“The pick of the litter is yours for the asking. Let’s walk and talk while you look. Find what you want, and I’ll make you a deal that will knock your socks off—the old Ranger discount,” he said as he tugged the corner of his eye in a sly gesture. “But what happened to that sweet little Bronco? Somebody offer you too much money for it—more than you could turn down?”

“No, it burned up last night, Marvin.”

“Oh,” he said as he placed a placating hand on my arm. “I’m sorry to hear that. That was one fine little truck, and those are becoming more and more rare. Your loss is a loss for us all.”

I had to smile inside. Marvin’s words made it sound as though I had lost a family member, and one who he himself had known and admired. It was pretty obvious that Marvin loved not just his business but also the cars themselves. We arrived at the Chevy.

“This one, Marvin,” I said as I touched the trunk lid.

“What year is this one—a ’73?”

“You have a good eye, and you’re pretty close. This one’s a ’74.”

Marvin walked to the front and opened the hood. No sooner had we had stopped at the Chevy than a young man came hustling over and handed Marvin the keys to the car. He was dressed in an almost exact imitation of Marvin, right down to the loafers. He even carried himself like Marvin. The only difference, other than age, was waist size and skin color. Whereas Marvin wears the ruddy tones of northern European ancestry, the young man’s forbearers were African. And East African, I thought, from the shape of the man’s head and face and the reddish hue of his skin.

“Thank you, Taylor,” Marvin said as he accepted the keys. “I want you to meet an old friend. This is Kennesaw Tanner. We spent some time together in our misbegotten youth.”

“Pleased to meet you, Taylor,” I said as I shook the young man’s hand.

“The pleasure is mine, sir,” he responded, with a firm grasp, before returning to the office across the lot.

“Good-looking young fellow,” I said to Marvin as Taylor retreated. “Been with you long?”

Marvin watched the young man depart with a look of pride on his face. “Yeah, a little more than a year. He’ll soon be my son-in-law. He’s engaged to my oldest. I’m hoping to keep him here with me and take over the business some day. He has a degree from Emory and some great ideas about expanding this operation.”

“I’m happy for you, Marvin.”

“Yeah, thanks. And now about this car,” he said as he handed me the keys.