Chapter 19: Dr. Wu

Chapter 19: Mindy Watkins Visits Dr. Wu

Like a lot of Southerners, Mindy Watkins was sensitive to cold weather. With the temperature in the mid-thirties, high winds and light rain, Mindy critically evaluated the heating unit of the People Car Sedan and she concluded that it kept the driver's seat warm and toasty.

This was Mindy Watkins first electric car and it still felt funny to drive. She readily admitted that she had been taken in by the half hour infomercials where John Joseph himself touted the advantages of the People Car.

“Most Americans fail to reach financial independence because they spend too much money on automobiles...not just the purchase price but the maintenance as well...would you consider comfortably driving a car that might outlive you? A car that you might pass on to your children? And they might pass it along to their children?...Not planned obsolescence. Planned permanence.”

Inspired by Volkswagen Beetle, the People Car maintained the same style every year. The plan was to correct minor flaws every five years while maintaining the same exterior. The People Car came in six colors with three interior styles. No sunroofs, moon-roofs, T-tops or rag-tops. No special editions.

For a multitude of reasons the People Car was the cheapest car to purchase and the most economical to maintain. Except for the audio system, there were no microchips inside the car. It was manufactured in Alabama in conjunction with the Kikuchi Auto Company, a small Japanese bus, truck and motorcycle establishment. The design costs were minimal considering there was only one design.

Electric cars generally had lower maintenance costs. The heat involved in internal combustion caused the heartiest metals to warp and change shape over time. The dependence upon electronic regulators from emissions to cabin temperature jacked the price of new cars and made repairs difficult and pricey. A crank-handled door could be repaired for under a hundred dollars whereas it cost three to ten times as much to repair a push button window.

The Joseph Motor Company planned to expand into tour buses, school buses and trucks. They had a two door People Car and a minivan that didn't look like a minivan on the drawing board. For now, they hyped the People Car, a model that became a blockbuster in its sixth year.

Meanwhile, the high end electrics sold well but the retrofitted combustible electrics underperformed and now undersold. The dinosaur dealers were married to the “One Gas Tank” model. One power source that took a painfully long time to recharge.

The People Car offered a large battery and five smaller batteries. The smaller batteries could be swapped out in minutes. Joseph Motor Company was currently offering recharge franchises at one hundred mile intervals along US Interstates as well as along Canadian highways. As the ad said, the age of People was here and Mindy Watkins now drove a People Car.

As Mindy Watkins pulled in front of Greener Pastures gated community, a guard holding an umbrella greeted her. “Good afternoon, Ms. Watkins,” the tall middle age man said in a deeper than average voice.

“Hello Deputy Cummings,” Mindy Watkins replied daintily.

She let the engine run and the giraffean man opened the driver door and shielded the VIP with a gray umbrella. Deputy Cummings offered Mindy Watkins his arm and he escorted her into the cramped guard house. He then returned to park the people Car in the designated parking area.

Greener Pastures Forensic Housing was Amerijail's first venture into secured living. It was a gated and secured twelve house community with a common area, a horseshoe that culminated in a cul de sac. Despite the exorbitant rents Greener Pastures charged government agencies to house witnesses and refugees, it was still a bargain because the renting agencies did not have to provide their own security.

Break even was somewhere between forty and fifty per cent occupancy and Greener Pastures currently rented ten of twelve units. One of the two vacant houses was rented to R and D superstar, Doctor Richard Wu and his two Chinese houseboys to offset what Mindy Watkins acknowledged was undercompensation for his enormous contributions.

At ten acres, Greener Pastures could still add a few houses should the need arise. No one used the tennis court or ball diamond or picnic tables. That could be two more units. Greener Pastures was a gold mine and Mindy Watkins dreamed of spreading the model throughout the American South.

At an idling speed the Octaroon deputy with the gray Hitler mustache gave Mindy Watkins a tour of the compound. They drove past the home Department of Justice rented for James Charles Pearce and his family. From the backseat of the SUV, Mindy Watkins peppered her chauffeur with questions.

Officer Howard reported that the Pearces were quiet people. The kids were being schooled online and rarely left the house. They had not attended church ever since their patriarch was shot during a service. Mr. Pearce had been in and out of the hospital. He almost lost his life a few times but he's been home for a few days now.

The CIA-sponsored Amal family also kept to themselves. The occupants sponsored by the US Marshals had been moved to parts unknown. That woman sponsored by the FBI liked to drink white wine and she too was quiet and kept to herself.

Parked in front of Dr. Wu's extended ranch house, Mindy Watkins asked her driver his opinion of electric cars. She would be surprised at his detailed answer. If he had money to burn, Officer Howard might buy a “movie star electric.” But on his budget, the only reasonable choice was the People Car.

“People Car people are people people,” Officer Howard explained. A cult had been formed around people Car customization. A guy from California had removed the back seat and put in extra batteries. He could go fifteen hundred miles without recharging. “Try doing that with a gas burner,” he cued his passenger.

He continued. “Hippies like em. Rednecks like em. Brothers like em. Wrenchheads like em. People who hate cars like em.” Officer Howard explained how Joseph Motor sponsored People Drags and bands played over their silent engines and he emphasized the diversity of humanity who turned out. Joseph Motor Company offered hefty cash prizes for speed records and sponsored intercollegiate competition. “The People Car is a pallet for mechanical artists,” Officer Howard summarized, lifting his description directly from ad copy.

Deputy Howard then pointed out the flaws of the competition. Skimping on steel to compensate for weak engines, electric fires, fatal shocks, sudden mysterious mechanical failure, high recharge times....Mindy Watkins had to cut him off. She dialed Dr. Wu from his driveway.

“OK. I'll send Rue to meet you,” Dr. Wu said softly.

A delicate Chinese man in a blue flowered kimono pranced out the front door and approached the SUV. Officer Howard opened her door and held the umbrella for Mindy Watkins. The dainty Chinese man bowed and said, “Wehrcome Miss Watkin.” Officer Howard walked them to the front door, protecting his wards with an umbrella. He returned to the SUV and putted back to the guard house.

Mindy Watkins entered the four bedroom dixie ranch leased for a dollar a month to Dr. Wu. She paused in the parlor to remove her shoes. The blue kimono host gently took her hand and guided her over thick, springy carpet. Mindy was taken by the strong incense, the muted lighting and the artificial fog. The fog resembled movie set fog where the actors are obscured except for their shoulders and necks and faces.

A second young Chinaman in a pink flowered kimono appeared out of the fog and raised his right hand above his head like he was expecting a high five. Mindy offered her free hand, her left, and submitted to the leadership of Dr. Wu's girlboys. Had she not signed their paperwork and had she not known that Lou was from Singapore and Ron was from Hong Kong, she would have guessed thy the two young men were twins. “Dr. Wu is known for his exacting taste,” Carlisle had commented on his worldwide search for talent.

“What you dwlink?' Lou asked ever so politely.

“Just water,” she answered and instantly the blue-kimono man returned with a tray that held a bottle of Perrier, and a glass of ice adorned with a lemon. With a hand flourish above his head, he instructed Ron to lead their guest and he followed behind them as they waltzed through the fog. They stopped outside a bathroom and the pink-flowered escort floated out of the fog to hand Mindy an Ole Miss sweat suit. He gently commanded her to enter the bathroom and to remove her pantyhose and to don the sweats.

Mindy closed the door behind her. There was no fog in the bathroom. It was neat. Meticulous like a hotel bathroom that had just been touched up. Fluffy pink hand towels, pink pump soap in a pink-flowered dispenser. She removed her pantyhose and draped them over the shower curtain. She sat on the toilet and urinated. She flushed, washed and climbed into the Ole Miss sweat pants.

In the foggy hallway Ron gently took her left hand and gently guided her ten feet to a darkened room and closed the door behind them. Lou gently guided Mindy into a fluffy chaise lounge. He poured her Perrier and handed Mindy the glass.

With the urgency of an Indy car pit crew Ron washed Mindy's feet with a heated wash cloth. “This for you, Miss Watkins,” Lou purred as he placed a heated mask ever so gingerly on her face and a heated bonnet on her crown. Headphones were placed over the bonnet and they fit snugly over Mindy's ears.

At first the headgear was a distraction. Even more so as the tonal symphony commenced. Soon the focus was back on her feet. No such thing as a bad foot rub. A lobster could do just fine if he concentrated, Mindy reasoned. But Ron was clearly schooled in one or those arcane Oriental practices that Westerners never learned.

Mindy Watkins did not know or care what sort of Eastern esoterica was being applied to her heels. She knew that he pressed on the ball of her right foot and she felt intense pain simultaneous to the release of all pain and suffering. Something was leaving her grasp.

Ron shifted his attention to her right heel. He rubbed superficially and then applied pressure. Mindy Watkins found herself in a floaty, dreamy, foggy place. She felt like a fish in warm water but there was no water. She saw the contented face of her father and she felt even warmer. She spotted her mother floating above her as aloof now as she had been on Earth.

Mindy felt a coziness in her chest when she saw the family dog she had grown up with. “Am I dead?” she asked herself. As soon as she posed the question she saw her twin sister and Carlisle. Then she saw her son and her daughter-nieces floating ever so comfortably. Then there was dark, restful bliss.

When she reviewed the evening Mindy Watkins would not recall finding her way to the dinner table. She remembered sitting across from Dr. Wu at the opposite ends of a long dining room table. She remembered the fog that filled the perimeter of the room but did not encroach on the dinner table. She remembered Dr/ Wu's two houseboys drifting in and out with tasty victuals prepared in the kitchen.

Dr. Wu informed his employer that Lou was an aspiring chef in the Corsican tradition. Mindy Watkins would not be able to elaborate on the soup and salad and choice entrees except to say how great they were. She would, however, have a box of pastries to take home to her family.

Mindy Watkins had meant to review a half dozen points of business with Dr. Wu but she fell short of that goal. Mostly she stared at his kind face and bald head and wondered why some ethnic groups could wear baldness well and others could not. In a state of high satisfaction Mindy Watkins listened once more to Dr. Wu lament his unappreciated talents.

The FBI had Dr. Wu on referral but when he a religious zealot barricade himself in his cabin with hostages, the good doctor wanted to plant religious commands in the zealot's head. The FBI chose instead to burn his cabin down. The CIA wanted to stick to their bloodless torture techniques that were not half as effective as the Doctor's. Naval Intelligence, the Army, the Air Force: they would listen to Dr. Wu and toss him a bone and then ignore him. It was demoralizing.

Mindy Watkins informed her genius in residence that she procured a contract for an inmate named Delbert Wayne Duncan whose confession would help the careers of a lot of good people and spare the taxpayers the burden of a prolonged trial. Dr. Wu nodded and switched the topic to the artificial Samadhi machine she had experienced earlier. “Is it mahlketable, Miss Watkins?” he asked sincerely.

Mindy Watkins said she would look into the consumer demand and shortly thereafter she would be driving her People Car back to Lake Wily. Yes, in the person of Dr. Wu, she had a latter day Edison on her hands. Just had to find a way to bring his talents to market. For now, he was accepting lodging and a small wage but if Greener Pastures filled the last two vacancies Dr. Wu and his boyfriends would have to move on.

With the last remnant of Pseudo-Samadhi drifting from her head, Mindy Watkins stared at the highway in front of her and pondered the words of her departed father. “The hardest thing in business is to turn a cash steer into a cash cow.” She never knew what that meant but it seemed to make sense now,