Text Version of Audio Story: King Charlie Audio version may be downloaded at www.TheAmericanStoryteller.com It’s a trip I make on a regular basis – once a week or three times a month – out across the northern tier of my home state of Pennsylvania, on Route 80 out to the Po- cono Mountains, two hours and thirty-five minutes. But then I got to thinking, I could cut the time back if I drove like Charlie taught me to drive. He was an old man who lived right down the road from me in McAlisterville. “Let’s go to town,” Charlie would say. And we’d hop in his big, long-connected red Cadillac El Do- rado. Charlie would let me drive, even though I wasn’t old enough to drive. He’d sit there in the passenger seat, smoking a big, fine Cuban cigar and expounding on the finer point of making good time on the highway, “Be aware of who’s in front of ya, who’s behind ya. Know when to pass. Coast into the stop sign, pumping your brakes ever so slightly.” Charlie was a master behind the wheel. He was the king of the road in his big Cadillac. He owned a business there in our little village. Charlie held the patent for the candle that never burned down. He ran the business from his basement, shipping candles all over the world. He supplied the White House, the Kremlin, the Washington Cathedral, mansions, churches and lavish hotels, making millions in the process – all from the basement of his stately brick home. Charlie’s wife was a frail, thin woman, a nice lady who suffered from hypochondria – fainting spells and heart palpitations, headaches and joint pain, breathing problems, dizziness… oh, the constant dizziness. And then one night, the dizziness was worse than ever. Charlie called the local volunteer ambulance, and in no time, throngs of peo- ple arrived. The volunteers bust through the door, up the steps and down the steps. There were people in every room of the home. They were on the front porch, in the front yard, in the backyard. The driveway was parked full. ©Copyright 2007 Nelson Lauver. May not be reprinted, reproduced or published without permission.