“Now write down on a piece of paper ‘Harley Davidson dealership 1980’.” Tusker wrote it out in his block lettering and then looked up at me. I took the page and tore it off the tablet. “Now, go get some tape and tape it to the mirror in your bathroom.”
“What?! What for?”
“Tusker, if you want to do this, then do it, otherwise just get us some beers and forget about it, but I am dead serious. If you want that dealership, go put it on the bathroom mirror. Right the fuck now!”
He looked over at Tessa, but she just nodded. He got up and scrounged up some tape, and went into the bathroom, then returned a minute later. “Now what the fuck was that all about?”
“Now you have a goal. Before you just had a dream, but now you have a goal!”
“Huh?”
“Every day when you get up and shave and shower and brush your teeth, the first thing you’re going to see is that goal. The last thing you are going to see before you go to bed is that goal. When the sign wears out, put up a new one. Stick one on your bedroom wall. Paste one behind the bar. Write it on your books over at Essex. Everything you do now is aimed at that goal. It means you’re serious!” I told him.
“That’s going to get me a Harley dealership?” he asked incredulously.
“No, that’s going to keep you pushing yourself so that you’re not fucking off! When you want that extra beer, you’re going to see that sign and decide to finish your homework first. When you see that sign, you’re going to decide to save an extra dollar or two so you can get the cash for that dealership. When you see that sign, you’re going to remember to work for it and not fuck off that night or that weekend.”
“Bullshit! That’s crazy!”
I noticed Tessa was not arguing with me. I turned to Marilyn. “Do me a favor and run downstairs to your car and get me my briefcase. Please?”
Marilyn looked mystified, but she hopped up and got her keys, and then went down the stairs, with Tessa following. “What’s he up to?” I heard Tessa ask. I never caught Marilyn’s answer, but I’m sure it was, ‘I have no idea!’
“Buckman, I have to say, you have a real line of shit going! What are you up to?” asked my friend.
“You’ll see.”
After another couple of minutes the two girls returned, with Marilyn lugging my battered leather briefcase. “Here you go!” she said.
“Hold onto it for a second. Open it up and pull out my note pad,” I asked. I kept my eyes on Tusker and smiled.
“This one?”
I glanced at her and nodded. “Now, read what it says in block lettering on the front.”
Marilyn’s eyes widened. “Doctor Buckman!”
I took the notebook and handed it to my friend, and he stared at the cover. When he opened it up, it was written on the inside cover as well. “I am already about three quarters of the way to my doctorate. I already have enough credits for my bachelors and my masters. In two years time I will finish my doctorate.”
“All by writing it down in a book?”
“No, by doing the work. Writing it down simply means that I am always reminding myself to do the work. It’s not just a dream. It’s a goal.”
He looked back at the bathroom and asked, “And the 1980?”
“That’s when you’re going to do it.”
He stared at me slack jawed. “No way!”
“Henry Ford once said that if a man thinks he can do something or thinks he can’t do something, he’s probably right. I think I CAN get my PhD. You think you CAN’T get a dealership.”
“You’re serious about this, aren’t you?”
“It is entirely in your hands. One of these days I am going to take my kids over to see Uncle Tusker and Aunt Tessa where they work. Am I taking them to a bar or to a Harley dealership?”
“Shit!” He looked at Tessa in disbelief and then back at me. “Shit!” He just sort of shook his head. “This is some heavy shit, man! I got to think about this.” He stood up. “I’m going for a walk.”
I suddenly felt very guilty for putting my friend on the spot about this, but Tessa didn’t look all that concerned. As soon as he had left, she said, “Thank you! He needs a good kick in the pants every once in a while. I love him dearly, but he needs a little more ambition.”
“You don’t think I was too hard on him?”
“Hell no! I’ve told him the same thing. He listens to you! I’m just his girlfriend,” she laughed.
Twenty minutes later Tusker returned and the first thing he did was get us another round of beers from the fridge. “So how do I do this?” he asked.
I smiled. “I don’t know shit about dealerships or motorcycles, but I know a shitload about planning. That I can help you with.”
It was all standard management stuff I gave him, things he would run across in any number of standard sales books on goal setting and sales management. God knows I had seen enough of this crap the first time around. It works, but by the 50th time through, it gets real damn old. John and Gabriel believed in this crap big time and were constantly buying new books and tapes and CDs and DVDs on these kinds of programs. I made sure Tusker wrote his notes down himself, and by the time they had to go to the bar for the evening shift, he had a crude timetable for his plans. I also got him to promise to write me once a month and tell me about how he was progressing on his timetable and what his future plans were. Tessa promised to make him write, and I promised to hold his feet to the fire.
We’d just have to see how it worked out.
Saturday night Marilyn and I went out to dinner with my parents and Suzie, with Hamilton staying home. It was only somewhat awkward. Suzie peppered me with questions about the army, and I told her to join up and find out herself. That got a lot of laughs from her and Marilyn, not as many from Dad, and outrage from my mother. Mom did say she appreciated my pictures and had put them on the Wall of Heroes. Suzie commented that Hamilton hissed every time he went by them, which she and I found funny and our parents found distressing. I noticed that only Mom disputed this story, which meant that Dad had witnessed it as well. After dinner, we went to a movie, and then went over to the bar until closing.
Sunday we went to the beach. It was pretty much a repeat of last year, in that we spent the week goofing off, catching some rays, and screwing our brains out. I made sure I packed the Kama Sutra and the vibrator, and Marilyn packed her lingerie. We kept working our way through the book, and by now were well into the intermediate difficulty pages. I kept promising to teach her some of the advanced classes, but Marilyn would just laugh me off.
I bought her a little Pocket Rocket type of vibrator, and used that to introduce her to some back door pleasure. Just the concept of enjoying something back there was alien to her, but I knew from experience that while she wasn’t wild about anal sex, she did like having her asshole rubbed and toyed with, especially during doggy style or reverse cowgirl. I started out just running it around the area, then moved up to deliberately stimulating her butt, and finished with lubing it up and inserting the tip while she rode me backwards. Marilyn damn near went into orbit when that happened!
After our vacation was up, we headed back up to Kegs. Work Week was starting in another couple of weeks, and Marilyn went back to Utica. It was the start of my junior and her sophomore year.
The Galaxie was burning oil like I owned a well, and making a racket as well. I hooked up with Joe Santos, a fellow student who hung out with a lot of the guys in Grogans. Joe bought and sold cars like I changed my socks. He knew everything about fixing them, and was always working on one, fixing it up, and peddling it off. It was how he paid for school. I told him my problem and he came back to me a week later with somebody who wanted to sell a car. It was a three year old Impala with almost no mileage and in mint condition, owned by the proverbial little old lady from Pasadena, who had moved into a heavenly parking garage, and now her son wanted to unload it for cash. In a three-way deal, I paid for the car and gave Joe my Galaxie as a finder’s fee. I have no definite proof, but I figured Joe also made a deal with the guy who had the Impala; if so, it wasn’t my business and I felt no animosity towards Joe. He was a fine guy, and a year later he was voted in as an honorary Kegger.