There are fourteen panes of glass on Milo’s truck. That’s a lot, actually, because they are large. He has spent a long time putting this order together. It was a very specific order. Milo had to hunt down half of these pieces and then custom cut them to size.
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These are half inch panes. Pretty thick stuff. Tempered, and tinted 15%, green. Six feet, by four feet. When the client made the order, he understood that it would be a difficult one to fill. He made it clear that he understood the trouble by paying 50% up front.
When Milo asked him what the glass is for, the client would seem to have other things to talk about. Usually these things were for greenhouses, or maybe for custom windows in a large house. That’s what Milo figured. Something like that.
The carriers for windows like this are custom-built. They are angle structures, so the glass leans, and remains held in place by gravity. Four by six planks, very heavy. Two of these frames, holding seven panes each, situated equidistantly, on the back of his large, flatbed truck. Between each pane are two inch thick pieces of heavy foam rubber. They sit on a thick, large, rubber mat, laid out on the bed of the truck. The suspensions for trucks like this are customized as well. There can’t be any jarring or bumpy rides.
Milo is driving the truck out to the client’s property. It’s a long drive from the city to a fairly rural location. In fact, the man asked him about the truck, and the width of it, and said something odd. “I’ll prepare the road for the truck so it won’t be too much of a problem.” He said. “That’s curious”, Milo thought.
As Milo approaches the drive at the address, he has to swing out, in order to get the truck between two large, tall, brick and stone pillars. He waits in front of a thick wrought iron gate. He can’t see a keypad, or a phone box, or any way to let the client know he’s here. Suddenly, the gate sways open. The fine, packed gravel drive melds into pressed cinder stone. Milo is expecting to see some kind of manor, or other large estate structure. Instead, all he sees is a turnaround at the edge of a forest.
As he approaches the clearing, he can see off to the right, a cut path. He stops the truck, and gets out for a better look. The path is wide enough, though barely, and he can see that trees have been cut, and branches recently pruned to make room for his truck. The path has been tamped and smoothed. He can see about twenty feet, and then there’s a left turn.
He proceeds. It’s a very tight left turn, and he has room. Ahead of him it’s fairly steep, and it winds to the right. He doesn’t know what’s up there, or how it looks after that. He decides it will be best to cover the glass. He has large movers blankets, and he fastens them down with bungees. Something to note, is that on highways and open roads, it’s better to let the people see that one is hauling glass. Other drivers tend to keep their distance. That’s good. That’s what one wants.
As Milo drives to the bend to the right, he sees another steep section. It looks tamped and smooth, but it’s wavy. He takes it slow as he comes to another left turn. Now, he has to make a mildly steep, but long descent. He can see that once he gets through this, the little road finally flattens out.
Once at the bottom of this hill, he’s in another large clearing. There are tree stumps and rocks, but there will be enough room to turn around and leave the way he came. He sees no one. He knows he’s in the right place because, as the client said, he groomed the road for him to make the delivery.
Milo’s phone buzzes with a text. ”Harold will be down to help you move that glass. Sit tight a moment?”
“No problem, I’ll get everything ready here.” Milo replies.
He hops out of the driver seat and uncovers the glass. He unlatches and swings down the frames to make the glass available for moving off the truck. Then, he hops down, and slides out the ramps that are stored under the bed of the truck between rails.
Milo hears something coming down the hill at the back of the clearing. He’s expecting some help from a hire of the client. He sees instead a donkey. Riding the donkey is a chimpanzee. A chimpanzee wearing a ball cap and wearing work gloves. Harold dismounts from the donkey and ties him off to a tree. He then acknowledges Milo and runs over to a couple of close standing trees, and pats them. Then points to another set on the other side of the clearing.
Harold bounds over to the truck. Milo is astonished and a little uncomfortable. Harold calmly walks over to him, being nearly as tall as the five-foot seven Milo, pats him gently on the chest and gives him a soft hug. He then makes a motion with his hand as if to say, “come on, let’s go.”
Harold takes the initiative and takes the first pane of glass by the end, waiting for Milo. Milo obliges, and they begin moving the first set of panes to the trees on the one side. Leaning them very carefully, using the rubber pads between them, as on the truck. Then they repeat the process on the other side.
Harold presses his fingers into the palm of his other hand, and points to Milo’s pocket. Milo surmises that he should text the client that the delivery is successfully unloaded. “Apparently things are complete here.” He texts. “Give Harold a thumbs up sign.” He sees on the screen. He does, and Harold hustles over to the donkey and gets a binder from a pouch draped around the donkey.
Back to Milo, Harold opens the binder and hands Milo a check for the balance of the order. He then reaches in and gives him a fifty dollar bill. Harold mimes as though he's putting something to eat into his mouth. He pats Milo gently on the shoulder, turns around, returns to and gets up onto the donkey and heads back up the hill.
Milo, thinking out loud to himself, says, “Why would a Chimpanzee need a donkey?”
1009 Words
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