"	Gene's Story or How I Gained a Cousin A novel by Karen Lockhart Copyright 2016

Ginny couldn't wait for us to get home, she started in Peabody. “What are you talking about?”
she asked, “Kevin? I'm just teasing, you know, smiling, and looking into his eyes.”

“Oh shoot, Ginny, that's like waving a red flag in front of a bull!” I said. ”You don't know the effect you're having when you do that. If you were trying to catch Kevin, well congratulations, you have him!”

“What do you mean?” Ginny asked, “I'm just being a little playful, that's all. I don't mean anything by it.

“You present as a desirable woman, You had Morales lusting after you, Kevin was ready to confront him, or weren't you aware of this? You were too busy wiggling and fluttering your eyes to notice, weren't you?”

“I was just enjoying being a woman, I didn't mean anything by it,” she protested. “Honestly.”

“Ginny, that is the trouble, you are not a woman, not physically. You can't allow someone to find out what kind of plumbing you have, especially around Morales for goodness sakes. You've got Kevin red faced and stuttering when he's near you. Don't be surprised if he calls and asks you out. What will you do then?”

By this time we were sitting in my driveway with the SUV idling wasting gas.

“Come on, we'll finish this inside. Would you get my saddle please Ginny, I'll open the door.”

Ginny left the saddle in the entry for me and followed me to my room where I was changing out of my riding clothes into my uniform, jeans and a sweatshirt.

“What can I do?” she asked, “I didn't realize what I was doing, I was just enjoying looking the way I always felt. I wasn't trying to have the poor guy fall for me. Now what?”

“Look, with Kevin it's too late, he's hooked. All you can do is try to hold him off for a while.
If he's the man I think he is, we may be able to tell him the truth, at least, that you are transgendered, making a transition. Not any stuff with Morales, that could lead to trouble.”

“What do you mean by trouble?” Ginny asked

“Testosterone will flow between those two. Kevin already disliked Morales for who he is, no need to add you into the mix. If you get outed, Morales might recognize Gene underneath the hair and make-up. We need to be careful. Hey, isn't time you paid your way here? I'm starving, what's for lunch?”

“Okay, how about soup and sandwiches? I was thinking of minestrone soup, and baked ham and Swiss cheese sandwiches. How does that sound? We also have bread and butter pickles and potato chips, a four course lunch,” she laughed.

“Lets eat, we'll talk about where to look for a car for you over sandwiches; Kevin later.”

I turned on the tv. There was a college football game on all three networks, so I put on the Boston College, West Virginia game. We watched that while we ate, all thoughts of romance and used cars flew out of our minds. BC lost by a touchdown in the last minute.

On to used cars.

“Ginny, do you want to buy a car and finance it or pay cash outright? My advice is, you are still being paid under the table so to speak, no-one will lend you money, without a job. We'll talk to Steve on Monday about that. In the meantime, if you don't spend a lot of money, you can buy it outright.”

“I don't want a piece of junk, but you forget, I drove trucks for a while, I know a good car when I see it, I can also fix them!”

“Okay, lets go to the computer to see what's out there for used, mid-sized SUVs. I like the Honda CRV for the price, their reliability can't be beaten.”

“Let's look at the Toyota RAV4 too,” Ginny said, “it's a nice little car.”

I booted up my laptop and typed in the Honda on Firefox. A list of places came up and I selected a dealer that was across the street from the new project in Lynn, the idea being, if a problem came up, we could walk there from the office.

Three CRVs were in stock, along with two RAV4s. Jackpot!

A red 2008 CRV with 62,000 miles looked great. It had a leather interior, CD player, and heated seats. The asking price was $11,000, well in our range. A gray 2014 CRV, equipped the same with only 28,000 miles was available for $19,000. A little too much.

Both of the RAV4s were 2009's one was $9,500, the other was $8,700. the first one had 80,000 miles, the other had 67,000.

The CRV and both Toyotas were in our price range, so we decided to go there first. This was on the Lynnway, so there were several other used and new car dealerships we could go to without having to drive all over the place.

The next locations with SUVs in our range were on Route 114. There must be ten dealerships on that road, including a CarMax, something new, they specialize in pre-owned vehicles. I think I saw that they are all over the country, and if you want a car in Florida they will ship it to you
for a small price, sometimes free.

After deciding to go looking tomorrow morning at 11am, I went back to the television to improve my mind. Ginny's mind being improved enough, she sat down with a book by Andre Norton. Ginny apparently likes classic science fiction.

For years, I thought Andre was a man, and it wasn't until a couple of years ago I discovered he was a she. I guess in the era she was writing, there were no female sci-fi authors, what a shame.

My fix for the wives of crooked politicians, who are crooked lawyers themselves, fulfilled, I changed the TV channel to the early news, mainly for tomorrow's weather forecast.

The Bruins lost, but the Celtics won in the last few seconds. There was a major house fire in Lynn, burning as we watched; a three alarm fire in East Boston last night, and 20 porpoises beached themselves in Cohassett.

The weather on Sunday would be above normal at 55 degrees, and breezy with sun most of the day. Perfect weather to spend $10,000 on a used car.

Ginny and I did the Walton's bedtime routine, and went to our respective beds, and I anyway, slept until 8 AM.

I awoke to the odor of coffee filling the condo, could bacon be far behind? I ran into the loo, did my morning business, washed up, passed a comb through my hair, and headed for the kitchen.

I was handed a mug of steaming coffee by Ginny. “Bacon, eggs, and toast,” she asked with a grin, “or just a bagel?”

“BET of course,” I answered, “any orange juice left?”

We settled in with our eggs and a section of the Sunday Globe, they ought to sell that paper by the pound, it's so big.

Breakfast finished, we headed to our make-up tables to work our miracles once more. I finished before Ginny, of course, nothing to do with gender, I just don't work at it as hard as she does.

With our war paint on, we headed for the Explorer and the car lot in Lynn. After about 15 minutes we pulled into the first car dealership.

“How do you want to do this?” I asked Ginny.

“Why don't you take the lead, that will let me really check out the cars with no one bothering me,”she said. “I'll know right off if there's something hidden.”

A smiling salesman came out of their office and asked if he could help us find a car. I said we saw two Honda CRVs on their web site and we'd like to see those.

He led us to the red 2008 first, ran through the car's options, then asked if we wanted to go for a test ride. We answered yes, and I got in behind the steering wheel, Ginny in the front passenger's seat, while the salesman got in the back behind Ginny. I drove down the Lynnway, over the bridge and stopped at the old Fire Station. Ginny and I switched seats, and she drove back over the bridge. Then she really put the car through its paces. We got to the long causeway to Nahant, and she sped up to 90 mph, making the salesman shout “If we get pulled over by the cops, it's my butt, not yours.”

With that, Ginny slowed to the speed limit, and pulled into the Dunkin Donuts, I asked the salesman if he wanted a coffee also. “Yes, please, but let me pay, after all I'm supposed to be talking you into buying this car.”

We'd had an uneventful ride back to the dealership. “What do you think of the CRV?” he asked me, “Do you want to talk price, or would you like to see something else?”

I mentioned the Toyota RAV4s. He said they had a deposit on one of them, but the one with 80,000 miles was still there. We got in as before, with me driving first and Ginny second. In my opinion, I liked the Honda better, the ride and handling seemed better then it did in the RAV4. Ginny agreed.

After parking the Toyota, we followed him to his cubicle to talk price. I led off, saying we liked the Honda, but not at that price, Ginny surprised me by making a counter offer of $9500. Same price as the RAV4. He shook his head, “Not enough. I need $10,500.”

“That's not going to happen,” Ginny said. “$9500, or we are out the door and heading for the next car lot.”

“I have to ask the manager how much I can take off the price.” He said.

“Tell him it's cash, not a trade, or financing, $9500 in cash.” Ginny said again.

He hopped up like he had springs for legs, and headed for a room in the back. He returned in 10 minutes with a grey-haired man and introduced him as Tom Greenly, the owner.

“What will it take to put you in this car?” he asked.

I started to laugh, somehow I expected him to use that old line. “I had hoped you would be more original.”

Greenly looked at me and said, “How's this, you have a deal. $9500 in cash. Now, let's go into my office and do the paperwork.”

I looked at Ginny and smiled, “Nice going kiddo, you have a car. Now I can get chauffeured around for a change.”

We went over the bill of sale, the insurance forms, and the title for the Registry of Motor Vehicles. We opted to have them take care of the registration and insurance for a $100 fee. The insurance broker was just down the street, but closed on Sundays, likewise the RMV.

Ginny counted out ninety-five 100 dollar bills, and received a receipt for cash paid. Tom Greenly said her car would be ready Monday after lunch. He thanked us for our business, and said, “See you girls on Monday.”

Girls! I hate being called that! I haven't been a girl for ten years, I'm a woman, dammit.

Now to go home and talk about how to deal with my flirt of a “cousin”.

To be continued

Many thanks to Bronwen for fixing the typos and grammar.