He had never done something like this before.

Josh felt a little stupid – and a little bit in danger – but he was desperate. It was a few minutes before noon, which was the designated meeting time, and he was the only car on the roof level of the parking garage. All the remains of the recent snow storm had been pushed into piles in the corner. Josh looked back over his shoulder to see if company had arrived. It had not. He glanced back down the clock – it was now one minute before noon.

Josh felt a buzz from his phone, so he pulled it out of his pocket. It was his wife.

“???” she wrote.

He put the phone back into his pocket. He thought about just leaving. This is stupid. It wasn’t worth it. He hovered his fingers around the keys in the ignition. He wanted to turn them, but the sound of a car spiraling up the parking garage broke his concentration.

He was here.

Josh looked at his clock. It had just turned noon. He saw a black Cadillac Escalade pull up onto the roof and methodically work its way over toward Josh and park two spots to his right. The windows of the SUV were completely tinted and Josh couldn’t see inside. Nobody got out. The cars just sat there and Josh didn’t know what to do. Should he get out? Or wait?

The two played this game of chicken for four full minutes. Josh looked over at the Escalade but the black SUV remained expressionless. When the clock read 12:04, the Escalade rolled its window down two inches. He waited a few more moments for something else to happen, before he pulled the keys out the ignition and got out of his car. He stood by the driver’s side door of his BMW 3 Series and just looked at the Escalade.

Nothing.

“Damn it,” Josh whispered before walking toward the Escalade. He stood next to driver’s side door.

“WookieOfTheYear72?” Joshua said into the crack of the window.

“Tis I,” a raspy voice said. “You are Joshua?”

“Yeah.”

“Very well.”

The window rolled up. A few seconds passed before he opened the door slightly – maybe an inch or two. It stayed that way for a ten more seconds, before it opened a little more and then slammed shut. Josh stepped backward until he was leaning against the passenger side of his car.

This is ridiculous, Josh thought.

The trunk for the Escalade suddenly popped open. Wookie finally got out and it wasn’t what Josh was expecting – although he didn’t know what to expect.

The man was in his mid-50s, a large gut underneath a dirty brown polo shirt – all the buttons undone to expose his bare chest. He was balding with a thick mustache and wore rimmed aviator eye glasses. There was a slight limp in his walk – unclear if it was from a previous injury or from his weight. Despite the cold temperature outside, he was wearing cargo shorts.

“So how is this going to work?” Joshua asked.

Wookie didn’t respond. He just limped to the trunk of his Escalade and pulled out a wooden TV dinner table. He walked toward Joshua and adjusted the table to stand it up.

“How’s this going to work?” Joshua asked again.

Wookie looked at Joshua, took a deep breath and walked back to his trunk. He pulled out a large suitcase and wheeled it toward the table. He lifted it up and laid it flat on the portable table. As he unzipped the suitcase, Joshua stepped closer. Wookie finished unzipping the suitcase and opened it.

“This is what you are looking for?”

It was.

Joshua nodded.

“Are you planning on paying with cash, check or card?” Wookie asked.

“Card? You take card?”

“I do. Are you paying with cash, check or card?”

“Well, I have the cash.”

Joshua reached into the breast pocket of his coat and pulled out an envelope full of cash. He counted out twenty one-hundred dollar bills and put it back into the envelope and reached it toward Wookie.

“Thirty-five hundred,” Wookie said.

“I’m sorry?”

“Thirty-five hundred.”

“What do you mean, ‘Thirty-five hundred’?”

“I mean, this will cost thirty-five hundred.”

“What? No, that’s bullshit. We agreed on two grand. Where’d thirty-five hundred come from?”

“I decided it will cost thirty-five hundred now,” Wookie said, somewhat annoyed.

“What? I’m not paying that. I’m paying two grand.”

Wookie closed the flap of the suitcase and quickly zipped it up. He lifted the suitcase off the table and onto the cement floor.

“What are you doing?” Josh said.

“You’re wasting my time, so I’m leaving. I can find somebody else who wants it.”

Wookie turned to walk away, when Josh reached over and grabbed Wookie’s right shoulder and aggressively spun him back around.

“Don’t you touch me,” Wookie said.

“You listen to me,” Josh said, using his index and middle fingers to poke Wookie in the chest. “I’m buying that for two grand.”

“No, you aren’t,” Wookie responded.

Josh reached behind his back and pulled a pistol out of the waistband of his pants. He originally brought it for protection, but now Josh was pointing at Wookie’s head.

“You’re going to give it to me for two grand!” Joshua said sternly, before briefly looking back toward the entrance of the roof of the parking garage to make sure nobody was coming.

Wookie was not nervous. He took off his glasses and cleaned them with the bottom of his shirt and put them back on.

“Are you done?” Wookie said.

“What do you mean? No, I’m not done! You’re going to give me it for two grand.”

“Okay, so here’s the deal: First off, no I’m not. Don’t think for a second that this scares me. Look at me, do I look like somebody who fears death? Now, let’s get something out of the way. You have a gun pointed at my head and instead of simply taking it for free, you’re wanting to voluntarily give me two thousand dollars.”

“Well, that’s –”

“Now, instead of simply not paying the thirty-five hundred dollars and walking away, you want to show that you’re willing to kill me and spend the rest of your life in prison for this? There are cameras everywhere. We both know you’re not going to shoot me. So, put that away and let’s finish with this transaction. Do you want it or do you not want it?”

Joshua turned away and screamed into his shirt. He walked around his car, putting the gun back into his waistband, and circled back around to the table.

“Fine,” Josh said. “Two grand in cash, and I’ll pay the fifteen hundred on the card.”

“Oh, no,” Wookie said. “It’s forty-five hundred now.”

“Forty-five?”

“Yes, after that little tantrum you had. It’s forty-five now.”

“What? No.”

“Yes. Forty-five hundred. Take it or leave it.”

“You’re a real piece of shit, you know that?”

“Okay, five grand.”

Wookie had won. Josh dropped the envelope full of cash onto the TV table. With his right hand, he reached behind his back. Instead of reaching for the gun, he pulled out his wallet.

——

Josh was shaken awake.

It was Nora.

“Daddy, it’s time! It’s time! Can I open them now?”

Josh yawned and nodded. As Nora ran out of the room and down the hallway, Josh closed his eyes. He wanted to go back to sleep, but Susan pushed him from behind and told him to get up. They both got out of bed – Josh put on his robe and his slippers – and walked downstairs. Nora was already in the middle of unwrapping it.

“You got it! You got it!” she screamed, looking back at her parents. “A Manhattan Girl Doll!”

She frantically unwrapped the rest of the package. She hugged it tightly and thanked her parents and told them she loved them.

Susan smiled and looked at Josh.

“Five grand,” he whispered to her.

“Wait, what?” Susan’s smile disappeared. “Five grand? I thought it was two?”