[Hyde POV]
"You need to go and change your tires first before you drive to Kenosha." Red said seriously.
"I helped you check your engine last night. So you just have to change the tires." he added.
I nodded seriously and said, "Thanks Red. Think about what I say, okay?"
All of them left. Eric went to school, Red and Kitty went to work. Laurie was sleeping in, but she would wake up at noon and go to hang out with some guys afterward.
I floated an idea to Red about opening a resume typing booth in the factory.
There were hundreds of workers there, all losing their jobs as the automotive plant was closing. So there's hundreds of potential customers.
I promised him a 20 percent cut. So if we got 50 people, he would get 50 bucks.
It would be a good thing for him and me, since we both needed the money.
"Wait. Red won't check the odometer, right?" I grimaced as I drove on the highway.
I stopped at a deserted place, put my car into my storage system, and took out some clothes inside the large box I stored and changed from my business suit to a more comfortable clothing.
I got the flyers online, so I didn't have to drive to Kenosha. It was already in my storage since it took only 8 hours for the printing express to deliver it.
So instead, I was treating myself to a paid day off.
"Hey, I need a room." I told the hotel receptionist while hiding my identity.
No questions asked, so I went into the room and slept for about 4 hours more.
"My bed is more comfy." I muttered with dissatisfaction.
The tires arrived as it only took 12 hours for it to be delivered. I also got the new synthetic oil and brake pads.
The problem was, I needed to go back home to pick it all up.
"Damn it." I cursed. "So do I call a taxi– how do I do this?"
Red would be working half day today, so he was home at noon. If I went back and didn't change the tires, he would be yelling at me.
"I could tell him the car's in the shop." My eyes lit up. I checked out of the room and went back home in a taxi.
Luckily for me, Red wasn't home. It was 3 in the evening, and the kids would come home from school soon.
I secretly closed the garage door and took out my car.
There was a lot of stuff that arrived for the car. Most of them were here except for the ones I bought from the US.
"System, enter build mode." I whispered.
The car disappeared and it went into the system. I told the system, "Just pick the stuff from the garage you needed."
Then, I added the stuff from my delivery items. The engine parts, the aerosol lacquer paint– the same black paint the car used, multiple grits of sanders, primer, and more.
It was like seeing a game screen. I just need to click on the part I want changed and select the new parts. The tools were selected automatically for me.
Red has a lot of tools in there. It was easy enough for me to work on the car with them.
I changed the battery, spark plug, synthetic oil, oil filter, air filter, brake pads, new muffler, the speaker, the tires, new suspension, the belt, installed the cassette deck, and used the rust treatment to fix the paints on the car.
I also buffed it with some compound, so the car looked shiny. There was some difference between the new and old paint, but it was barely negligible.
It took 10 minutes out of the build time for the car. It wasn't finished yet, but the difference was night and day with the previous car condition.
When the car appeared again, all of the trash dropped beside it. I stored it in one of my slots and would dispose of it later.
"Nice sheen." I ran my hand on what used to be the rusted panel, but now, it looked really good.
As I put on a clear coat and ceramic uv protection, the paint would last longer, and the car would look better too.
The system completed the paint curing, the wet sanding, and everything else in just a few short minutes.
"Build mode is quite OP." I muttered with excitement.
"I should focus on the interior next. Maybe tint the car.
I wanted to change the leather seat and put more foam on the cushion as I could feel the metal on my butt.
There were some interior repair kits online, so I would be buying those next.
I started the car and pressed the pedals. It feels different now. Stronger.
"Nice." I muttered with excitement and turned on the radio. Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody was playing.
As I increased the volume, suddenly the garage door opened. It was Red, looking grumpy and staring at me.
"Steven. What are you doing with the garage doors down?" He asked skeptically.
"Oh, I'm just testing the acoustic of the new radio." I told him with a gulp.
He narrowed his eyes at me for a while in silence. But then, he let it go as his attention was grabbed by the car.
"Hmm, did you buff it out? It looks good." He commented with a proud face. "A man should always take care of his car."
"Did you change the tires? What is this from?" He asked.
"It's new tires." I told him. "Better traction, more durable."
"Hmm… is it expensive?" he asked.
"20 bucks each." I replied. It was the normal price for a tire in the 1970s, although the tires here have a much lower quality.
I got out of the car and went into the house. Red said, "I've asked around. Yeah, the booth seems like a good idea. The plant's closing this Saturday."
Today's Wednesday. I have little time left for it.
"We can do it like Eric and I did it before. He will go there and take their details. Bring them to me. I will pri– I mean type it out." I said casually.
"Eric? Are you sure he can do it?" Red was skeptical.
I nodded and said, "Yeah. He knows how to get the details. I'll give him some copies for him to refer to."
"So, will he get a cut too?" Red asked.
"Yeah. Still 20 percent." I replied.
"Great." Red smiled. "So I don't have to give him an allowance for a while."
Eric came back with the Vista Cruiser while we were talking. As he entered the house, Red immediately said, "Eric! Get your notebook. We will be going to the plant to get some details."
"What? Dad, I'm sooo tired." Eric whined.
Red gave him a look, and that was enough. "Alright. I'm getting a notebook now."
Eric and Red left, Donna went with them just to hang out. Kelso, Fez and Jackie went to the movies, so I was left alone again.
"Should I go to Bob's store and work… or go to sleep?" I contemplated, but easily reached a decision.
"Let's take a nap."
Eric and Red brought me the employee details– those who wanted to refresh their resumes around 9 in the evening.
Red told me a lot of people wanted to have their resumes fixed and he would have to do it again tomorrow.
He brought back the details for 75 people. I was thoroughly shocked.
None of them paid yet, so I was fronting the cost first. Well, I barely had any cost since I used the laptop and printer for it.
Red went the next day, on Thursday. I pretended to go to Kenosha again and picked up the flyers. But before that, I gave the bulbs to Bob.
"He sent it out last night. I put it in the stockroom with my key." I told Bob.
Bob said excitedly, "I have sold out every bulb I bought before." He gave me the 3000 dollars in cash and said, "Here Steven. Oh, and the 200 bucks, I'll cut it out of your loan."
"Pleasure doing business with you." I smiled in satisfaction.
The 3000 dollars, all of it would go into my pocket. Once Bob sold everything, he would be 6000 dollars richer.
Then, he gave me 350 more for the flyers, since he counted the flyers at 10 cents a piece. I just took it without arguing.
At the store, I saw Charlie fumbling another sale with just his looks. And what I meant by that, the housewife saw him, froze, and immediately went to the other salesmen.
"He looks too goofy." I mumbled. "Like the guy in the Office Space movie with the bad glasses."
A guy who screamed out 'please bully me' with just his appearance.
"Charlie." I went to him and pulled his glasses over from his face.
"Hey! Stop that." he said with resentment.
I looked at his face properly and asked, "How much power are in your lenses?"
"None of your business." He tried to grab it back, but I pulled it away. "Come on, tell me. When was the last time you checked your eyes?"
"Just last week." He replied hesitantly.
"Did the doctor give you the details for the prescription?" I asked again.
"He… did, but I'm not going to get it done now. Since I have no money." He replied angrily. It would take him more than 200 bucks to get it changed.
"Hey don't look at me like I was the one who did that. I've been gone for a while. Did you sell anything when I was gone?" I asked, slightly sarcastic.
He sighed and said, "No."
"Then it's not my fault you can't sell. Anyway, let me take a look at the prescription. I want to see what it looks like."
He gave me the prescription that he stored in his wallet. My internet was still hooked up, so I made notes on it.
1977 glasses were made of actual glass, so it becomes distorted once someone has too much myopia.
In 2025, there wasn't any problem with this. I found a place in Thailand where I just needed to insert the corrective lens variables and it would send the glasses to the house in just two days.
"Bring 50 bucks with you tomorrow." I told Charlie firmly.
"Huh? Why?" He asked, fully wary.
"Just do it. Otherwise, you'll regret it." I told him with a smirk. He shivered in fear and quickly distanced himself from me.
…
While I pretended to go to Kenosha, I checked into a hotel room again and began calling the apartment listings in the area. Victoria was moving, so I told her I would find an apartment nearby for her.
"The apartments are cheap. So freaking cheap!" I was shocked when I read the classifieds listings.
A one bedroom apartment in the small town cost only 100 dollars per month.
The two bedroom I was looking at was only $180 a month, and it was considered a good apartment in terms of safety, close to the town amenities, and it has good heating and plumbing too.
I went to check it out, and the landlord told me it was an apartment used by a young executive at the automotive plant, but he quit a few weeks ago to go to another job in Chicago.
The landlord looked at my clothes and grinned hard. I wore the suit on purpose and told him, "I need to be able to move in soon. Is there any rental agreement I need to sign?"
"Rental agreement?" He was surprised.
"Yes," I said, keeping my voice firm. "I'm ready to pay the first month's rent and the deposit today if you'll hold it for me."
He scratched his chin, glanced at my suit again, then nodded. "Well… I guess I can do that. The last guy left pretty suddenly, but if you can cover it upfront, the apartment can be yours today."
I handed him the money — $360 for two months. "Done," I said, shaking his hand.
He smiled. "I didn't expect someone to move this fast. Most people just haggle and take weeks to decide."
"Not me," I said with a smirk. "I know what I want."
We did sign a paper. The deal was locked. The two-bedroom apartment, slightly furnished, with decent heating and plumbing, was officially mine. I didn't even have to show my fake ID to get it.
It was a place where Victoria could stay until her divorce was finalized.
"The problem is, the house is too… smoky?" I muttered as I saw the yellowing on the wood panelling wall.
It was tar. From cigarette smoke. The previous tenant must've been a heavy smoker.
There were signs that the carpet was just ripped out. The landlord told me the previous tenant had destroyed it beyond repair– or he actually sold them.
I asked the landlord what kind of renovations I could make, like if there were restrictions, but he didn't care about anything else other than the money.
"You can do whatever you want. Just don't destroy it." He said with a sleazy smile. "Also, I won't refund you if you buy new cabinets or renovate the bathroom. But if you want to do it, it's fine."
I grimaced slightly at the opportunistic landlord. The tar stain on the wall was bothering me, so I would be doing a free cleaning for him. The window needed some WD-40, and there were paints in part where it was chipped.
'Now that I think about it, wouldn't I get a better apartment with 180 bucks a month here?'
I might have made a mistake there, but it's fine since the landlord didn't check much and was easy to deal with.
Victoria didn't smoke, so she might have some reservation to move in here. It was a normal sight in the 70s, but I couldn't make this my new normal.
"Luckily for me, I watched a lot… like a hella lot of deep cleaning videos."
Although I needed to wait for the internet to buy the products. And get Victoria's opinion on the house too.
I got the keys to the house and left.
…
I went to Bob and gave him the flyers. He was so shocked to see Midge's crystal clear image on the flyer, and his new brand.
"Hyde, did you hire a professional designer for this?" he asked.
"No, I did it myself." I told him. He was shocked again.
"You have real talent Hyde." Bob said with a hearty laugh as he smacked my back. I just stand there uncomfortably, faking a smile on my face.
On the flyer, I put a small phrase that said, "Campaign by Steven Hyde". So if anyone wants to get their own flyers, they could find me.
More and more of the car stuff arrived, and I kept upgrading the car. I have used 20 minutes of build time for it. Now, it has reached almost 145 horsepower. Really fast for a standard engine.
Thursday went past very quickly. I gave Bob the flyers. He sent it out everywhere in the town and neighboring town.
I put 1000 dollars into my bank account that morning and kept 1970 more in cash.
"Otherwise, I would spend all of the money recklessly."
…
In the basement, after dinner.
I sat on my lone chair watching tv with Fez, Kelso, Jackie.
"Ay, Eric and Donna are gone again." Fez muttered. "I want to go to the plant too," he added whiningly.
"There's no way they are going to let you in Fez. They will think you're a foreign spy." Kelso joked mockingly.
"I'm not a spy." Fez panicked, he breathed quickly. "Hyde, tell them I'm not a spy."
I sniffled and said, "Kelso. Fez's not a spy. A spy needs to be charming, able to speak proper English, and most importantly, not needy."
"See! Hyde gets it." Fez agreed with me instantly while Kelso and Jackie laughed.
"Hyde! When are you going to bring us on a drive in your car?" Kelso asked seriously. "Come on man, it's been 3 days since you got it."
"Oh. Do you want to?" I asked flatly, not expecting that. I checked my watch. It was almost time.
"...Hell yeah!" Fez exclaimed with excitement.
"Cool. Let's go." I said casually. Everyone followed me to the car with excitement.
However, they were surprised when they saw Victoria waiting for me by the car.
"Steven. Are they all coming with us?" Victoria asked, slightly frazzled, as if she was expecting some alone time.
"Yeah, they want to feel the new car. I want to bring you to the new apartment, so we can all go."
"Wait. How do we go? The car only seats 4 people." Jackie said begrudgingly.
I smirked and said, "It will fit if all of you are cramped in the back seat."
"I can take my car–" Victoria offered, but was rejected by me. "And waste gas? You're going to be a divorcee. You need to save some money. Let's go."
I grabbed her hand and pulled her with me. The others had to get in first, and they were pushing each other in frustration.
Victoria and I sat on the front bench together. As I pressed on the car pedal, the roaring sound surprised everyone.
"ALLRIGHT!" Kelso shouted in excitement. Him moving and sitting in the center made all of their bodies rammed into each other again.
"Micheal! Stop moving!" Jackie shouted.
Fez said, "Ayy! I can't feel my shoulder. I miss Eric's Vista Cruiser now."
I just laughed and shifted the car gear. I tested it before, and with the upgrades, the car had become really powerful. It could compete with the TransAm at the time with the speed and the acceleration.
The miles per gallon was also upgraded, and I could easily reach 16 miles per gallon, which was really cheap gas for the compact car.
"The car is really smooth." Fez muttered with excitement after a while.
"Yeah, it feels really nice." Jackie added with a grin. Kelso furrowed his eyebrows and pouted, "I'm the only one without a car. I don't even have a place to do it with Jackie."
"Kelso, didn't you and Jackie do it everywhere?" I asked teasingly.
Kelso's mood immediately lifted and he yelled, "We did!"
Jackie was startled and she blushed slightly. "Micheal! Don't tell people about our private time!"
It took a short ride to get to the apartment. As we went inside, Kelso and Fez rushed in and sat on the beat up, two seater couch there.
Victoria's eyes turned conflicted as she entered the house. "The smell–" She was startled and immediately apologized to me. "Sorry Steven. I don't mean too–"
"Why are you apologizing? It does stink." I interjected with a confused face.
Jackie nodded with agreement and said, "It stinks like Hyde's house before. So a poor person must've lived here."
"That smell is smoke, not poorness." I gave her a glare. "I'll have to clean the walls a bit to get the stench out."
Jackie suddenly pulled Victoria to the side and said, "Victoria. I'll be your decorator. Now, what do you think about a 12 seater modular couch–"
I stopped Jackie immediately, "This is a 900 square foot apartment. There's no way that can fit in here."
Jackie ignored me and said, "Shag carpeting everywhere. Wallpaper, and a giant oil based painting of me– I mean, of you above the fireplace."
"There's no fireplace." I shot her down again.
"A fainting couch." Jackie suggested again, not caring about my words.
"Victoria's going to faint." I pushed her away and asked the one who's opinions were actually important.
"Do you have any thoughts about how you want this place to look?" I asked.
"Mirrors– A wall mirror there–" Jackie interjected again, but I pushed her away the second time.
Victoria was a little bashful. "Um, alright. I guess I want a carpet? Um… Some new couch. A tv. Curtain… Um. Yeah, that sounds about right."
Jackie and I both froze in shock, looking at her with disbelief.
"Victoria, what are you doing? He's offering you to buy everything in your house! Take advantage of his guilt! Take all of his money and use it on you!" Jackie said seriously.
Victoria was taken aback, and I stared at Jackie with exasperation. Victoria said nervously, "What?! NO! I'm not taking advantage of him! I'm going to pay him the rent back!"
"You don't have to! We're girls. The guy is the one who should provide the house. We just need to decorate it." Jackie interlocked her arms with Victoria and said, "Let's go check the bedroom."
I sighed and let Jackie take Victoria away. At the very least, if she's hanging out with Jackie, Victoria might get her confidence back.
Before the six month marriage and the cult camp, she was quite expressive. She told me what she wanted, was more direct than this.
Jackie might be annoying, but… yeah, there's no but here. She's really annoying.
'I should find some cheap labor to clean the house.' I thought. Since I have to go to work, and I was quite lazy, I didn't want to spend a lot of time here.
"Fez, how would you like to earn some candies." I smirked at the foreign guy.
Before we left, Victoria said she would leave the house furnishing and the decoration to me and gave me a check for 1500 dollars.
She wanted a washer and dryer. And I could get that for cheap at Bargain Bob cause I have a 20% employee discount.
That would cost her one-third of the budget still. And she wanted me to have the rent back, so she would have 620 dollars to furnish her house and decorate.
If I put a shag rug, or any carpet in, the money would be gone.
"So, it's better for me to buy her stuff from 2025."
As I went home, I used my laptop to search pinterest for ideas, and calculate the budget of everything I needed.
Since the 1500 was worth 7500 in 2025, I could easily furnish her house with everything she needed.
A wallpaper, ceiling to floor curtain, a new mattress, Ikea furniture, and many more.
(If you get me to 150 powerstone tonight, I'll upload another chapter. Deal?)