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Zhang and Annika's Land Rover by moyomongoose

Zhang and Annika's Land Rover

moyomongoose

Zhang and Annika also got a decent reliable vehicle, and it was a one in a lifetime deal too. An elderly widowed palm civet, who's husband recently passed away, had a utility vehicle she called a jeep. Her late husband left it to her and she was selling at almost a give away price. When Zhang and Annika, taking along Raphael, then age 6, went to see the so called jeep, the widowed civet mentioned that it had some collectable value to it, but since her husband died, she just wanted to get rid of it. When the Meerkats saw the vehicle, they found out what the widow palm civet was calling a jeep, was a 1970, five door, hard body, Land Rover, in pristine condition, in dark green, with a white top. It had 4 wheel drive, in line 6 cylinder engine and a manual transmission. It was the ideal rugged, well built, go any where, nostalgic, family wagon, built to hold up and last. And unlike the cars the meerkats were now replacing, the steering wheel was on the right side, which is better suited for driving in India.
"The only thing missing, is it use to have safari roof panel above the regular roof", the widowed palm civet told Zhang and Annika. Then she continued, "Birds use to build nests up under it. My late husband and I would tell them not to build there, but they'd do it anyway. Then they'd expect us not to drive it, telling us they were scared that their young would fall out while going down the road. So we fixed that by taking it off and getting rid of it".
Little Raphal was even hopping and climbing over the seats in glee and astonishment.
"I can hardly wait for the other cubs in school to see our new car!" Raphael exclaimed as he took a place on the driver's seat and reaching up holding the steering wheel, barely being able to see over the dash. Raphael had recently started school at that time.
Zhang and Annika hopped on that deal right away.
"And the engine. It can warm up on it's own. We won't need to hold a piece of cardboard over the carburetor", Zhang said jokingly as Annika chuckled and hugged him.
The widow palm civet was puzzled by Zhang's comment until he and Annika explained how Annika's Moskvitch automobile was.
Then she too laughed, then told Zhang and Annika, "This old jeep treated my late husband and I very well. And as long as it's taken care of, it will treat you just as well as it treated us".
"Hey look. It don't have the fast numbers", Raphael announced as he pointed at the speedometer, noticing it only read up to 75.
"Well, the fast numbers, we don't need them, Babe", Annika replied to Raphael.
"We seldom drive faster than seventy five kilometers per hour anyway, Son", Zhang added.
"Oh my!", the widow palm civet exclaimed. "I almost forgot to tell you. That speedometer is not in kilometers. It's in the old English miles per hour".
"I see that now", Zhang mentioned as he saw MPH, instead of KPH, printed on bottom of the speedometer.
"So seventy five to this speedometer. It's going pretty fast", Annika added.
"My goodness yes", the widowed palm civet answered. "You run this to seventy five, you'll be going almost 120. This kind of speedometer can easily fool you, being use to kilometers.
"We usually drive at seventy or eighty on the open highway. So in miles, that would be....?", Zhang asked.
"Well, if you run it to forty five, that will give you seventy kilometers per hour. And running it to fifty will give you eighty", the widowed palm civet explained.
For Zhang and Annika, getting accustomed a speedometer they were not use to was only a trivial matter. They really liked that Land Rover, and so did Raphael, especially after the meerkats, with the widowed palm civet riding along, took it on a test drive. When they got back from the test drive, Zhang went over to the car that Yannas Fossa had been letting he and Annika borrow, and got the checkbook from the glove compartment. The widowed palm civet received a check in the amount she was asking for the Land Rover, and Zhang and Annika received the title to the vehicle, signed off to both of their names, and a written bill of sale. The deal was done.
Now that Zhang and Annika were the proud new owners of the Land Rover they had purchased, the first thing to do was to return the car that Yannas and Sthella Fossa had been letting them use. Annika drove the car back to the Fossa residence, as Zhang and Raphael followed in the Land Rover. When Yannas and Sthella saw Zhang and Annika's newly purchased vehicle, they were really impressed, which of course, was followed by an hour visit, talking about old Land Rovers and other old vehicles while Habbar entertained Raphael, before the meerkats went on their way.
For most of the remainder of that day, Zhang, Annika and Raphael cruised around Salem, and stopped in at a few places, before they headed back to their house in Yercaud.

Although Zhang and Annika had the Land Rover registered in both of their names, this was the first time Zhang, then 22, ever in his lifetime had a motor vehicle with his name on the title. And it was among the first of the vehicles they and the other family members had that wasn't either beat up or a falling apart piece of junk.

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