"So," Kay said, glancing away from her driving long enough to catch Daddy-o's eye, "why did you launch into that guy so hard?"

Daddy-o shrugged.

"He was just trying to make a point," she pressed.

"I don't like missionaries," Daddy-o said, grumbling.

"Why not?"

"Do we have to talk about this right now?"

"We've got a lot of driving to do and nothing but time. Besides, I want to know what made you get in that guy"

Daddy-o ran a hand over his eyes and sighed. "All right. I used to have this friend who sold insurance. She comes up to me one day and says she has a policy I can't live without."

"The coverage was fine, on the surface. 'Not a thing to worry about,' she says. 'Just sign on the line.' All I had to do was sign, and I would be insured just like millions of other people."

"Then I explained to her that I had been with her company before, but had canceled the policy."

"She was confused. How could I do such a thing? It was the perfect plan. Nobody in their right mind could refuse."

"I smiled and told her how I had once been just like her -- a salesman with a plan. But one day I up and threw it all away. There were too many hidden clauses, too many false guarantees, too much small print. Cancelled the policy and quit my job with the company."

"She still couldn't understand. It was all so damn clear to her." Daddy-o paused, then continued in a quieter voice, "I asked her what she was feeling, and she started quoting her employee handbook. 'No,' I said, 'what are you feeling?' But she didn't have an answer for me, just more ads, more commercials, more slogans. So we left it at that."

"Eventually we drifted away from each other, she with her company and me with my own way. I thought maybe she'd see the light someday, but--" He stopped again, turned his head to look out the window so Kay couldn't see his face. "I thought maybe she'd get it. I thought she might understand someday that the company was a fraud and even if there were a God, He wouldn't be selling insurance."

Kay looked at Daddy-o sharply. "You mean--"

"Yeah."

"Ah." Kay clutched and shifted through a curve in the road. "Interesting analogy."

"Yeah. But she never got it."

"Whatever happened to her?"

"She died in a car crash a few months later. Suddenly and abruptly, she was dead."

"Oh. I'm sor--"

"I bet she was surprised when nothing happened next," Daddy-o laughed.

But Kay caught a certain sadness crawling behind his words. She asked, "Were you in love with her?"

"What? What makes you think I was in love with her?"

Kay shook her head.

"A fine question. 'Were you in love with her?' Of course not!" He paused. "Besides, that was a long time ago. It wouldn't matter anyway."

© Trincoll Journal, 1995.