Free Playing the 'Son' Card by Wilson James Page A

what my mom
had shown me three days before, and do it up right.
    Still, I had made the offer, and now
I had to go through with it. “Sure. Of course.” I said, more
confidently than I felt.
    The SUV was still unlocked, and I
indicated the car with my hand, saying, “If you’d like to have a
seat, I’ll get this all up and running in just a couple of
minutes.”
    Voicing their assent and their
thanks, all three of them climbed in, with Tony planting himself in
the passenger seat as I brought out mom’s laptop. I set up the
printer on the dash as I was waiting for the laptop to get
connectivity.
    In less than two minutes, I had the
clicked on the right icons, and the link, and had the real estate
board’s ‘Offer to Purchase’ form up on the screen.
    “So,” I said, “If you can just give
the information I need as I ask for it, I’ll fill it in, and we can
print this up. As Mr. Marconi can see, this is the standard form
recommended for use by the Real Estate Board of Northwest
Washington.”
    Tony duly noted his approval. “Mr.
and Mrs. Johnston, this is the standard form, and this is what we
would be using in the office, as well.”
    “Quite impressive that you can do
that right here, Mr. Evanson,” was the husband’s
comment.
    Thanking him, I called out for the
information I needed. Full legal names, address, social security
numbers, and other identifying information. Then the clauses;
subject to an inspection within a week, subject to financing within
two weeks, subject to possible verification of all statements made
and written assertions made during the inspection tour on Sunday
17th of April (that was today), subject to a verification of
municipal planning area status within a week, and finally subject
to acceptance by the vendor within 48 hours. A closing date of the
25th of June, and finally, the amount.
    I dutifully filled in ‘two hundred,
twenty-three thousand’ in the appropriate space. I had a moment to
realize that was only six thousand less than the asking price. I
only learned later that such a high offer was extremely
unusual.
    “Anything else, Mr. Marconi?” He’d
been watching carefully as I went through the form. Fortunately, it
was self-prompting, so it was easy for me to do.
    “No. That looks great, Troy. Nice
work.” He was back to using my first name. I supposed that was
good.
    I made sure the paper was correctly
positioned, and hit the buttons to print four copies. I thought my
mom had said something about three, but I figured it was better to
ask for one more.
    “I’m doing four copies, if that
sounds okay,” I announced. “That’ll give one for you, Tony, and one
for the Johnstons, along with two for me.”
    “Super,” Tony agreed. “That’s
perfect.”
    The forms came out of the printer,
three pages for each copy. I handed them all to Tony, and produced
a stapler from the bag that the printer was kept in. He got to work
stapling them all together. At this point, I decided, it was now up
to him. He was the buyers agent, and all I had done was produce the
paperwork for him.
    Tony finished assembling the forms,
and then suggested to the Johnstons that they step out of the car,
and review the forms before signing.
    I sat back as they got out, more
worried than ever, but slightly hopeful that it would all still
work out. I could not believe my own audacity and what I had done
over the last hour and half. I was half afraid he’d turn around,
and call my bluff, saying that he now realized that I was a kid,
and that he was going to report me for everything I’d
done.
    But that didn’t happen.
    Instead, I watched them on the hood
of the SUV. Tony pulled out a pen, and they all started signing the
papers. With a great deal of relief and disbelief that this was
actually happening, I got out of the driver’s seat, and stood
waiting for them.
    When they were all done, Tony gave
the Johnstons their copy and handed two copies to me.
    “Here you are, Troy.” He shook my
hand.