Mitchell loved his parents but hated the name they gave him, and liked Mitch instead. He knew his parents were never going to be able to afford college, a car, or anything else that would be nice. Moving out of a trailer to a rundown two bedroom house in a bad neighborhood was, he thought, a big deal as a child. It was still in a small rural town outside the grandeur of the big city though. The skyline blocked out by the trees and hills making him always think he was trapped where he was and the real world was out there in the big city.

Losing his father at a young age and having his mother with her own medical issues made even living in a small town hard. Being poor was not what he wanted but knew that it was only temporary and that hard work would solve it because living in poverty was not his goal in life. It was hard to keep money in his pocket due to helping pay bills with any money he had being just a fact of life.

The opportunities for parties and hanging out with friends seemed insignificant, in the scheme of things, when money was hard to come by. The grocery store he worked at gave extra hours during the weekends and working was more important than drinking and hanging out with friends. When the chance came to work two jobs his senior year he jumped at the chance and hardly ever saw the few friends he had. The car he bought was one that he could fix up and was affordable. He knew he was paying almost all of the house expenses his mother could not afford, but he managed to pay for his own insurance and still helped with some family bills.

School work was always easy and the "What to do with your life?" speech came and he knew it was probably going to be dentistry. It was not a glorious field that people jumped into, but Mitch hated that his mom had so many dental problems and getting a dentist was always too expensive. He liked the medical side of it and the more he researched into the career the more it seemed like it was perfect for him. By the end of high school he knew his grades were good enough to make it into a good school and then dental school too.

The gut feeling of owing money, or worse, borrowing money was a nightmare. The anxiety of paying for college made him think it was only for rich kids who had parents that could afford to send them to college. The idea of a community college eased the burden and anxiety of the cost to get a four year degree. Planning ahead, he calculated that working during college and staying local when he transferred would make at least getting a four year degree possible without loans. The few scholarships he got helped lessen the financial blow when he did transfer to a bigger more expensive school too.

It would have been a lot easier to get more scholarships, but sports were never his thing. Mitch liked himself at six foot one and some muscles with a toned body. It's just that he never had skill or coordination. Now he thought of finding as much work as he could to make his plan work. His plan was to work and go to college and get as many hours in while not missing school at the same time. The problem was the lack of jobs available for college students that paid decent money. The one job he did find that would hire him with good pay was the town's tow truck company. It was a weird job but the pay was better than most and the hours fit with the plan.

It was a perfect job since he worked nights and did school work waiting for a tow. In the morning, he went to college not struggling to find work-school life balance like some other college students. All of his school work could be done on the job and then he could just go to school when he woke up. The off days and weekends he could catch up on the school work he didn't do and take extra shifts as well. His boss was just happy he had a willing worker who would take any shift during the weekend.

The company had four tow trucks and the older guys had the newer trucks based upon seniority. Being the new kid made the other guys haze him about his age. The older guys took the new trucks home, and left Mitch with the oldest truck they had. The truck was almost fifty years old and had more rust spots and dents then it did straight panels and paint. It was standard shift and getting it out of first gear required him to slam his foot on the clutch. Not complaining, he just spent the time learning the job, sweet talking the truck, and made the best of it. The best chance to earn money and work was there, and Mitch knew it was up to him to get it.

After six months towing cars on rural back roads and pulling cars out of ditches, Mitch knew that the job sucked and was great at the same time. The amount of people getting stuck in the ditches on narrow curvy roads made the midnight shift eventful. The weekends were worse and Mitch felt that giving up on hanging out with friends to make money was something he had to do. The text messages about parties dwindled and all that was left was casual chats every few days. Even the chats died down to a casual "hey how you doing" every other week. The loneliness wore on him but after a couple of months he kept thinking about the real prize at the end. Most people with money in the bank feel the urge to spend it on themselves, but Mitch knew willpower was required to finish his dream. Switching to a more expensive college and then dental school was going to be expensive and saving everything was a necessary evil.

The call came in early in the shift about a car being stuck in a ditch. It was a routine thing as the rural roads were both narrow and had sharp turns with a ditch on both sides. After so many months of knowing the bad spots, he knew exactly what turn the car got stuck in. What he didn't expect was it was a yellow Lamborghini that was in the ditch. Mitch couldn't help but smile as he knew it was a rare vintage Miura. The man driving it looked to be in his late seventies or early eighties and not the typical city rich guy that normally would test out their sports car on the rural back roads.

Mitch smiled and complimented the man on his car and just kept talking about what he knew about it. The love of cars was always there, but having them was just a dream. The man seemed a bit shocked that he knew so much and Mitch figured a way to pull the car without damaging it even more. There was no way that he was driving it home so it was a pull and a tow.

Once the car was hooked up, the drive was only to the storage lot where it sat until the owner could get another tow truck to move it back to the city. If it was a local person, Mitch could drop it off at their house or a local mechanic. He knew this old rich guy was not a local so he would have to get a tow and then a ride back home too. Uber drivers never came out this far and the town had one taxi driver who loved to overcharge city folks.

The man seemed pleasant on the ride back to the lot asking Mitch all about his life and college. Mr. Duke introduced himself and smiled and joked with him but kept asking him about his plans, praising him about how he was putting money in the bank wanting to do better. Sharing his plans of dental school made the older gentleman smile and compliment him further on digging his way out of poverty with perseverance. Mitch did break the news to him about the taxi and getting back into the city hoping that he would not be too upset. He figured he had enough money to tow the car back to a mechanic in the city but the ride back himself was the real issue.

Mitch just watched the man pull out his wallet and turn to him with a dead stare as he made him a job offer. Listening to his offer made him think that God just put an angel in front of him to help him. The man pulled out a wad of hundreds making him think it was for a ride back in the tow truck, but what he offered was worth so much more.

The offer was for a job being a chauffeur but not just driving him around. It was just to deliver the preferred car to where he was so he could drive it back home. Mr. Duke had houses in the mountains and helicopters for business, but had a passion to drive classic cars when he could. Mitch was to wash and maintain the cars and then drive them to where Mr. Duke was going to be so he could then drive them himself. All of the cars were in his main garage in the city and Mitch had to get the one that Mr. Duke wanted to drive that day and deliver it to him; wherever he was at that particular moment. Mitch could then pick up the car Mr. Duke took to the location or another car that was already there and drive it back to the garage again. It was a lot of back and forth car switching, but the pay was astronomical. It was a salary job that was enough to switch to a better college early and enough to make a good dent in the cost of dental school.

The garage housed about fifty sports cars ranging in value and age and was closer to the college than his house. After a while he figured that if he put a cot in the back it would be easier to get to school and would save him money too. In the off time, he made sure the cars were washed and taken to the mechanic on his own time, never having Mr. Duke wait or tell him that the car he wanted was being serviced. Mr. Duke never mentioned the cot in the back as it was out of the way and Mitch felt that was his way of saying yes. The only thing he seemed concerned about was that Mitch was continuing to attend college and that he was on his way to becoming a dentist.

Three years of sleeping on a cot not seeing friends made him feel like he was in the military. Holidays were rough as Mr. Duke loved to drive and always needed a car so making trips to see his mother was tough. He still managed to send her enough money to help with basic expenses without taking from his savings for dental school too. The feeling of things working out had a calming feel to Mitch, like it was worth it and it all was about to happen. He always wanted the big city life, but now regretted thinking it was better than the small town feel.

Mitch missed the quiet life of the country but knew that this was the way to get his end goal. Leaving Mr. Duke was never an option; there was no better job or working for a man that treated him well. He always asked about Mitch's college grades and talked to him like he was a son and not some employee.

When most of his classmates graduated it was a big party with friends and family there. Mitch knew work came first and so this was a simple get together with his mother and some cousins. They wanted to have a big party but the thought of spending money on something stupid made him say no. The application to dental school came back and it seemed like the plan was working out. The start date was in the fall and he figured he could work the last few months before it began. The tuition payment was due the first week of classes since there were no loans needed. He had made enough money to cover the first two years and then take out a loan for the remaining two years.

The one car Mr. Duke loved to drive was the one that needed the most maintenance. Dropping it off at the mechanic was a routine thing after every time he drove it. Getting friendly with the mechanic was easy as he was always there getting Mr. Duke's cars worked on. The casual conversations soon turned into deeper ones and then became more meaningful ones. When he asked him to pick up a car for him to work on it was no big deal either.

When Mitch walked into a Ferrari dealership he assumed it was to pick up a car for the mechanic, but that soon changed the moment the manager came up to him. There was no car to be picked up and the manager knew exactly who he was and acted like a puppet master in setting up the meeting. It was for a sales job and the pay was what he would be making as a dentist. There was no school needed and training was basic since reputation was more important to people who bought from the dealership. Being Mr. Duke's driver sounded like an errand boy but in the car world of the city Mitch was respected. The feeling of flying came over him as he said yes thinking of how he could earn money.

Mr. Duke knew of the job before being told but asked for one last job. It was a strange request, but Mitch knew he owed Mr. Duke everything and said yes to it right away. The job was to fly out to Los Angeles and pick up a new car for him and drive it to Las Vegas. He would have to wait two days in Vegas though, as the car needed to be picked up soon and Mr. Duke was arriving later. Mitch would fly back home right after Mr. Duke got there for the car.