When Alice started watching one of the dumbass Fast and Furious movies for the umpteenth time Thomas retired quietly to the den struggling not to make some snarky comment. He tried to read some more of a Thoreau bio, but a word kept flipping about in his head as a distraction. Rims. He was sure rims was not in the Thoreau book! He had consciously attempted to block out the dialogue of those assholes being assholes the moment the movie had started. Of course, they must have been bragging about their Rims; those gaudy, size enhanced symbols of….something; mine’s faster, more powerful and, of course, bigger! You gotta go big to be family!

Cars had never been his thing, but growing up in the rural south a car was a necessity if you were going to work part-time during high school. With the help of a loan from his parents, he had bought a ten year old battered 53 Ford for $300 plus another hundred for bondo and a paint job, baby blue, and he been ready to work and, on the weekend, drag main; cruising for chicks. The chicks part didn’t happen too often, but he and a friend or two, riding around for hours was, for some reason, soothing, and well worth the 25 cent a gallon gas. No hood scoop or muffler cutouts, and no Rims for his car; the tires, needing immediate replacement, went from whitewalls with small pop-on metal hub caps to cheaper blackwalls with the wheels, hub caps removed, spray-painted black. Poor boy chic?

Thomas had, twenty-five years before, actually, kind of, owned a set of Rims, but had never seen them or been aware of their existence until a family member, a step-daughter’s worthless husband, screwed him. It had started with Jenny, Alice’s by her first husband, asking him to co-sign a car loan for a used Chevy Tracker. They were young with a kid and supposedly had jobs, so he said ok. Alice had given him a slow no shake of the head but said nothing. Two days after signing the papers he had gotten a call from the salesman at the dealership ranting, almost screaming, that he had called to verify Jenny’s employment and that she had quit her job the day after the signing! “Perhaps, the job and credit verification should have been done before the signing of the deal.”  Thomas couldn’t resist. The salesman sputtered and spewed but could muster noting but telling Thomas it would all be on him if they didn’t pay. “That was my understanding of the term co-sign. Thank you.” Thomas responded. “Have a nice day.” That nitwit must have gotten a good reaming by his boss, Thomas thought, or is it rimming?

Jenny responded by saying she was just changing jobs, no worries; everything would be just fine. Juan, the worthless husband was not available; never had been. A few months later the crap hit the fan. Thomas got a letter from the finance co covering the loan stating that the vehicle under this loan must be covered by liability auto insurance and that they had received notification the policy had been canceled. Jenny gave Thomas a few numbers where Juan, her now estranged husband, who had taken the Tracker, might be reached. Thomas finally got Juan on the line days later after telling some dude a fake name and asking if Juan was around. After a  brief discussion, Juan told Thomas he could have the piece of shit and that he would leave it a Jenny’s place. Of course Jenny said she couldn’t pay for it, and so Thomas and Alice went to retrieve their inheritance that weekend and there it sat in the yard on blocks; wheels and tires removed, taken; no explanation about what happen to the originals  “Yea, Juan paid a bunch for his Rims, so he took’em, sorry!” Rims and family, not Thomas’ favorite subject.

“Can you please turn the volume down on that damned dumbass movie? Please!”