A little history of Gus before we get to his end.
Dad had been looking for a $1000 truck for a few months. Mom called me one day when I was a sophomore in college, living in my first apartment. She says, “dad bought a truck.” I said “whats it look like?” She replied, “Oohhhhh, you just have to see it.” I got over there maybe that day, maybe a day later to see this thing that Dad had brought home. I was sure it’d be interesting since Mom wouldn’t describe it over the phone. And well, let me tell you, I was impressed. Its not every day you see your rather conservative father pull up in a sunny yellow pickup truck with peasoup green fenders and a blue stripe running down each side. I was in love. Mom named the truck Gus, and Gus he stayed.
When Dad decided it was time for him to get a real truck, he gave us Gus. I had already told him that I wanted it when he was done with it. There was nothing else like him in Portland. People smile when you drive by. He’s one of those vehicles that you notice when you go around town, ya know the type, I’m sure you’ve got a few favorite old vehicles you see when you are running errands. You wouldn’t know the owners, but you know their cars.
Gus was great. He never cost more than $300 to fix, he was just as reliable as any other car I’ve owned (which, I suppose, doesn’t mean much). He could haul anything. He worked as Brandon’s work truck for two years, he hauled wood for our woodstove, we loaned him out to friends to get compost in. He did everything we ever asked. I was going to reward him for being so awesome this summer by sending him out to stay with Forrest. He was going to get his carburetor rebuilt, get all checked over, and perhaps even a new tailpipe. I was even thinking about replacing the drivers side door that had been dented by a careless driver a couple years ago. Oh well.
Gus was totalled last week by a 17 year old boy with no drivers licence, no one in the car, and according to relatives, who didn’t even know how to drive. His girlfriend for some reason decided to let him borrow the car (to go where, I have no idea), even though her relatives to her not to let him drive it, cause in their words “he doesn’t know how to drive.” Fucking idiot teenagers, well, both this kid and his girlfriend won’t be driving for a while, she won’t cause he totalled her car, and he won’t cause hes been arrested by the police, and has an $800 ticket for it.
According to the neighbor of mine who called the cops (thanks neighbor!) the kid came screaming around the corner, made a huge wide turn, and slammed the passenger side front end of a freaking suburban right square into the driver side door of Gus. He then proceeded to scrape along the side of Gus until he got past him, then slammed through two of my new raised beds in the parking strip of my front yard until the car got stuck in the last raised bed. Luckily for the kid, he didn’t take out our new pear trees planted out there, or Brandon would have killed him when he got home (he beat me home by five minutes). I guess he tried to drive off, but the tire was blown, so he got out and walked on down the street. Thats when the neighbor (thanks neighbor) called the cops, and they arrested him.
I’d like to think Gus died a hero, cause two kids were playing basketball the next yard over, and if the Suburban hadn’t hit Gus first, he could have easily gone through the picket fences and hit one of them. So Gus died to save kids from a kid who shouldn’t have been driving in the first place.
Rest in Peace Gus, we will find a new truck to take your place, but it just won’t be the same.
