SUMMER FUN... good times (Part 109f)

J J had made a couple of attempts to talk with me that same day but we (the bank) were still in the ”busy period“ and I had something else on my mind (read the previous post). I liked J J even though he sometimes seemed to be a bit obtuse. I made a point of catching him before the doors opened to the public. He wanted to tell me that he’d checked up on the building company who he’d signed the contract to build his house and I was pretty much on the mark with my comments. There was little he could do to get out of it by then and was going to look for a place to rent that was in the same town and was big enough for his whole family until it was finished. He’d met with the real estate agent who had handled his purchase of the land and was told that, being Summer, there wasn’t anything available. The whole area was a Summer destination with the majority of the homes just bungalows and cottages and not built for year round living. In listening to him tell his tale of woe I was thinking that before he took the job he should’ve done some research... but he hadn’t. I couldn’t offer any help but promised that I’d ask around.

That night was to be the first night I’d worked on the race car in a month. I’d deliberately avoided telling Elle about the new motor wanting to stay in her good graces as long as possible. I’d been right in so doing as the ”fit hit the shan“ when I told her my plans at supper. At the shop Darren had brought along his neighbor, the former driver Donny. Darren had done a nice job of having everything cleaned up and ready for assembly. Not too long after we’d started I’d pretty much forgotten about Elle and her ”mad“. I really enjoyed working on the car and Darren and his neighbor were fun to work with. Donny was a bit of a cynic and had a dry sense of humor and Darren, knowing this, kept needling him which kept things interesting. Before we knew it was midnight. As we put the tools away we assessed what we’d accomplished and Donny felt that if we were to work on it just one more night we’d be ready to put the motor in the car. Being away from racing for almost two months that’s all I needed to hear. We discussed just what had to be done and decided to give it a try. Elle was already mad so I figured ”why not?“

Elle and I spoke but a few sentences the next day but I was at the shop at 8pm and so was Darren and Donny. We had the motor buttoned up around 11pm and they wanted me to go home and bring the car right back to the shop. When James gave me permission to use his shop I had to promise that I wouldn’t bring it there in daylight. Being early July that meant it would have to be after 9:30pm or so. They tried to argue that it would save us a whole day (night). They almost had me persuaded but I decided I needed to get some sleep. As I mentioned above, the bank was still in it’s ”busy period“ which meant I was too and I was tired.

Friday night, I arrived at the shop with the car in tow just about 10pm. Darren had the motor on the chain hoist ready to be dropped in place. I was under the car tightening down all the mounting bolts when I saw bare legs approaching, obviously a female. I was on a creeper under the car and I moved it over so I could see who it was. Where I exited from under the car had me right behind her feet and as I looked up I saw two half moons of white peeking out from beneath the leg openings of a pair of navy blue shorts. I pushed myself back under so that I could still see the panties and just lay there looking. In reality, it was probably no more that 15 to 20 seconds but, at the time, it was more than enough to start something moving in my pants. It took a minute or so for Darren to recognize that we had a visitor... Peggy. She was on her way home from the movies and saw the lights on in the shop. When I heard her voice I came out from under the car but on the opposite side from where I’d had my ”peek“. As soon as she saw me she wanted to know when she was going to go sailing again. I didn’t really know but I told her the earliest wouldn’t be until the following week. I knew a lot would depend on how long Elle stayed mad at me. I told her to put some pressure on Elle the next time Elle drove her home from work. She smiled and then took off.

Over time I’d found that if I didn’t say much of anything when Elle was mad at me that she’d eventually back down. That Saturday morning she asked if I was racing that night. When I said I was she said that she’d arranged to play tennis Sunday afternoon and that she’d really appreciate it if I’d join her. No threats or ultimatums. When she asked it was in a calm voice, much like she normally spoke. I sensed an opportunity to get get back into her good graces even though I hated playing tennis with other people.

Because I hadn’t raced in almost two months I had to, basically, start over. By that I mean I had to start each race from the rear for three weeks. I knew I was in for a rough time because the new motor wasn’t as powerful as the one that had blown up. That night there were over forty cars that had signed in. I had to start 12th in my first qualifying race with seven cars making it into the feature race. It doesn’t sound like it would be hard to do... pass five cars but it was and I didn’t make it. I had one last chance in the non qualifiers race. I passed a lot of cars but they only took three and I was fifth. The only good thing was that the motor ran well even if it didn’t have as much power as the old one. All in all. it was good to be back at the races.

To be continued...