Talking To Ed

Downtown there's an autoshop specializing in hardcore metal repair work. It's called Accurate Frame and Welding. Shortly after I ran over a good sized deer with my 1968 Cougar I had to take the car down to Accurate Frame for some serious welding. Both front shock towers had been split in half by the dead deer's corpse as I crushed it to the pavement. $600 dollars worth of welding later the car was in good shape up front. I did not at the time realize both my rear shock mounts had also been destroyed in the same accident. Behind the back seat both shocks mounted directly to the body on the top side. When that deer passed underneath the rear axle, it forced it upwards so violently that both shocks shattered through their body mounts.

Since I bought a Ford Focus to use as my daily driver I decided I could finally get to restoring the Cougar. Two or three weeks ago I dropped off the Cougar at Accurate Frame. I wanted those shock mounts fixed. Figuring the job wasn't that big of a deal I expected to hear back from the shop by now. They haven't bothered to call. Normally I don't like bugging shops when my car is being worked on because the guys there might get angry and deliberately slow down or sideline the car. This seemed like too long a period of time for such a simple welding job though.

I called the shop.

"Hello? Yeah, hey. I'm the guy with that '68 Cougar. Just wondering how the job is going."
The lady who answered the phone sounded nervous. Not good. After hesitating she said, "Uh... ummmm... uhhhhh."
"Is there a problem?"
"Uhhhhhhhh... you're going to have to talk to Ed."
"I'm going to have to talk to Ed, huh? Okay. Put him on the phone."
There was a long pause. Then Ed started talking.
"We caught your car on fire."
"WHAT?"
Ed said, "I told that dumbshit to take out the rear seat cushions but he didn't listen to me. He poked through the body from underneath with an arc welder and it shot some sparks. It caught the interior on fire, burning the back seat..."
"I'll be right over."

Shit.