Mariana's Choice

I Brought Your Car

It’s 3:30 pm and Sam is on his way to bring the customer’s car to her office. Thankfully it will only take him twenty minutes to get there. It was some sort of law firm called Fuentes, Gunderson and Locke. Apparently she was one of the attorneys.

As he drove he savored the feeling of being behind this wonderful machine. Normally he likes classic cars, his own is a black 1967 Ford Mustang Hardtop, but the Jaguar he’s driving right now is pure perfection. It drives better than any other car he’s ever driven besides his own. Two years ago he talked his father into buying the car someone was selling for just $2,000 saying he would work on it and restore it to its original condition. It was one of the few things his father ever bought for him and he cherishes that car, taking better care of it than he does his own self.

He looked down at the piece of paper in the passenger’s seat to make sure he had the right place. The instructions said for him to pull into the garage, giving the security guard his name and purpose and he would let him in. Once he got in he was supposed to drive to the second floor of the garage where he would see a parking spot with the customer’s name and park it in that space.

After he pulled into the garage, found the spot and parked the car, he took a towel out of his bag and wiped down the exterior of the car making sure it was pristine and shiny. When he was finished he put the towel back in his bag and tossed it in the back on the floor behind the passenger’s seat. He walked to the elevator and waited for it to open.

Since he wanted to make a good impression, representing Artie, he wore a nice pair of dark jeans and a clean white t-shirt instead of the work shirt that was covered in grease stains. Artie says this woman is a good customer and has been coming to him for years and he wanted to make sure she keeps coming back.

As he rode the elevator to the tenth floor he thought about what this woman must be like, high class and high maintenance. He rolled his eyes at the thought that he had to entertain this woman while she drove him to his house.

The sound of the elevator brought him out of his mind. Now he has to be cordial and use the manners his parents instilled in him whether he wanted to or not. When he stepped off of the elevator he saw a huge glass door with the name of the law firm embossed on it with dark burgundy lettering. He opened the door and walked to the receptionist who looked up and smiled at him.

            “How can I help you?” She asked.

It took him a few seconds to answer because he couldn’t get over the way she looked. She had her hair up in a bun, some sort of orange colored dress, a phone headset attached to her ear and black wire rimmed glasses. If she was any indication of what the rest of the people in the firm looked like, than he was in a world of hurt, at least his eyes would be.

            “Hi, I’m Sam from Artie’s Garage. I brought a car for one of the attorneys.”

            “Which attorney?”

He sifted through his pocket pulling out the piece of paper with the woman’s name on it.

            “Mariana Fuentes-Johnson.”

            “Yes. If you would like to have a seat there in the waiting area I will let her know you are here.”

He nodded his head and walked to burgundy leather chairs and took a seat. There were a few magazines on the table in front of a small sofa, a couple of side tables with burgundy and gold lamps. It was rather comfortable, the seating that is not the overall environment. The environment was kind of stuffy and he hoped this woman hurried up so he could get the hell out of there.