AND THE HEAT GOES ON... & on (Part 175n)

AND THE HEAT GOES ON… & on (Part 175n)

By the time I got up on the truck bed and could clearly see the woman it appeared that she wasn’t moving. I turned around and started yelling at some of the crew who were working on the race car and pointing into the bin. It took more than a few seconds for any one of them to respond. When I saw one of them headed towards the truck I turned and looked back into the bin. In my first look at her she was on her left side with her right arm above her head. This time she’d moved and was on her back which was a good sign. But I could now see blood on her right thigh and coming through her shorts by her hip. Once the crew got there they took over and I got back on the ground. I hung around until they got her out of the bin. I was curious as to what was actually in it and after they’d moved her to the cab I looked in. It was a large tarpaulin which had cushioned her fall so that was good to know. But I couldn’t figure out the blood. Since there was nothing I could do I headed back to our pit area. On my way I noticed someone from the ambulance crew headed towards where she was located which was a good sign.

Alan was really excited when he found out we’d be starting seventh. Usually, cars qualifying from the third heat didn’t start higher than 11th or 12th. After the race started Cliffy managed to avoid the usual carnage and ended up 4th. The money from that finish would pay for two new tires so we were all pretty happy. As usual, we set up our hibachi’s and waited for the fans to be let into the pits. I was putting the last of the spare parts into the storage cabinets behind the rear wheels of the hauler and felt someone touch me on the shoulder. I looked up and saw the woman who’d fallen standing there. When I stood up I recognized the man standing there with her as her husband, the driver of the new, radical car. She wanted to thank me and after she did the man introduced himself as Paul. When he was introduced to the fans for his qualifying heat I remember the announcer calling him Billy. But, before I could say anything or ask about the difference in names Cliffy walked up and introduced himself. While the two of them chatted the lady gave me her name… Etta. I couldn’t help but notice a bandage on her head. After acknowledging her name I asked how she was doing and she made an attempt to smile. She said her head hurt but the ambulance staff told her to monitor it and if the pain got worse to go to the emergency room at her local hospital. Then, seeing the dried blood on her shorts I asked about that.. I remember her sort of shaking her head a bit from side to side and telling me that when she fell that her leg and hip had scraped the edge of the bin area. I can tell you I certainly wasn’t expecting for her to pull up the cuff of her blood stained shorts to show me. In thinking about it now I’m sure she meant to get the leg elastic of her panties when she did it… but she didn’t. We had our flood lights in our pit area so there was plenty of light and there was no doubt that there was lace around the leg opening of her white (and blood stained) panties. I had a few seconds to take that in before she realized it and then got her finger under the elastic and pulled it up to show a bandage on the point of her hip but also a pretty nasty scrape as well.  She and her husband stayed for a few minutes before leaving. When they were walking away one floodlight was shining right on their backs and I convinced myself that I could see a VPL of her panty crotch. It was a nice way to end the evening.(As an aside… Paul and Cliffy ended up being pretty good friends all because I’d been there to see his wife fall.)

Before leaving that night Cliffy felt that after the tough week we’d put in to get the car ready we all needed some time off. Before loading the car on the hauler we did a cursory check around the car and could see nothing obviously amiss so he told us to show up Wednesday night. All of us were glad to hear that. In talking with Alan in the cab of the truck on the way home we agreed that we all needed some time away from each other.

I decided not to go to church in the morning with hope that I could get back in Elle’s ‘good graces’ by making myself available to do her bidding. But, she wasn’t going to give in still giving me the ’silent treatment’ as she’d done most of the previous week. I'd been through this a time or two in the past and pretty much knew it would take time and probably some sort of present or gift. With the Bermuda trip coming up I was counting on that as a last resort. I made myself busy doing things I thought might be of some help to her but couldn’t get much of a response.

Elle was still taking care of Cliffy and Beth’s young son on race nights. She would come by to pick him up around 11am on Sunday mornings. However, on that Sunday it was Cliffy who came to collect him. I couldn’t remember the last time he’d done that. I was just collecting the stuff to go to the sailing club when he arrived. He wanted to know if I was “in” for having a picnic for some of the teams that had helped us out during the season. Adam, who’d I’d played basketball with, along with Davo, was caretaker for the town’s two parks. There was a private area that could be reserved to hold somewhat private affairs and there had been a cancellation for the following Sunday. He’d heard Cliffy talking about doing something for some of the teams and had proposed the idea of using the park. Cliffy didn’t seem all that excited about it but let it ‘slip’ that Betsy had decided that it was going to happen. I knew her well enough to know that it would. It was to be the following Sunday.

Elle was still not talking with me except where she had to. When I asked if she was going to race that afternoon she said she was going to play tennis. I was tempted to say something caustic along the lines of why did I buy the second Sunfish… but held my tongue. I wondered how long this type of behavior was going to continue. I could accept the ‘cold shoulder’ treatment but not going racing was spiteful. It didn’t create a problem for me with taking care of the older girls because there were enough parents and kids there that they knew from sailing lessons. Elle fed the kids but left me to come up with something on my own. As soon as they were finished eating we were off.

It had been a strange season as far as racing was concerned. For various reasons I’d missed over half the races so wasn’t in position for a trophy. After surveying the adults who were there and asking for a few to keep and eye on the girls I got an idea. Anne was a sailing ‘fiend’ in that she’d rather be on the water and sailing than just about anything else. I asked if she wanted to sail with me as my crew. The reaction was a “Kodak moment”, only without the camera. Jean, the oldest, was OK with it as she had a couple of good friends to play with. Every time Anne was in a sail boat she wanted to steer so when we were headed out to the starting line I told her that she wouldn’t be steering until after the races were over. I expected a negative reaction but didn’t get one. I didn’t expect that or what she had to say… “I’ll wait for my turn…”

To be continued…