"He bought it in 1984,14 I think."
"Did he buy it new?"
"Well, no. I think it was new in the early sixties—or late fifties at the earliest," he admitted sheepishly.
"Ch—Dad, I don't really know anything about cars. I wouldn't be able to fix it if anything went wrong, and I couldn't afford a mechanic... "
"Really, Bella, the thing runs great. They don't build them like that anymore."
The thing, I thought to myself. "How cheap is cheap?" After all, that was the part I couldn't compromise on.
"Well, honey, I kind of already bought it for you, sort of. In a way." He paused, and stroked his shoulder as I waited for him to continue.
"So... you bought it for me?"
Charlie looked uncertain. I wasn't sure whether or not he had bought it for me, and maybe he wasn't either.
"Yes," Charlie confirmed, peeking at me sideways with a hopeful expression. "As a homecoming gift."
Wow. He bought it for me. That meant I was getting it for Free.
"You didn't need to do that, Dad. I was going to buy myself a car." But now, it seemed, I didn't have to.
"I don't mind. I want you to be happy here." He was looking ahead at the road when he said this. Charlie wasn't comfortable with expressing his emotions out loud, let alone his thoughts or desires. I inherited that from him. So I was looking straight ahead as I responded.
"That's really nice, Dad. Thanks. I really appreciate it." No need to add that my being happy in Forks15 was an impossibility: he didn't need to suffer along with me. And I never looked a gift-truck in the mouth—or the gasket.
14. 1984 is largely seen as an auspicious year, for two reasons. First, it was the year that George Orwell prophesied as the apocalypse in his legendary book, 1985. Second, it was the year the Apple II came onto the market and revolutionized home computing.
15. Notable for its nearby Native American reservation "The Push."