A Not So Miserable Old Cow

"Does she have a trade-in?"

"Yes, she has a not new Camry."

"Will she be looking at finance?"

"No, it will be a cash sale."

"Oh, okay then, let me show you what we have in stock." From this I got the impression that these guys got kickbacks from finance companies if they signed up new finance arrangements.

"Do you have any demonstration models?"

"I'll have to check with my boss, we've sold a few lately."

He went off to consult. Someone should tell these guys that sound carries quite some distance when the conditions are right. "What does the miserable old cow what this time?" The Dealer Principal asked.

"She's looking for a car for her grand-daughter, she has asked if we have any demos available. I told her I'd ask."

"We don't, but to make the old dear happy I'll find one. Did she specify a model?"

"Either an Impreza or a Liberty."

"She's in luck, we have a couple of new Libertys coming in tomorrow, see if she'd like the silver one over in the corner. Anything to get rid of her."

He came back. "You're in luck. We don't actually have a demo at the moment but, because we have a shipment of new cars due tomorrow, the boss had allowed me to give you that car," He pointed to the chosen car, "as a demo."

We trooped over to a silver Liberty. Granny did two laps of the car. "It's an automatic, you don't have a manual do you?"

"Oh god, here we go again," He muttered under his breath. "No madam, manual cars are a rarity these days, we'd have to order one in for you and you would have to pay full price for it."

"Could you contact one of the other dealerships and see if they might have one in stock?"

"I could, but the answer would probably be the same."

"Humour me, why don't you trot off and try. We have some shopping to do, so we'll take care of that and call back when we've finished."

"Very well madam, I'll have an answer for you when you return."

"What are the chances that he'll do no such thing." Granny said as we got into her car.

"Pretty good I would think. Did you give them a hard time when you bought this car?"

"What makes you ask that?"

"I noticed that the important people in the yard ducked for cover when we walked in."

"I did nothing more than to ensure that I got what I asked for. At first they didn't have the right colour, then they wanted me to accept from them that I, at my age, should take an auto. I told them that I had never owned an auto and I had no intention of changing that just because they didn't have what I wanted in stock."

"How much do you think they'll offer for my car as a trade-in?"

"How much did you pay for it?"

"Ten thousand."

"You got gypped. Did you buy it from a car yard or was it a private sale?"

"Dad arranged it for me, it was an ex-company car."

"Then you really got gypped. It was probably an ex-lease vehicle. If the company holds onto it for five years they have actually paid it off so, any money they get for it is clear profit. He could have given you the car, if he'd wanted to."

"What an arsehole."

"You won't get an argument from me."

We arrived at the shopping centre and got a few strange looks from passersby. I guess that it was sufficiently unusual to see two women emerge from a sports car, but to see the driver looking more like the passenger and vice versa. Granny tried a couple of trolleys before she found one that tracked well enough. The assistants in the service deli of the supermarket suddenly became very busy when we approached. We waited for around a minute before she decided that she could wait no more. "Come on Sinnead, we'll find the manager and complain about the lack of service." One of the assistants dropped what she was doing and came over to the counter, you could see the relief on the faces of the other assistants.

"Can I help you Madam?"

"Yes, I would like five hundred grams of sliced ham please."

The assistant selected several slices and placed them on the scales, "There's four hundred and fifty grams."

"Another half a slice should do it."

The assistant selected a slice and cut it in half. The weight came up to five hundred grams. It was wrapped and labelled. "Will that be all?"

"No, it would not. I want six chicken thigh cutlets please."

I looked and there were only five cutlets in the tray. "There's only five left Madam."

"Then I suggest that you go out the back and bring in a fresh tray and I would like you to take six from the new tray."

The assistant grumbled her way out back and returned with a carton of fresh thigh cutlets. Selecting six, she weighed them, wrapped and labelled them. "Will that be all for today?"

"Yes thank you." We walked away. "What you will have to learn is to insist on getting what you ask for. Near enough is not good enough in my book."

We went through the fruit and veg section, sorting through the produce until we had selected the best available. "I hope that you took note, because the next time we come here you will be selecting the produce."

I learned a lot on this trip to the supermarket. She selected the freshest coffee beans by reading the used by date on the pack. "I hate these pod machines, I can never get a decent cup of coffee from them, certainly not with a single pod. When selecting which beans to buy I look at the strength scale on the pack. This brand has recently released beans that measures nine on the strength scale, up until now I hadn't found any that measured more than six. If there is one thing that I'm precious about it's coffee, it has to be fresh roasted then vacuum packed and strong, you'll not find instant anywhere near my house."

So it went, we got our meat from the butcher shop, where possible fresh cuts. She pointed out the pieces of meat that she wanted rather than leaving it up to the assistant to select. "One thing I insist on, and that is I never buy meat that has been cryo-packed. These guys are good, when I first began to buy from them I complained about the quality of some meat that they had sold me, rather than put up with just any old cut. Now if the meat on display is not up to my standard, they will cut fresh from the carcass. They may be dearer than the supermarket butcher whose meat comes pre-sliced from the warehouse, but the meat is so much better."

We stopped in the liquor store and here she surprised me by selecting chateau cardboard wine. "Wine is one of those things where price is not an indicator of quality or taste. Here in Australia we have the technology to produce consistently good quality wines at a cheap price. I met a wine maker who, it must be said produced some very good wines, tell me that price and reputation count for nothing, if I liked a wine I should buy it. I have found that, because I am not a heavy drinker, that cask wine keeps longer than if I were to open a bottle of pricey red. By the time I had reached the last glass it would be well on its way to becoming vinegar."

I had to admit that I have some experience with cask wines, my fellow students at high school have been known to club together and buy a cask from time to time., We were always able to get an older brother or sister to buy it for us, we being underage and all.

We returned to the car dealership to be greeted by the news that no manual Libertys were available.

"What a pity, I guess that I'll just have to teach her to drive a manual on my car. We'll just have to try another dealership if we are to get what we want." The assistant just saw his commission disappear.

"Good luck with that." He muttered as he turned away.

"Wrong answer young man. I would have made an effort, at the very least you should have done what we're going home to do, and that is to get on the net and do a search for a vehicle that matches what we want and done a deal with the source to get it to us at the price we are willing to pay. If I can't find one by the end of the day I'll eat my hat."

"I can understand why the other sales guys made themselves scarce when we arrived. You gave him a hard time."

"If you will have observed something from this morning's adventure, it will be that I only give a hard time to those who are too lazy to give me what I ask for, when I ask for it. If that young man wants a career in the car trade he will have to learn from this morning's encounter, and if his boss wants to keep him in his team he will have to explain to him that some customers, at least in my case, will always insist on getting what is asked for. The same holds true in life."

"I have a lot to learn then."

"If you want to succeed in this world, then, yes you do. I will teach you what I can, the rest you'll have to find out about yourself."

I found Granny had a wealth of knowledge about a whole range of things, it was a result of an active mind, a desire to learn and a wide ranging interest in what was going on in this world. We had long discussions about many things and I found her knowledge of environmental issues to be well thought out. "What really gets up my nose are those pseudo intellectuals who continually bang on about issues that they know little about."

"Such as?"

"They claim that global warmer will raise sea levels and inundate low lying islands."

"Is that not so?"

"It depends on the island. Now volcanic islands will not be affected, the same can't be said for coral or sand islands, these are dynamic structures. The sea pushes sand onto the islands and the wind blows it away. When there are tropical storms, cyclones, typhoons or hurricanes, they can shift an awful lot of sand around, either by mountainous seas or strong winds, and change the face of islands quite significantly."

"So you're telling me that man is not changing the face of the earth?"

"No, not at all. If you were to look at the physical history of this planet you'd realise that the influence of mankind, while in some cases significant, pales to insignificance compared to nature. Things like volcanoes that spew tonnes of ash and noxious gases into the atmosphere, more than all of man's industry and automobiles combined. Then there is seismic activity. The people on the West coast of the US are continually banging on about the San Andreas fault and the damage it will cause the next time there's a major earthquake, but the impact of that is nothing compared to what will happen when the Cascade Subduction fault gives way, and that is overdue."

"So you think that I'm wasting my time pursuing my studies?"

"Did I say that? No, what I'm saying is that there are more factors involved in climate change than just what we humans are doing. What you will have to do is to look closely at the information that is coming out and decide for yourself what is relevant and what is just so much political point scoring and misinformation. Don't believe anything and question everything." We spent literally days going through climate history so that we could become better educated on the subject. Granny enjoyed this time with me, and declared that she was not fully conversant with what needed to be known.

Her education was a blessing and a curse. Whenever the papers I hand up disagreed with the information put forward by our lecturers, they were marked down, irrespective of how strong I put my argument and that I supported my case with peer reviewed published data.

It was during my second year that my life took a quantum shift, for the better I might add.

"Sinnead, I am expecting a visit from my Lawyer today. I need to go over the details of my future with him. Now, before you get any ideas, he is a very close friend, very close. Sometime during his visit we will take our leave of you and disappear to my bedroom to indulge in some extracurricular activity of a sexual nature. I know, you think that I am too old for that sort of thing but you're wrong. We've been doing it for years, usually while you are off at Uni, but today there is a reason that I want you to be here, it concerns you."

"Me?"

"Yes, don't worry, it's all good." She said no more until we heard the doorbell ring. "Will you get that?" She asked me.

I opened the door to be greeted by not one, but two, men. "Good morning, I'm Aaron Herrman, is Ruth in?"

"Yes, sure, come in." I led them to the kitchen where Granny busy dispensing four cups of coffee. She must have known that he would not be on his own.

"Sinnead, this is Aaron, but then you already know that, what you don't know is that this handsome young man is Simon, his grandson. The reason that they are here is that Aaron is about to retire and pass the baton to Simon to look after my business interests. I am also about to retire and Aaron and I are going to do something that we have planned for some time, and that is to get married and indulge in something that we have wanted to do for a while now, and that is to travel. The reason that we had to wait is that Aaron's wife has refused to die. She has recently obliged and we are now free to go public with our relationship. Are you shocked?" She asked me.

"Yes and no. This news came as a shock to me, I had no idea that you had been carrying on behind my back, but, having come to know you over the past year and a half, nothing you do would shock me."

"The reason that we are having this meeting here is that, if we conducted it in Aaron's office we wouldn't be able to, you know." She looked at Aaron and took his hand in hers and kissed him.

I looked at Simon, he was just as surprised as I was.

"Come." Granny picked up her coffee and headed for her home office. We sat and sipped as she cranked up her computer and opened up a file that was a mass of figures and calculations. "This is the me that your father doesn't know about, my investment portfolio."

"Your grandmother is a very astute business woman, she controls investments in a wide range of enterprises from primary production to heavy manufacturing industry. She has an uncanny knack of predicting economic trends before they happen. She has been able to buy at the beginning of a trend and sell before the trend heads toward failure. Even I don't know how it's done, but I have managed to gain a great deal of wealth as a result of working with her."

It was a long. Slow process, this working our way through her convoluted portfolio. We had to call a halt after two hours because Granny and Aaron decided that they need a break from finances.

"How long do you think they'll be?" I asked Simon.

"At least an hour. Grandpa is like a vintage car, he rallies seldom and has to be hand cranked, if you get my drift."

"Probably too much information. What are we supposed to do?"

"I know what I would like to do." He had a strange look.

"What makes you think that I'm at all interested?"

"We're almost half way there. I know a lot about you, I know about you and your father and the reason that you're living with Ruth, that was Grandpa's idea by the way, she discussed your situation and how she wanted to get you away from your father before he destroyed you. When he and Ruth decided that they wanted to travel, he included me in any discussions. It was Ruth that decided that we would be perfect together."

"Do I have any say in this?"

"If you know her as well as she thinks you do, I'd say that we should give in to the inevitable."

"And you expect me to be happy about this manipulation of my life?"

"Not right away, give it time." He came and sat next to me. Taking my face in his hand, he caressed my lips with his. The one thing that I have not expected was the tingling sensation that galloped through my body at his touch. Something inside me wanted me to return his kiss.

His were been busy exploring my body, firstly outside my clothing and then, after finding a couple of convenient buttons, under my clothing. At first I passively responded to his touch, but then, my hand brushed his thigh and his rampant cock.

"I think it's time, show me your room."

Now, don't get me wrong, I am not a virgin, I haven't been for some time, but this is the first time that, when it reached this point, I was not regretting having allowed the situation to get this far. I took his hand and led him to my room. I should also explain that, since moving in with Granny I have not allowed any person, male or female, access to my body. The part of my body that told me that it was about fucking time (no pun intended) had overridden that part that screamed 'NO'.

"Do I detect a practised hand?" I asked as his exploration of my body had identified and committed to memory my erogenous points. I squirmed under his touch and the sensation of the entry of his finger into my vagina caused my hips to rise up.

"No, I'm a relative newbie to this, but I'm learning fast. May I?"

Fuck, he's asking permission at shove it into me.

"Let me think about this." I would have dragged the thought process out except that he started to pull it out. "Yes you may."

I have to admit that my previous sexual experiences were the cause of my reluctance, they were less than exciting. I gave in to the inevitable and joined in enthusiastically.

We walked back into the kitchen to find Granny and Aaron enjoying a post coital coffee. "Enjoy yourselves did we?" Granny asked.

"Stupid questions she is asking now. If you must know we did." He kissed me to emphasise the point.

"Grab yourselves a coffee and then it's down to business."

We made ourselves a coffee and sat down. "Is it time?" Simon asked.

"Time for what?" I asked.

"Time for war." Granny said.

Aaron looked at Simon and me. "Your mother has been slowly, and through what, on the surface are disconnected parties, managed to gain a controlling interest in your father's company. We are going to, using these shareholder companies, demand an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders to discuss the future of his company. We expect that he will reject this based on his belief that he has the majority shareholding, or at worse, will be able to influence minority shareholders into voting with him. It will not be pretty, given his belief in his own infallibility, but we will prevail."

"We also expect," Granny said, "that when he loses the vote he will cry foul and claim that we have obtained shares by fraudulent means. The paper trail is impregnable."

"Shit." I whispered.

"What's on your mind?" Granny asked.

"Expect violence from him. I didn't tell you this but, when I had my huge argument with him about my choice of study, he reacted violently, I spent a week in hospital but was too afraid of him to press charges."

"I didn't know about that. If I had I'd have.. "

"You'd have what? He would not have thought twice about using violence if you had intervened. My solution was to move out, right away from him."

"This makes it even more important that we proceed with our plan."

"What are you going to do?" I asked.

"He will receive over the next few weeks, a message from the board of management of each of the companies that I own, advising that they will call an extraordinary meeting to review the direction that his company is taking. Nothing specific at this time, but we also plan to encourage climate activists to increase their opposition to his whole-scale fracking projects across the country on the basis that this is having a negative impact on the aquifers caused by the technology used in the extraction process that is also negatively impacting public awareness of his actions."

"He is not going to like that." I said.

"It's about time something happens to him that he doesn't like. He shrugged off the Coroner's findings into your mother's death. Water off a duck's back. He will not be able to shrug this off, particularly after the media is made aware of this. The mainstream media might try to ignore it but their influence has waned as the public has become aware of other news sources less influenced by big business influence in the political process. There will also be an extensive social media campaign launched. Simon and you will be in charge of that."