INTERESTING TIMES... A change of pace (Part 130g)

INTERESTING TIMES... A change of pace (Part 130g)

The phone rang and startled me at around 6:30am on Saturday morning. It was Sabrina and it was obvious to me, even in the confused state my brain was in, that she had a problem. As I remember it she was sort of screaming that there were wild animals running around her back yard. I peered out my bedroom window but the hedge between the houses was just too high for me to see anything but her garage. I threw on a pair of pants and ran down the stairs and then outside to the opening in the hedge. There I saw three cows, obviously from the dairy farm across the road. However, I didn’t really know what to do about them even though I knew who they belonged to.

It would take me a whole post to try and explain the convoluted arrangement that Jon (the milkman) had arranged with the owner of the cows to get and distribute the milk from them. Their owner and also owner of the farm they grazed on was a retired Justice of the Peace. I knew him by sight and had since I was a boy but had never known his name. Throughout the town he was just known as ”The Judge“. Even though we lived across the road from his farm I’d never met him face to face but would sometimes wave as he drove by in his pre WWII pick up truck. Not knowing his name meant I couldn’t just call him to tell him about the cows but it meant I would have to drive over to his house and hope to find him home. I went back inside, called Sabrina to tell her what I was doing as well as Elle and was off. ”The Judge“ wasn’t there but I did find a farm hand. I remember him giving me one of those looks that said ”What am I supposed to do about it?“

By the time the cows were herded back to the pasture it was almost 10am. I’d gone over to Sabrina’s to watch the process and, I guess you could call it a ”reward“, got to see her in a light, filmy gown. Even though I couldn’t actually see her panties I could sort of see them through the material of the gown. When I got back home and could talk with Elle I remember telling her of Sabrina’s description of the cows as ”wild animals“ and shaking my head. A depiction of a milk cow as a wild animal could only come from a city girl.

After eating a bit of breakfast I found the morning was half gone. I still had the lawn and the land fill run to do and it was opening night at the races. Because we’d not had the second day of practice I wanted to get to the track early hoping to get ”B“ on the track for an extra few laps. Stressed, the last thing on my mind was the box of ”goodies“ that I’d brought home. When I finally got to the barn and the racecar I found ”B“ and all the ”unmarrieds“, including my brother there waiting for me. All the spares tires were already loaded into the racecar and all that was left were the tools and spare parts to go in the trunk of my car. When I lifted the lid there was the box. I know I immediately went beet red. Thankfully, the accounting pads covered most of the contents and the guys weren’t paying much attention. With a deep breath I lifted the box out and put it under the makeshift workbench, hoping that no one would go near it.

It was a repeat of the one practice day that we'd had in that Bebe came with food. She brought her girlfriend as she’d been bored the last time she was there. Smarter this time, she wore dungarees (that’s what they called jeans back in those days). I was, naturally, disappointed. Her girlfriend was frightfully skinny and I remember someone commenting that she probably didn’t wear a bra. I’d been right in figuring that the track would allow extra practice since we’d been cheated out of the second day. I spent quite a bit of time in trying to get ”B“ to understand just what he needed to do during the practice. I felt a little more confident than the last time he went out on the track but it was short lived. He did everything I’d suggested except that it was at a snails pace. There were two more practice sessions before the races started and ”B“ managed to get up to speed on the straightaways but when he got to the turns the car would slow noticeably... he was standing on the brakes.

Being a new car at the track we were automatically placed in the rear of our qualifying heat. If there was one positive it was that it took four laps for ”B“ to get lapped the first time. As I expected he finished last. However, when he went to watch the faster cars in their qualifying heats I went to each wheel and backed off the brakes on each. I know it wasn’t a nice thing to do but it was the only way I was going to get him to drive through the turns with any speed.

He started last again in the non qualifiers race. I was holding my breath when he went into the first turn. I closed my eyes when it looked like he wasn’t going to turn the steering wheel but, at the last second, he did. Still finishing last, I could finally see an improvement by the last few laps. To make it a totally successful night, he actually beat one car and he was as happy as pig in s__t. I fully expected him to be mad at me but by beating that one car he’d forgotten about it. However, I already knew that he’d never be a racecar driver.

With ”B“ not qualifying for the feature race we packed up all our stuff. While we were doing it I got to chat with Martin for a bit and told him of Sabrina’s encounter with the ”wild animals“ earlier in the day. He laughed and made a comment about the fact that he’d like to get to know her better. My first thought was ”Why?“ but I didn't say anything. By then we’d finished up and since both Martin and Pete were PO’d with ”B’s“ performance they wanted to leave. Tom didn’t so I convinced them all to stay for the main event. I told ”B“ to pick out one car and follow it throughout the whole race. Ironically, he picked out a friend of mine and a guy who’d struggled when he first started. During the race I tried to explain just what he was doing... going high into the turns and then diving low to come out low on the other straightaway. The funny thing was that Tom and Martin figured it out on their own that it was the quickest way around the track. When we left I still wasn’t sure ”B“ did.

Back at the barn I was the last to leave. I wanted to make sure I had the box. I’d hoped to peruse it during the day but it just didn’t work out. I was tired and the single light we used in the barn wasn’t enough for me to do a real good inspection of the ”goodies“ so I just put the box in the trunk and headed home. However, the box still presented a problem for me when it would come time to get it back to the lady examiner on Monday.

To be continued....