This chapter starts immediately after leaving the boarding school.

Howard & Anthony Age 6

Observe and learn, Little Prince.

Then connect and conclude.

Howard's POV

We stopped at a diner for cheeseburgers and fries. A blue pickup truck sat out by the road with a for sale sign in the window. I asked the waitress, "Do you know anything about the truck?" nodding toward the vehicle.

"It's the owner's son's truck. It stalled out on Bobby when he came to pick her up." The waitress looked around to see who might be listening. Then she leaned in and whispered, "It's a complete dud. Don't buy it."

"Thanks for the advice. Why don't you call Bobby anyway?" I winked, "I bet I can come to a fair deal."

The waitress smiled back. "I bet you can."

Bobby's POV

I was hyped to sell the truck. I didn't think anyone was going to take it off my hands, which was a bitch because the bank was still demanding the $640 I still owed 'em. What a crock of shit. The loan was taking longer to pay off than the hunk of metal had been willing to drive on the roads and the bank was refusing to put up the ante for a new one until the first loan had flat lined.

Genie pointed out the table with my victim, I mean future business partner, and whispered to me that the Caddie outside was theirs and that the fella in the darker of the two suits was the butler to the guy in the grey suit. A suit that fit so perfect it must have been tailored.

Don't know what someone with that kind of finery would want with the heap I was selling, but I knew for sure they could afford more than the $800 I had planned on asking for it, leaving a little wiggle room for the negotiating.

Tony's POV

I'd played the haggling game with Jarvis when we setup the stand in the living room and I'd sold him the stuff for ice cream. Obie and I had done some haggling when he played Monopoly with me. He kind of had to play 'cause he bought it for me for my birthday and it didn't occur to him until after that I was kind of lacking in people to play it with. My nannies weren't interested in playing, though I could pester them into it. Mom didn't want to play and Dad was too busy. Jarvis was willing to play, but he wasn't aggressive in the bidding wars.

But Dad was an expert haggler.

Dad asked, "Where do you suggest we start this negotiation?"

"Out by the truck?" Bobby asked rather than answered, like he wasn't sure what Dad meant by the question.

And he was completely wrong by what Dad meant, based on Dad's nose twitch. That was his tell when he wasn't happy with a response. Dad gestured towards the door anyway.

Dad tried asking the question a different way. "What assets and deficits are you contributing to this deal?"

I didn't know Bobby long enough to know his tells, but he was definitely befuddled by Dad's words. I was too, but I tried to work it out, unlike Bobby who just kind of stood there like he was waiting for Dad to clarify. Dad had said contributing and I know that has to do with money or stuff because Mom's always contributing money or stuff to foundations.

I wish Mom was here. Dad said she's on a flight home and I'd see her tonight.

What else had Dad said? Deal, assets and deficits. They were making a deal about the cost of the truck. I knew assets from analyzing accounts with Obie. That was like how much money you had available to spend. I didn't know deficit, but I think I'd worked out that assets and deficits were opposites because Dad had put the word and between them, meaning they were two different things. So, what was the opposite of having money to spend? Owing money. Or maybe just bad stuff in general, like the waitress had said the truck was a dud.

Bobby's POV

This guy's words were as expensive as his suit. I couldn't make heads or tails of what my end of the conversation was supposed to be, so I just went with what most people would've asked me and stated, "I'm asking $1,200 for her."

"Twelve hundred and you've yet to offer a single asset. Total it up for me Bobby. I already know she doesn't run. So, all she's good for is the parts. Given them to me one by one, and we'll see how close to that $1,200 we actually come."

He had to be kidding me. That wasn't how trucks were sold. You didn't piecemeal the price, part by part. It was a whole damn thing and I was asking $1,200 for it. I wanted to say so to him, but rude wasn't gonna get this heap off my hands no matter how good it'd feel to the soul. Instead I said, "Sir, the stuff under the hood really isn't my thing. When something starts thumpin' or she won't start up I drop her off to a mechanic and let them do their thing."

"I surmise that the mechanic's price was a bit out of your reach this go around. How much did the mechanic want?"

The answer popped out of my mouth before I'd thought to hold it back, "$850."

"So, the actual price for this vehicle, on my end, is $2,050. That seems a bit steep. I'm thinking the price I need to pay to fix it should come off the total I owe you. Let's see, that would drop the price to $350."

"Now wait a minute…"

"Speaking of those deficits, what do you still owe on her? Appears she got a bit beat up, but her model's not that old. I'm guessing you still owe a bit to the bank."

"$650."

Howard's POV

Yes, I could afford the $1,200, but that didn't mean I felt like getting bilked today. I could see in his eye the moment he said it that he was high balling. Probably upped it the moment he saw potential for a bigger pie.

"Sir, you already knew she wasn't working. I don't find it fair to take off the whole repair cost from the asking price."

"And I don't find it fair to be charged nearly double what the bank wants. How about this Bobby, you pay me $50 dollars and I'll take care of what's left of the debt."

Bobby's POV

"You want me to pay you!" This guy was nuts.

"I want to get you out of debt, Bobby. If you can come up with $50 dollars, I can bring that bank loan down to zero. What do you say, Bobby, do we have a deal?"

"I don't know what you're smoking, mister, but I've never heard of a car sale where the seller does the paying."

"How long has she been sitting out here with the for sale sign?"

"5 weeks." Freakin' small towns. Everyone knew everyone else's business, so everyone knew that truck was a dud. An out of towner was my only hope to ditch 'er. I saw the other guy wince at my response.

"That last payment to the bank had to hurt."

"It rankled a bit." Made me spitting mad. I'd tried to take the edge off with a few beers and ended up getting booted from Bauser's Bar when he got tired of me not shutting the fuck up about it.

"Then why risk going through that again? You come up with $50, then I'll call the bank and get the balanced cleared."

Tony's POV

See! If the Olympics offered it Dad would get a gold medal in haggling.

We watched Bobby go inside to talk to his mom, and it looked like a few waitresses were donating, or more likely lending, to the cause. Bobby came back out and handed my Dad two of his own $20 bills, $8 in ones and a handful of change.

"Jarvis, get someone to tow that thing back to the house."

"Of course, sir."

At home…

Howard's POV

I lifted Antn'y so he could stand on the front fender and look under the hood. "This is the battery. It powers the lights and the radio and gives the first boost of energy to get the motor running. On the first cars a person hand to hand crank it up to get it started."

"Did you have to do that with your first car?"

I chuckled, "Before even my time, kid. But I've got an antique out in California that we can crank up the next time we're out there. Now this is the starter and that is the engine. The battery kicks the starter into gear, which gives the crankshaft in the engine its first few go arounds." I pointed to one side of the engine. "The fuel and a bit of air flow in through here."

"Why air?"

"Why do you need air?" I replied.

Anthony shrugged. "To live. Your body needs it."

"Remember that apple you left out, after taking a few bites. What happened to it?"

"It turned brown and got squishy."

I nodded. "It did that when it interacted with oxygen in the air. That's why you breathe. The oxygen helps your body digest the food you eat. The same kind of thing happens in the engine, like how a fire grows bigger when you blow oxygen on it."

"Like with the fireplace bellows and like the big bellows at the blacksmith's shop, right?"

"Exactly," I confirmed. "So, air and fuel go in through this intake valve. And then...well, and then I think we need to take a few bolts off so you can see what's going on inside." I retrieved the appropriate tools and removed the top of the engine block, then perched Antn'y up on top of the wiper fluid reservoir, uncaring of the dirt and grease staining his clothes. "This is the crankshaft and that is a piston."

"Things that are spelled the same mean the same. Does that mean the piston acts like a pistol, Dad?"

I was thrilled that he was making connections, including one I hadn't thought of. "Actually, yes. In a gun the firing pin hits a primer which causes a spark. That ignites the gun powder. What happens when things get hot?"

Anthony's POV

I exploded my hands outward, "They get bigger!"

Then Dad said, "The air in the bullet heats up and needs more room. This pushes the projectile off the front of the bullet and towards the target. In the engine, the oxygen and gasoline get ignited and bond together and because they're hot…"

"They get bigger!" My arms went wide again.

"But instead of pushing a projectile out of a gun it pushes the piston down."

"Why does the gas catch on fire?" I asked.

"Hm? Good question. How does lightning get from the clouds to the ground?"

"Boom!" I exploded my arms again and yelled the word. "Just like a gun booms."

"That's the thunder. How does the lightning move?" Dad asked.

My brow scrunched up as I thought about it, then went with my best hypothesis, "Like radiation waves from the Sun?"

"Not quite. The light does travel from the lightning to your eyes in radiation waves, but that isn't how it gets from the clouds to the ground. Do you remember the picture of the atom I showed you?"

"Positive in the middle. Negative on the outside. Opposites attract, like magnets. It's part of what makes atoms stick together."

"Yes, if the bond is ionic. Covalent's a bit different, but we won't worry about that right now. Imagine the bottom of the cloud is all negative and the ground is all positive. What's going to happen?"

I slapped my hands together, "Smash! They want to crash into each other like magnets. The negative zooms down to the positive, and when they kiss it goes boom!" I shouted boom again, because it was fun to yell boom.

Howard's POV

I had trouble holding back the laugh on the kiss part but did allow my lips to twitch. "Maybe will get to the thunder in a minute. But let's stick with the lightning for now. As the negative electrons race down to the ground, they collide with oxygen, shaving off electrons from the oxygen, and for that brief moment before the oxygen refills its electron shell by covalently bonding with nitrogen, it is electrified and emits light." I handed Anthony a part. "That is a sparkplug. Do you see the little gap at the base?" Anthony nodded. "Compare that to the ground and the cloud."

"This end is like the ground." Anthony touched the L shaped bit, and then the metal post on the other side of the gap. "And this is like the cloud. Electricity zaps from one to the other and ignites the gasoline and oxygen, making them join together."

My eyes must've gleamed with pride. I'd worked with, and fired people, who'd need every little detail spelled out for them. But Anthony easily weaved the ideas together and figured out how they fit. "So, what is your hypothesis for why thunder booms?"

Anthony's POV

I rolled my eyes, "Hot air moves fast, bumps into stuff, stuff vibrates, the fast air bumps into your eardrums and your brain converts it into sound, like with everything that makes noise. But that isn't as fun as yelling boom."

"I suppose not. Engines make noise for the same reason." Dad put his arms out and I grabbed on, then he lifted me to the ground. "Alright squirt, let's see if we can get this heap running."

Iron Man 2

Tony's POV

I eyed the expo model, noticed the atom like pattern. "Son of a bitch." Two decades in the grave and Dad was still teaching me new things.

Even a tiny review is appreciated!

The bargaining idea, about the seller paying the buyer so that the buyer will take care of what is left of the loan was based on a supposedly true story, though I no longer remember where I heard it.