Danny Ray (Ray Trilogy) Read Online Free

bald head causing the tuffs of gray hair above his ears to stand straight out. His overalls showed black stains of previous work and his old blue faded chambray shirt had holes in the elbows. He spit to the side of the sidewalk and nodded a greeting.
    Art walked up and shook his hand, and said, “Harry, this is my son, Danny Ray. Danny, this is Harry Reed.” Motioning to the pickup, Art said, “He liked the pickup.”
    “Yeah,” Harry nodded at Danny and shook his hand, “It’s a good pickup. I checked it out myself. I wouldn’t sell it if I couldn’t vouch for it.”
    Danny sobered his face and frowned slightly and asked, “What do you want for that old work pickup?”
    The Harry winked at Art and gave Danny a price.
    “I don’t know if I can pay that much, I wonder if you might be willing to make a trade,” Danny countered.
    “What do you have?”
    “See that car over there?” Danny pointed to his car.
    The Harry walked around Danny’s car looking at the paint scratches that Danny got on it while he was mending the fences. He opened the door to see the interior. He started the car, listened to the motor which to Danny’s ear purred like a kitten. He checked the odometer and other gauges and closed the door.
    “Well, what do you think?” Danny said hopefully.
    When Harry gave a price, it was right in line with what Danny had hoped. Danny sighed in relief and wrote the man a check for the difference. Both the old man and Danny shook hands. The deal was done. He had been worried how he could buy the pickup without trading in his car, but now his plans had worked and he had a snazzy ‘new’ used pickup. By making the trade, Danny didn’t have to pay as much as he thought he would. It turned out to be a win/win deal.
    As they were leaving, Art asked Danny, “Are you coming over for supper tonight? You know your mom would be mighty disappointed if you didn’t.”
    “Sure, Uncle Art ,” he replied opening the door to his new pickup. “I’d rather eat Mom’s cooking any day than mine. I’m living mostly on sandwiches at my house. If I came in town and didn’t stop by to say hi, she’d be on my case.” Besides Danny thought I can show off my new pickup .
    Art drove toward the house, with a smile on his face. Danny had become the son he never had. The use of the name Uncle Art stuck. After Laura and he had married, he gave Danny the option of calling him something else but Danny had told him that since he was Aaron’s uncle and he had called him that ever since he had known him. The name seemed to fit. Aaron had grown up as close as two boys could have without being brothers. When Art and Laura planned to marry, the boys had asked if they could be cousins now. Permission was granted so officially Art became his uncle and his step-dad.
    Art told him at the time that if he preferred Uncle Art, it was fine with him. He was just happy to be in the boy’s life. He had been married before but his wife had never conceived. They found out later that she had uterine cancer and he lost her soon after. He always wanted children so he moved to Pryor when he completed his twenty year stint in the Navy. He wanted to be near his nephew Aaron and his sister Mary and her husband Harold Roberts. Their son Aaron happened to be Danny’s best friend.
    In fact, Aaron was the one who introduced Art to Laura at a Halloween school function. Art remembered how cute Laura looked in her little boy costume. She might have pulled it off if she hadn’t had a blond ponytail hanging out the back of her ball cap. Then of course, with her looks it would be hard to think of her as a boy on second glance.
    When Art and Danny pulled into the driveway, Laura already had supper prepared and was placing it on the table. A big bowl of spaghetti rested on the table with thick spaghetti sauce poured over it. Shredded parmesan cheese filled a bowl ready to sprinkle over the plate. A large salad dotted with ripe olives and pepperoncini