though he were a bug on her windshield. He’d already doubled the previous offer. She also didn’t appreciate his tone or words. She was not little by anyone’s stretch of the imagination. “I told you, sir, it’s no longer for sale to you….”

  “I’ll give you the difference,” her father offered in an undertone, not willing to let a stranger see their conflict.

  “I don’t want your money. It’s my car and he’s trying to cheat me!”

  Ken, sensing he wasn’t going to win this deal and not able to hear what they were whispering about finally sighed dramatically, “All right, all right, I’ll go up to two thousand.” He raised his arms and let them drop as though he had come to a great decision.

  “Twenty-two hundred,” Allyssa countered, turning back to the man angrily, “for the hassle, or I’m still not selling to you!”

  “Twenty-two hundred?” he sputtered, now showing genuine anger. “We started at five hundred!”

  “No, sir, you started at five hundred and it would have been quite the bargain after you painted her and got a new ragtop,” she pointed out. “Now, if you want it you can come up to her true value or I’m going inside.” She made a motion as though to do just that and Bob went to stop her again, reaching for her arm.

  “Okay, okay, I’ll pay it. Jeez,” he said, annoyed and reaching for his pocket that held his wallet. He began to pull out one hundred-dollar bills and lay them in Allyssa’s outstretched hand until she had twenty-two of them.

  “I’ll go get the registration and extra keys,” she told him once she had the cash in hand.

  “That’s one hard dealer,” Ken said to her parents, making it sound like he admired her, but inwardly seething at her obstinacy. Still, if he painted the old car and got a new ragtop she was right about its worth; he could get a lot more for it.

  Allyssa went upstairs to get the newly printed registration. She looked at it sadly. It was the first thing she had owned that was truly hers. Still, she had profited from it and she looked down at the cash in her hand and put it in her dresser drawer as she fetched the spare keys. Grabbing a pen from her desk, she filled out the back of the registration form, so she could turn it over to him. That Ken, that friend of her brother-in-law, had been so willing to scam them. If she hadn’t done her research, if she hadn’t known how much the car was really worth, she would have given it away as her parents had been so willing to do. She dragged her feet as she returned to the front of the house where her parents were entertaining the man.

  “Here you go,” she said. “I’ve already signed it and everything is current. I only got the registration today,” she told him.

  “Oh, you didn’t need to fill that part out,” he said, seeing that she had already put in the amount.

  “But that’s the amount you paid,” she answered, trying to sound innocent…as though they didn’t both know that he had wanted to put in a lower amount so he didn’t have to pay as much tax to the state for his buy.

  “Yes, yes, of course,” he agreed, and making his farewells with keys and registration in hand, he got in the Mustang and started it. It was then they all noticed the other car parked across the street when he waved to another man sitting there who got in the driver’s seat and followed the Mustang out of Regal Crest Gardens.

  “There, that’s done,” her mother said happily, glad the car was gone as she turned back to the house.

  “Allyssa, you were very rude to that man. He was a good friend of your brother-in-law,” began her father.

  “He was looking to take advantage of us. He thought we didn’t know how much that car was worth and he was running it down from the get-go.”

  “Still, he was a friend….”

  “Would you have given a friend a discount in business, Daddy?”

  “Well, that’s different. That’s business….”

  “This was no different and the car was a business transaction,” she pointed out reasonably. “I did a lot of work on that engine and I deserve to get paid for it.”

  “How much did you pay for that?” he pointed back down the hill where the car had disappeared.

  “It doesn’t matter,” she shook her head, not willing to tell him that she had profited on the deal. Her heart was heavy. They wouldn’t let her keep it anyway, so it didn’t matter.

  Chapter Four

  “Allyssa, you have really insulted Derek’s friend Ken,” Carmen admonished her, the first words out of her mouth the next time she got her alone.

  “Carmen, I kept the man from ripping me off,” she countered as she straightened up the picnic table from their last cookout of the summer. “He was condescending and rude, and he thought Daddy didn’t know how much the car was worth. What kind of friend does Derek have that he would rip us off?”

  “That’s really rude of you to say,” she answered prissily, trying her best big sister voice in order to keep Allyssa in her place.

  “Then he shouldn’t have tried it,” she returned hotly. “He’s goi
ng to paint it, get a new ragtop, and maybe a few other things, then he can get at least ten times what he offered us if not more, much more,” she said sadly.

  “Well, you won’t have time for such things anyway,” she said, changing the subject as she sat down daintily in one of the patio chairs.

  “Why?” she asked cautiously, seeing the gleaming look in her sister’s eyes. It didn’t bode well for her.

  “Well, Mother and I have a surprise for you,” she said cheerfully. Their mother wandered back out from where she had been putting away the food. Juanita was already washing the dishes they had used.

  Overhearing Carmen, Helen smiled and sat down expectantly. “You are going to love this,” she said exuberantly.

  Allyssa was certain she wasn’t going to love anything they had in mind for her. Still, she politely sat down and listened.

  “Carmen has managed to make some calls to her sisters...” began their mother.

  Sisters? What sisters? Allyssa was her only sister. Then it hit her…sorority sisters!

  “And they have managed to get you in so you can pledge...” her mother continued.

  Allyssa’s head was whirling, they had ganged up on her again about this. “I don’t want...” she began, but they weren’t listening.

  “…and your father has agreed to put up the money,” she finished triumphantly.

  “We’ll have to go shopping, so she has all the right clothes,” Carmen enthused.

  “Well, nothing in shorts or her bird-like legs are going to stand out,” her mother joked.

  They continued as though Allyssa weren’t sitting there listening in growing horror to all they were saying. Finally, she’d had enough of the insults, the condescension, and the rudeness. They might not think of it that way, but all her life they had ignored her unless she did something bad or they wanted her to do something. She did not want to join a sorority. “I don’t want to join a sorority,” she said quietly, but of course they weren’t listening to her, too caught up in their own plans, ideas, and excitement. She slowly got up and left the picnic table and they never even noticed.

  “Hey, Sweet Pea. That was a nice dinner, eh?” her father greeted her as she came into the den where he was reading some papers.

  “Daddy, I don’t want to join a sorority,” she told him calmly, hoping at least that he would listen.

  “Nonsense. It will do you good. You’ll meet all the right people. Look at Carmen. She met Derek that way. Besides, your mother has her heart set on it,” he told her.

  “Daddy, I don’t want to go to the expense….”

  “Well, your Mother and I discussed it and we feel that if you met the right people, things like that car wouldn’t happen,” he lectured, trying to make it sound funny and failing.

  “Daddy, I don’t want to join a sorority. I’m going to be too busy with my studies–” she began, but he interrupted her. She knew if she had interrupted him or her mother she would have been immediately admonished. She wondered why it was okay for them but not for her.

  “And that’s another thing…. What’s with these science courses I saw on your list? I thought we agreed you would be taking business courses?”

  “What list? I didn’t even see….”

  “Your mother showed me this,” he lifted a sheet of paper with the university logo on the top. “It must have come in the mail. It shows your class schedule and I don’t recall agreeing to classes like...” he hesitated, so he could read with as much of a disparaging tone as he could muster, “Animal husbandry? What will you need a course like that for anyway?”

  “But, Daddy….”

  “I think they made an error and I’m going to call and straighten this out for you,” he offered generously.

  “I believe I have to since they are my courses,” she got in before he could go on.

  “Be a good sport. Your mother only wants to do what is right for you,” he went on as though they had just started the conversation about the sorority she didn’t want to join and the courses he didn’t want her to take. “She didn’t have such opportunities, you know,” he pointed out.

  Allyssa knew that her mother considered herself very lucky to have landed such a successful businessman as her father despite not having such advantages that she and her sister had been afforded. She subsided, knowing it was easier not to argue with them.

  * * * * *

  When Allyssa packed up and went back to the dorms for her sophomore year it was with the full knowledge that she might not live there much longer. Her sister had arranged for her to go through rush week with the other girls. She had seen the guys running around campus, sometimes naked, going through all sorts of hijinks to get into their fraternities and show their ‘loyalty.’ She hadn’t noticed the girls and what they did to get into the sororities, but from what her sister had told her, she was in for a boring time.

  The first meeting was worse than she had imagined. She was wearing one of the cute little outfits her mother had insisted she purchase, one her sister assured them that ‘all the girls’ were wearing. It was a little ‘women’s’ suit with matching jacket and skirt. Because Allyssa’s legs were so long, the skirt didn’t fit quite right and was shorter than she would have liked. Also, the color was pink, not a color she would normally have been caught dead in, but she felt obliged to wear it since her mother had purchased it and this was her sister’s former sorority. As a legacy, she would probably get in, but she followed from this one sorority to another along with several other girls who were attempting to get into one or the other. The chitchat annoyed Allyssa; it was boring and all the same. She subsided into silence after the second sorority. The houses were beautiful on the outside as well as the inside, as though the girls were all showing off their home economics courses to any potential suitors. The weak punch they offered as refreshment wasn’t much more than sweetened water. She was ready for a nap after the fourth. Still, she struggled through.

  The second day wasn’t much better. She was invited back to three of the houses and shown the rooms they might get if they were accepted into the sorority. It was all very nice, very clean, very patterned, and very, very tedious. Allyssa’s boredom must have shown through as she wasn’t invited back on the third day except to her sister’s sorority. She didn’t bother to go. Instead, she tried to forget that feeling of not really fitting in by taking the Volvo out on the interstate.

  There was nothing like the feel of the wind blowing through her hair as she tried to forget her troubles and let the speed leave them far behind, that was, until she hit a dog on her return trip to the city. The screech of her brakes when she had seen it at the last moment, the sound of the thadump as it hit her front fender, and then the dog’s cries all panicked her for a moment. She got out reluctantly after turning off the car to see if the dog was dead. It wasn’t. It was wagging its tail, almost as though apologizing for hitting her car. Then it would rear up and bite at its leg and shoulder, almost as though to stop the pain. She approached it carefully. She didn’t even look at her fender. Instead, she threw her jacket over the dog’s head and tried to lift it. It was a heavy dog of indeterminate breed. Fortunately, she was strong and staggered to the back of the Volvo with it. She put it down for a moment and its head popped out from under her jacket. It growled slightly and made her leery of trying again. Unlatching the back of the station wagon, she opened it to place the dog inside. Using her jacket again to hide its head and to keep it from snapping at her, her heart broke as it cried when she moved it. Finally, she had it locked in the back of the car. She hurried to drive away, but could feel the difference in the car. Something was rubbing. She pulled off to the side again and looked at the damage. There was a distinctive dent from the dog in the front side panel. She tried to pull it away from the tire where it was rubbing, finally kicking at it until she managed to create space, hurting her foot in the process. She limped back to the driver’s side of the car to drive away.

  Searching her memory for a veterinarian’
s clinic, she pulled off the interstate and headed towards the college. Relieved, she saw one of the clinic’s lights still on and went to pull the dog out of the back of the Volvo. He cried a little, but stayed under the jacket as she struggled to carry him inside.

  “What have we here?” a female voice asked as she pushed open the door with her shoulder.

  “I hit him with my car,” she said, trying not to cry as the enormity of what she had done hit her.

  “Bring him through here,” the voice told her as Allyssa looked around with tears in her eyes.

  The lights were bright and a stainless-steel table was attached to the wall as she placed her jacket-clad dog on it. He was trying to struggle, but was weakened from the blow. The woman pulled the jacket away, but it stuck slightly as it was full of blood. The dog snapped at her for a moment and then began licking at the injury. The skin wasn’t attached to the shoulder anymore and Allyssa forced herself to look at what she had caused.

  “Is this your dog?” the woman asked as she gentled the creature with sure hands and a kind voice. Addressing the dog, she kept soothing it by saying, “There, there, hush now,” and continuing to examine it.

  “No, I was driving along and it came out of nowhere. I didn’t stop in time and hit it,” Allyssa sobbed. The tears were starting to come in earnest now whether she tried to stop them or not. They seemed to be leaking out.

  “Why don’t you go out in the waiting room while I…” she offered kindly.

  Allyssa sniffed loudly to try and get a hold on her emotions. She shook her head. “No, I’d rather stay and help if I can?”

  “Okay, but I can’t help you if I’m helping him,” she said in a firmer voice as she expertly applied a shot to the dog.

  “Do you need anything, Doctor?” a voice inquired from the door behind them.

  The woman glanced up from the dog she was holding steady. “No, I think I have enough assistance here,” she said with a smile towards Allyssa who had gotten her tears under control and was now sniffing only a little. The dog was allowing the blonde to pet it now as it slowly drifted off from the shot.