END OF SUMMER... September (Part 90i)

Janice was there at 7:45am the next morning so Elle could introduce her to the kids. I was still having a hard time recognizing that she and Jan were really sisters. Janice easily weighed 100 pounds more than Jan. As I was getting ready to leave for work I happened to glance at the table where she was eating breakfast. It made me wonder just how much it was going to cost me in food to have her watch the kids and if we’d actually net any money by the end of the day.

Wednesday’s newspaper had more details on the ”case“ against Leo. I’d written way back in this blog of my early impressions of him. I said I felt he was wrong using County facilities to run his business and especially wrong using his secretary, Gina, to conduct business for his potato chip route business. I also wrote about the fact that he usually didn’t get into the office until noon or later and often left at 4pm when the Controller wasn’t in. There were more things but I can tell you that I just reveled in the fact that he’d been found out. Even though Mrs K still hadn’t lifted her ban on discussing the matter I gave a quick call to Jay. He laughed and said that I’d really get a kick out of the latest ”fall-out“ in that Leo’s mother in law, Nina, was also gone. That news was like icing on a cake. My day, week and month had been made by not only Leo’s departure but the fact that all his ”stuff“ had come out as well. I was one happy man!

Saturday night was closing night at the race track. Eric and Cal weren’t available as they were on duty at the air base but Jim said he’d go. I mentioned that my brother was at my father’s birthday and was back living at home so I recruited him to go with me as well. I didn’t have any choice but to take my ”lumps“ by starting in up front in the qualifying race. I, like Eric the week before, got spun out and into the infield which meant I was in the last chance race. I started first in that one and hadn’t gone a whole lap before there was smoke all around me. It wasn’t a fire but something had gone wrong inside the motor causing it to bellow smoke out the exhaust. I’d ”blown“ (A term used around race tracks to describe what had happened.) the motor and now it wasn’t a choice for the following year. I had to have a new one if I was going to race.

Bags had been watching and was there when my car and I got pushed into my pit stall. I was still in the seat when he stuck his head in the window and said he’d definitely sell me his motor and then took off. That was good news but I didn’t have a clue as to how I was going to pay for it. As I stated earlier, Bags was a bit hyper and it was quite a while later when I finally caught up with him. Rick was out on the track for the featured race so his attention (what little of it there was) was on him. The race turned out to be almost a replay of the one from a week earlier only Jim’s cousin beat Rick out by just a few feet. As we walked back to Rick’s pit stall I reminded him that I’d told him I didn’t have any money and I remember him stopping and saying that he liked me and wasn’t worried about it. He said he knew I’d come up with it one way or another because  ”I was a racer“.

So... I had the promise of a new motor and even though the next race season was six plus months away, I wanted to see it. I managed to pin him down again and he told me that it was at his girl friends house. That seemed a bit strange but I asked him where it was located. I fully expected that it was somewhere in town so when he told me it was located in the same town where both Elle’s and my parents lived I was more than a bit surprised. He called his girlfriend over and introduced her as Amy. He told her that he was selling the motor that was stored in her father’s garage and asked if anyone would be home the next day. By then things were going way too fast and my mind was starting to spin. The next day, Sunday, was already a busy day for me but I was reluctant to say anything that might give him cause to change his mind. Amy said that as far as she knew everyone would be home. I ended up telling her that I would be there sometime in the afternoon.

After church and a visit to the hospital with my grandfather I headed East. I’d come up with a story that my father wanted me to help him move some furniture. As long as Elle didn’t call looking for me while I was checking out the motor I was sure I’d get away with it. I’d gotten the directions from Bags and it was located on what was now called ”New Highway“, a recently built by-pass on the outside of the town. As I approached I recognized the house. Back when I was living at home and had my first race cars it belonged to one of the guys who we raced against. The was no name sign to help me out so when I knocked on the door I wasn’t totally surprised when ”Crash“ opened it. It was the same guy... a true race track ”character”.

Back in his racing days, and when the track first opened, he did something that made him unique. He crashed through the guard rail and out into a farm field... not just once but twice... and on successive weeks. Hence the nickname Crash. He didn’t recognize me as it had been at least seven or eight years since he’d last seen me and I was still a teen. I told him why I was there and, at first, he didn’t believe me. While we were talking, Amy, his daughter appeared. I couldn't help myself as I know I was almost leering at her. Her shorts were an ivory or off white color and even though I was looking at her from the front I swore I could see the outline of her panties through them One word... SEXY!"  She confirmed what I told her father and he just shrugged. He led me out the the garage and showed me a bunch of parts, many in boxes, and the “block”, or the main component of an engine. He told me that he was going to put it together for Bags but wanted to know what I was going to do with it. I’d never put a motor together and didn’t even know how to start. I don’t remember saying anything.Then he asked if I wanted to take it with me and, with absolutely no place to put all the stuff, told him "no" and laughed. I think it was about then that he asked if he should know me.

To be continued...