Frank negotiates

When Frank pulled over near the tables and joined her he found the young woman looking disconsolately at the front of her car. It was not heavily damaged, just some paint scrapes and minor denting. Frank's vehicle had a broken tail light and the rear door had a crease in it. He handed her the coffee he had bought, and dosed with the drug and gestured to the tables.

"I guess you're really mad," she said, looking embarrassed.

"Annoyed. I don't like dealing with insurance companies."

"Oh...Gosh...do we have to go through insurance? This is my boyfriend's car and he'll be really mad if his rates go up because of me. He's always telling me to be careful when I drive it and now look what happened. He's gonna be mad enough, but if his insurance gets dinged he'll be furious."

"We could take care of it privately I guess," Frank said doubtfully, eyeing the distraught young woman. You give me the cash to pay for the damage and we go on our way."

"Oh Gosh, could we?" she said hopefully. "I mean, it's not a lot of damage is it? How much do you think it would be?"

"At least five hundred dollars," Frank said. "How much have you got on you?"

"Oh...not that much...let me look..." she said, fumbling in her purse and pulling out her wallet. She pulled the bills out and counted them, her face growing more worried by the second.

"Two hundred and forty," she said worriedly. "I could give you this now and a cheque for the rest."

"I don't do cheques," Frank growled. "And two forty isn't going to cover it."

"Oh Gosh, I don't know what to do...Please Mister...don't be mad at me..."

"My name's Frank, and I'm not mad. Drink your coffee before it gets cold. I'm sure we can work things out."

"I'm Tanya, and thanks for getting me the coffee. I really appreciate it. You're nice not to be yelling at me."

"Yelling at you wouldn't fix the car. So what do you think we can do about this."

"This is all the money I have. I don't get paid until tomorrow. I could bring you the money then."

"I'd rather settle things right here and now, Tanya. It's not that I don't trust you, but I don't know you at all, and too many things could go wrong if we don't get this settled today."

"I understand, but I really don't know what to do! I could phone my boyfriend, but then he'd be really mad! He'd have to take time off work to come meet us!" She fidgeted, sipping her coffee, a flush slowly spreading across her skin.

"I don't want to make life hard for you Tanya, but we have to work this out. Maybe there's something you can do for me to make up for the missing money."

"Oh Gosh Frank, that would be wonderful if we could do that! What were you thinking?"