“Depends where you intend to take her,” said the mechanic.

Holding the inspection lamp in his left hand, he aimed the beam at the transverse rod that connected the two front wheels.

“Have a look here,” he said.

He took a wrench from his overalls pocket and tapped the metal part a few times. Scraps of rusty metal came away and fell to the ground.

“It’s rusted,” he said. “Not completely, but it’s half rusted. Now have a look here.”

He moved the lamp toward the back of the vehicle and this time shone it on the chassis, between the two wheels.

“Same thing here,” he said, striking it with his wrench. “You see? The chassis’s half rusted.”

“Is it serious?” asked Jack.

“That depends!”

“And how are the brakes?” asked the girl.

“As a matter of fact that’s one of the things I wanted to show you,” said the mechanic.

He turned the lamp to light the inside of a wheel. Jack and the girl approached.

“Look at this piece,” he said, tapping a plate-shaped part inside which the brake linings were attached. “That’s the backing plate. I don’t know how you say it in French. This part’s supposed to be very rigid, but the rust has weakened it so much that if I took off the wheel and unfastened the springs, the brake linings and the rest, I could easily twist the piece with my fingers.”

The man had huge hands, and Jack looked away when he made a gesture as if he were twisting an imaginary backing plate between his fingers.

“When you apply the brakes, friction on the brake linings makes the backing plate heat up. But if it’s weakened by rust, the heat can twist it and . . .”

“How much for new plates?” asked Jack.

The mechanic switched off his lamp and turned toward the counter where the clerk responsible for parts was standing.

“Peter!” he called. “How much is a backing plate for this ’71 bus?”

“Around thirty-five dollars each,” the clerk replied. “Want me to check?”

“No. But are you sure they’re in stock?”

“Quite sure, yes.”

The mechanic explained, “It’d cost you seventy dollars for the two and about fifty for labour.”

“That’s a lot,” said Jack. “Is it absolutely necessary to change the plates?”

“Depends where you’re going,” said the mechanic.

Jack hesitated.

“We’re travelling the Oregon Trail,” he said.

The mechanic looked pensively at each of them in turn.

“You’re going to follow the Oregon Trail?”

“Yes,” said Jack.

“You’re going to cross the desert and the Rockies?”

“ Yes . . .”

“In the old Volks?”

“All right,” said Jack, “I get it. Put in new backing plates and if you notice any other defective parts, replace them, too.”

An hour and a half later, they were driving west along route 70.

“The motor’s running well,” said Jack. “Can you hear it?”

“Yes, it’s very smooth,” said the girl.