Page 68 - Newcom

Fiction
By Edo Van Belkom
V ic calls the city and asks about special parking consideration for his truck.
“What kind of truck is it?” the person on the line asks.
“It’s a big one,” Vic says. “A semi.” “Oh, I’m sorry sir.. consideration is for cars only. It lets you park your car on the street a specified number of nights out of the year.”
“So, I can’t park my truck on my driveway?”
“T hat didn’t take long,” Vic says when he gets outside.
“I’m just responding to
a complaint from one of your neighbors, sir.”
“Which one?” Vic asks, looking up and down the street.
“I can’t tell you, sir, because I don’t even know.”
“Can’t I just keep it here for one night?”
A pause. “If you move it now, I’ll consider this a warning, but if I find it here later tonight I’ll ticket it. If that’s not enough, it could be towed.”
V ic’s wife has taken the kids
to Montreal to visit family and Vic is forced to bring his truck
home overnight because he has another load to pick up early in the morning and there’s no car to take him to the truck yard and back.
“So, I can’t park my truck on my driveway?”
Anita’s
Illustration by Glenn McEvoy
V ic goes to several different places in his neighborhood asking everyone if he can park his truck on their property. They all
want money... much more than Vic thinks it’s worth, but in the end, he needs to park his truck and get home because he has to work in the morning.
The place he finally decides on is a small shopping plaza three blocks from his house.
Vic walks home the three blocks in the rain.
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“Our by-law officers may, or may not ticket your truck overnight. But if someone complains about the truck being parked
in your driveway, they’d be dispatched to investigate.”
But by the time Vic is off the phone,
a by-law officer is out in front of the house looking at his truck.
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