A LOT OF WORK... & play too (Part158e)

A LOT OF WORK… & play too (Part 158e)

Never, in a million years, would I have expected to hear the obnoxious customer volunteer to drive Lillian to the ER… but he did. On a personal basis I couldn’t stand the man. But, he was a successful and well known businessman in town. We sat Lillian up and made up a wet compress for her to hold on her wound. Then we got her to a chair while the customer brought his car up to the back door. By the time Lillian was on her way it was approaching 6pm. As I closed the car door I told her I’d call her mother and then, after closing the bank, I’d go to the ER and would see her there.

No one answered the phone at Lillian’s house so I headed to the hospital. Since I wasn’t a relative I wasn’t allowed to see or talk to her. However, from all the time my grandmother had spent at the hospital I’d made some friends and was able to have a message sent to her to let her know I was there. Initially, they weren’t going to release her to me but one of my ‘contacts’ told her to sign herself out. It was a case of ‘who you know’ to make it all happen. When I saw her walk towards me I was surprised to see a smile on her face. It was one of those stupid ones that sent a message… that she realized that what she’d done (reaching for the file) had been stupid. I smiled in return. Total damage… eight stitches and embarrassment.

Her mother had finally been contacted and I waited until she arrived. I had no idea what she’d look like but when I saw her I swear I thought I was looking at Lillian’s sister. I don’t know if I did a ‘double take’ when she walked into the waiting room but I truly was surprised. Lillian wasn’t actually pretty but definitely classified as cute… especially when she smiled. The one big difference was that Lillian never wore pants… always a dress or skirt. The mother was in a pair of beige slacks that looked like they were poured on. When we headed for the door to leave I followed both women. I’ll admit I put myself in that position for one good reason… the chance for a VPL. I had to wait until they got to the mother’s car and when she helped Lillian into the passenger seat. It was approaching 8pm and definitely dusk but there still enough light to see just what I was hoping for. Because of how tight the pants fit I not only got to see the crotch line but also the leg elastics. I looked at as being a reward for my effort.
   

Not the one I saw but it's close!

By the time I got home it was dark. My dinner, warmed up, was dried out which didn’t make me all that happy. Elle told me Cliffy had called wondering where I was since the next day was the first practice with the racecar. The rest of the crew was getting the truck that was used to haul the car ready. She surprised me by not making a negative comment. I told her I wasn’t going since I’d be gone most of Saturday. I hoped that was worth something as I went to say goodnight to my girls.

Earlier that week I’d told Cliffy that I might have located some sponsorship. The only thing was I’d been so busy I hadn’t followed up on it. Bret had passed on the fact that there was an oil company that had just developed a special oil for racing motors but hadn’t had any success in getting anyone to try it. He’d given me a business card and even with the late hour I figured I’d call. That way I wouldn’t be lying when and if Cliffy asked me about it. I couldn’t believe it when the salesman answered. He represented Quaker State Oil. I identified myself and my association with a racecar. It was easy to tell he was excited and after about 15 minutes he said he’d be at the garage where we kept the car the next morning. I couldn’t commit to anything but the offer he expressed to me seemed like a good one. He’d supply Quaker State oil for us to use and $100 per race. All we had to do was place decals on the car. I called Cliffy to let him know what I’d been doing. I can’t say he was overwhelmed with the news as he expressed some doubt about the quality of the oil. We’d be among the first to use it and we’d be taking a chance if it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be… but he said he’d talk with the salesman.

All my chores were done before 10am and I was off to the garage. The salesman looked anything but like what I expected selling a product like racing oil. He looked more like college professor. His name was Wesley and very laid back. It went well and Cliffy showed he was a bit of a salesman himself as he got the guy to pay us $100 for the practice we were about to attend. He even asked if he could go with us. We got on the road about 11:30am. At that time of day it only took an hour to get to the track. Cliffy had decided not to use our new tires until we were actually racing the car. The only tires we had were just about used up but as Cliffy told us, all we wanted to know from the practice was that everything worked and there were no leaks.

First practice was always exciting just to see who were the new drivers and who had new cars. For me, with this being a track that I’d only attended as a spectator, almost all of it was new. I’d read about some of the drivers in the racing newspapers and only actually knew a few of them. Cliffy didn’t make many laps saying the tires were junk. All in all we were all pretty pleased and couldn’t wait for opening night.

To be continued...