SURVIVING... Same ole, same ole (Part 129k)

SURVIVING... Same ole, same ole (Part 129k)

Jerene started to speak but was stopped by Gina who’d managed to get her skirt up but not fastened. As she sat down on the sofa I remember her looking over at me standing in the hallway. Then she calmly explained that Jerene had offered to shorten some of her summer skirts and was in the process of pinning  them to the right height. Her calmness sort of surprised me. Technically, they weren’t doing anything wrong and the room was not “off limits”. I was at a loss for words. After a few seconds of not knowing what to say I reminded them that they should be at the back door before 5:10pm and to turn out the lights when they left the room. At that point it was me who was embarrassed.

I went on into the storage area of the cellar and found the box Hobie wanted. When I returned and walked past the break room I didn’t look in (through the window) and hurried on up the stairs. At the top I saw Hobie headed in my direction. I’d taken so long he wanted to make sure I was OK. Back at my desk I decided I’d wait for Gina and Jerene to leave and it was only a matter of minutes before they appeared. As they walked out I couldn’t help but wonder if Jerene had said anything about what she and I’d discussed about her panties. I could only hope she’d had enough common sense to keep her mouth shut.

I was out by my car when I remembered that I’d wanted to call my friend Jay over at the county center. When I was unable to locate any spare rims for the racecar I called him earlier in the week. No longer active in racing he still had a lot of friends who were and he’d come up with parts that I’d needed in the past. He’d told me he would call around and get back to me. Here it was Thursday and I still hadn’t gotten his call.

The one thing I wanted to get finished that night was the lettering on the racecar. “B” and I’d wanted the number to be US2 but the track would only allow one alpha letter on a racecar so we shortened it to U2. Back in the very early 60’s an American spy plane had been shot down by the Russians. The plane was known as a U2 and there was a lot of newsprint devoted to the incident. As a result the letter U and the number 2, together had people thinking airplanes. We’d been taking some good natured ribbing about our choice. But, quite by incident, the Peanuts cartoons at that time were featuring Snoopy as a decorated WWI fighter pilot and going after Germany’s Red Baron. I decided to paint Snoopy as the pilot, manning a machine gun, on the side of the car. The kids got a kick out of seeing me paint Snoopy on the car. I worked until midnight as I wanted to devote Friday night on doing the last minute things.

Friday morning I finally got Jay on the phone and all I could get from him was that he was “working on it“. It was Hobie’s turn to work late and since I hadn’t benefitted from getting out early the previous night I planned on taking off around 4pm. I’d given up on Jay as he still hadn’t called me. However, as I went out the back doors there was his red 4 wheel drive pick up truck stopped behind my car. I also saw two rusty rims. He had a big smile on his face and apologized for not getting back to me saying he’d had to go half way to the city to get them.

Elle and I arrived at the same time. I warned her that I’d be running the racecar motor and to keep the kids inside when I did. We didn’t run mufflers so the sound of the exhaust was rather harsh. It was somewhat exciting to be sitting behind the wheel and hitting the start switch. Inside our small garage the noise was unbelievable so I quickly put the car in gear and edged it out the doors. Even outside it was loud!

I wanted to let the engine run for a while to get the parts broken in a bit. Standing in the driveway and looking at the car I was proud of myself for the way it had turned out. Elle came out and handed me the Polaroid camera. I’d never given a thought to taking any pictures of it. The sun was still bright enough to get a good picture so I stepped back and snapped a couple.
                                       

She’d also come out to say that supper was on the table. As I followed her inside I left the motor running. I was somewhat surprised at how loud it sounded even inside the house. Supper didn’t take long and as I had things to do I didn’t linger. When I started back to the car I saw Sabrina standing near it with her hands on her ears. She was wearing a pair of flowered capris which pretty much muted any chance for a VPL. As I shut the motor down she approached and asked what it was pointing to the car. It was obvious that she’d never seen a stock car. I tried to explain it but it was somewhat like talking to a wall. By then ”B“ and Martin had showed up. Martin insisted on being introduced to Sabrina and, reluctantly, I did. As ”B“ and Martin looked over the lettering on the car Sabrina just stood there. Pete then showed up with a small bottle of champagne saying we needed to christen the car like they christened boats. He wanted to do it right than but I didn’t want to have to clean up the broken glass so we decided to wait until the car was to go on the track for the first time.

I’d lost track of Sabrina and when I noticed her again she was talking with Martin. I remember thinking, ”poor guy!“ But, all of a sudden he called out to the group of us to follow Sabrina. The quickest way was through the hedge and I was the last to make it. By the time I did the others were headed for Sabrina’s garage. I hadn’t given much, if any, thought, to what Sabrina used for transportation. I’d not seen a car in the driveway and I was about to find out why.

Martin rolled the door aside and there was a pristine 1955 T-Bird. The sight of it brought back some memories as the father of my boarding school friend, Fred, had one and I’d gotten a ride in it right after graduation. Every time I saw one on the road I was envious. Because Sabrina had spent most of her life in the city she’d never needed a car. But, moving to a rural area changed things. She’d talked her father into letting her bring it when she moved in making her promise to keep it garaged and not to use it when it rained. When Martin tried to talk her into giving us rides she was adamant with her ”NO!“ However, it didn’t stop the rest of us from checking the car out thoroughly. One thing I remember distinctly was that there was only around 25,000 miles on the odometer.

The sun was now sinking fast and I wanted to get the car to the barn so we could load all the things we’d need the next day into the racecar as there wasn't room enough for everything in my car. The plan was to leave for the track by 11am so we could get the car registered and be ready for the first practice. As we piled out of Sabrina’s garage I couldn’t help but notice the attention that she was giving to Martin and, shaking my head.

To be continued...