"Well, now, you're welcome," he mumbled, embarrassed by my thanks.
We exchanged a few more comments on the weather, it was wet, and then that was pretty much it for conversation. We stared out the windows in silence.
It was beautiful, of course; I couldn't deny that. Everything was green: the trees, the trees covered with branches, the branches covered with leaves, their trunks covered with moss, the moss covered with caterpillars, the ground covered with ferns, the ferns covered with really big, green slugs. Even the air filtered down greenly16 through the leaves.
It was just too green—just a green, alien planet.
Eventually we made it to Charlie's. He still lived in the small, two-bedroom house that he'd bought with my mother in the early days of their marriage, and it was in this very same house that he'd cut off his own arm. Those were the only kind of days their marriage had—the early ones. There, parked on the street in front of the house that never changed, was my new—well, new to me17—truck. It was a big red color with faded, rounded red fenders and a bulbous red cab. To my intense surprise, I loved how red it was.18 Plus, it was one of those solid iron affairs that never gets damaged—the kind that can be seen at the scene of an accident, paint unscratched,19 surrounded by the pieces of the foreign car20 it had destroyed.
"Wow, Dad, I love it. Thanks!" Now my horrific day tomorrow would be just that much less dreadful, although not entirely undreadful. I wouldn't be faced with the choice of either walking two miles in the rain to school or accepting a ride in the Chief's cruiser.
"I'm glad you like it," Charlie said gruffly, embarrassed again.
16. In a green sort of way.
17. As mentioned earlier, Chief Duck dated the vehicle back to the early sixties or late fifties. Therefore, while not literally new, it is newly in Bella's possession.
18. Bella has a general aversion to things that are red—for example: blood, Native Americans, and blushing.
19. Due to the paint being made out of iron.
20. Toyota, Honda, Datsun, KIA, Subaru, Mazda, and Mitsubishi cars are all designed, as well as assembled, by Asia, which is notoriously small and delicate.