“The Falcon” is from our third short story collection, Wind in the Pines, published in 2004. It’s still in print on Amazon.

The Falcon

My Daddy had a wonderful sense of humor. You had to know him well to be exposed to how he loved making fun of everything. He could really surprise you at times.

We had an old 1963 Ford Falcon that had been passed around in our family. It had once been blue, but by about 1980, it was more rusty primer than blue. It was a small car, good on gas, low on glamour, and had the odometer “had rolled” over several times at 99,000 miles. I remember when my parents told my sister, Colleen, she could take it to college for a few weeks. She refused, even though it meant walking and getting rides. She said she didn’t want to be seen driving anything that looked that bad.

My youngest sister, Claudia, shared it with my mom. We razzed little sister about having a car to go to school in when we, older siblings, had to ride the bus as students. But having the Falcon in the high school parking lot meant a lot of good-natured laughter from your peers, so I guess it wasn’t too much of a prize.

it often lost its brakes, among other things.

Even though the Falcon was ugly, it was a driving machine. It had good acceleration, and with the wind blowing in through the open windows (no AC in the Falcon), you felt as if you were going much faster than you actually were.

I’m not sure when or why Daddy decided to sell the Falcon, but he got creative with his ad. In that issue of the Beauregard Daily News, he placed this ad:

 

 

My parents said the phone rang off the wall that evening. Daddy sold it quickly to a boy from Singer, which I thought was pretty appropriate. It was a country car and deserved a country owner.

Years later, men still come up, get their wallet out, and hand me a tattered newspaper clipping. Grinning, they will comment, “Do you remember when your dad put this ad in the paper?”

I always assure them I remember it well.

If anyone has a photo of the Falcon, I’d give part of my inheritance to have a copy.

 

“The Falcon is from my 20024 book, Wind in the Pines, still available on Amazon (with updated cover.)