"Let me know when it's all ready and on the road, I want to take it to college one day." I thought it's a bit of a push, but if you don't ask - you don't get.
"You know who actually IS serious about wanting to borrow it - Darren. He actually thinks I'll trust him with it. I mean, I know it's only a Calibra, but it's the limited edition Turbo version" Zab had all the nice things. Latest cars, latest clothes, latest phones. I sometimes wondered how he paid for them all. He only worked alongside me as a pizza delivery bloke. Even if he worked all the hours under the sun, he still can't have a disposable income large enough to his life choices.
"Come on Zab. I was being serious too. You won't trust Darren, but you'll trust me right?"
Of course he won't. That's an expensive car and he's just getting an equally expensive body kit put on it. Why would he let me loose in his pride and joy? He must have put his life saving into that.
"Yeah. I trust you. I'll let you know when it's on the road and you can take it."
Initially I was shocked, but then I said to myself 'believe it when you see it Tahir. You know how it goes. He'll say that now, and then when it's on the road he'll say "oh, I forgot" and then that'll be that'
About two weeks after that conversation, when I'd almost forgotten about it myself, I saw him driving it. The sound it made, such a nice exhaust, how it gleamed in the spring sunshine, it really was a head turner. Oh how good it would have been for my street cred' if I WAS allowed to take it to college. Maybe I should ask him again when I see him at work this evening. He won't give it. But if I don't ask, I'll not know that for sure.
"Seen you driving down Heron Street earlier" I started. "That car looks sick man. So you going to let me borrow it or what?"
"Yeah, ask me when I finish work and we'll sort something out. My dad's got it at the moment. He should be back home by then."
Ok, so that's how he's going to play it is he. When he finishes work he'll say dad still has it and that's the end of that. He clearly doesn't trust me with it. But to be fair, I wouldn't trust myself with it either. I was 17, didn't have a license to drive and this was a £20k car. I should really stop making a fool of myself and stop asking him.
But as regular as clockwork, my begging began again as soon as he finished work. I'd finished about an hour before him, but still hung around. Just to ask him to lend it to me for a last time.
"OK, come with me. Dad should be home now and I'll let you take the car"
So we sat into the Micra that he used for doing deliveries and set off towards his house. All the while, I was thinking we'll get there and the car's not going to be on the drive and he'll drop me off home telling me that his dad must still be out.
But to my surprise it was there it all its glory. "Wait here and I'll just go in and see if the keys are home."
Ah. Right. Like that. Dad bought the car but left the keys in his pocket and he's gone out. I had thought all along it's too good to be true.
He Reversed out of the drive, left the engine running, came over to the Micra. "All yours. Don't drive it like a d***head" and that's all he said. I was sooooo over the moon that he's allowing me this opportunity and trusting me with his pride and joy that I even forgot to thank him. I had the biggest smile on my face as I drove it down Southfield Road. It was not only the most expensive car I'd ever been at the wheel of, but by far the fastest too. A slight tap on the accelerator and you were thrown back into the seat and off the car went. How cool am I going to look pulling up at college in this. I was actually giggling with excitement.
I called as many people as I knew. Drove around for most of the night. In random circles. Around the streets of my little home town, picking friends up dropping others off. Parked the car round the corner at 4am so my parents don't know I have it. Went to sleep for about 3 hours and was up for college. I picked up three of the guys who went to the same college and we set off.
We had fun. Drove like ****heads even though Zab had said not to, but he wasn’t there to watch us so it’s all good. I just couldn’t believe how fast this car was. In fact I was so engrossed in having fun that I didn’t even realize I was being followed a marked police car. They pulled me over, done the routing questioning, I gave my older brothers details, told the police I had just bought the car and was sent on my way with a slip to produce my documents at the police station within 7 days.
What better way to regain any street cred that I may have lost, than speeding up and down the road outside college. Only problem was, I forgot about the speed ramp on the entrance to the college car park. As the car hit down hard on the ramp, I felt it thud inside me as my heart sank. OMG – he had all the reasons in the world not to trust me but he still did and I abused his trust. But I had to put on a brave face as all three of the guys in the car were looking at me now. I just gave a little laugh and said “these cars are solid, bet nothing even happened to it” I didn’t believe this myself, but said it anyway.
We parked up in the car park and went to class.
On the way home, we sat into the car, there was a light on on the dashboard. As I started driving, I realised the power steering had stopped working. Turning the wheel at low speeds was a real chore. We sat in silence most of the way home. After dropping everyone off, I told Zab about what had happened and was surprised to hear his calm reaction. He said he knows a policeman who works in the office and he’ll get him to put a note in the book to say the documents have been brought in, checked and were satisfactory. As regards the car, he said to me “don’t worry, I’ll just get it fixed.” So I told him to let me know how much it costs and I said I’ll pay for the damage I caused.
I didn’t hear from him about the mechanics bill for a couple of weeks. Then a couple of months went by. Maybe he hasn’t got the money to put it right at the moment. I felt bad, I’d damaged his pride and joy and now he was driving the Micra. It was only when I saw him driving in the Calibra that I realised he’d had it repaired.
“Zab, I need to pay you for the mechanics bill. How much did it cost you?”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. It was nothing. Just forget about it.”
Although I was pleased that I was being let off the hook, I still felt really bad for him. But I did offer and he did refuse on more than one occasion so I guess it must be ok.
A number of months passed and one day in the back area at work, where all the delivery drivers “hung out” I saw him handing his mobile sim card to someone. I later asked him “so you on a different number now? How do I get hold of you if I need to?”
“Nah, I’m still on the same number. What makes you think I’ve changed it?”
“I saw you giving your sim card to Afzal earlier.”
“Oh that – nah, that wasn’t mine. He bought that one off me. I have a little sideline business. I sell sim cards with £150 credit on them for £20
“Really? My sister needs a new sim card. Can you get me one?” I didn't even think they may be dodgy. All I thought was £130 free credits.
“I’ve not got any on my now, I’m getting a new batch next week. I’ll keep one aside for you”
“Thanks man”
A couple of weeks later I saw him giving out the sim cards to a couple of the guys in the back. I went up and said, “have you got one for me too?”
“Yeah, it’s in the car. Let me just sort these lot out and I’ll do yours in a bit.”
So I followed him to his car and he we sat in and he handed me the sim card. I fumbled around in my pockets and only found £8. Let’s go cash point man, I only got £8 on me.”
“It’s free for you. Just have it. It’s no big deal.”
“So why you charging the others and not me? You got a business to run and bills to pay. I want to pay for it”
“OK – for you it’s £1000 then.”
“What..!! What you talking about? Why £1000?” I thought he might be talking about the damage to the car. Charging for that finally.
“I said leave it. You’re the one with too much money, so pay £1000. Yeah – I thought as much. Don’t worry lad. Have it. It’s on the house.”
I was happy. He had not only forgiven me for the car, but we were still good friends.
Other than that, he also got a phone for me once from a friend of his who owned a phone shop. And a couple of years later I couldn’t hire a car for my sister’s wedding because I was still under 25 and no one wanted to give me a prestige car. I mentioned it to him and he told me to go the guys at the car hire place on West Street. I told him they won’t do it. I told him my older brother tried getting it there and they even turned him away cos of his age so what chance did I have.
“Just go there, ask for Imran and say to him ‘Zab sent me, he spoke to you’ and he’ll give you any car you want. Just don’t drive it like a ****head." he said with a cheeky smile on his face. I tried this, went to see Imran, told him what Zab had told me to and sure enough I got the car. I also said to him, “my brother came in yesterday, he needs a car too.” And they let my brother hire a car too. All because of what Zab had said to them on the phone.
How handy was this Zab guy? Was there anything he couldn’t do?
I left that work place soon after that. Only saw Zab on the odd occasion. We had a good chat whenever we met. Kept in touch via text message mostly.
The next time I saw him was when I was working in the supermarket petrol station. He came in, in a brand new 7 series BMW. Filled the tank right to the top. Came in paid on his credit card and had a little chat and went off. That evening, I got a call from him. “Let’s meet up some time?” He suggested. So I agreed. We met that same evening, he came to my house to pick me up in his BMW.
“I’m not even going to ask to borrow this one. “ I joked.
“But if you wanted to, you know I’ll lend it to you any time don’t you?” It turns out he hadn’t learned from his last experience. “reason I wanted to talk to you….” He had a serious look on his face now “I have a little sideline business that I need help with. I’ve been doing it a while, but need to up my game and that’s where you come in. I was watching you as I was paying for my petrol today. Do you realise how easily you can see someones pin number while they type it in? On the slip you give to the customer, the number has ** stars on it, but the slip you keep in the till has the full card number and expiry date. Do you realise how much money you’re sitting on there? All I need from you is to write the pin on the back of the slips of people who come in fancy cars and pay by card. Hand the slip to me and I'll do the rest. I’ll give you £100 for every slip and not to mention the little fringe benefits like borrowing cars like this one and having access to my little network of friends like the ones who let you hire the car even though you were underage.” He still had a serious look but managed to half smile and wink before going back to the serious look.
“But there’s cameras there Zab. If it comes back to me, I’m dead. I’ll get fired.”
“Look – you work there 5 days a week. Get me about 2 slips a day. That’s £1000 a week cash in your back pocket. Do that for a couple of months and it’s worth getting sacked for.”
‘He’s right’ I thought to myself. Even if I don’t get 2 every day, that’s still over £20k in a year.
Despite all the pros, I didn’t go ahead with it. Just as well I suppose. I hadn’t seen him or heard from him in a while and when I asked his cousin I was told that he’s gone to prison for fraud.