Chapter 7: Extreme Danger - Flash Flood Zone

For a few seconds, I simply sat and thought about what Dad had said. He was probably right; I was competitive. I wasn’t sure that I felt that I was as competitive as he believed, however I did realize that I was more competitive than my sister. I was still thinking about it when Wil and the twins excused themselves, saying they were going for a walk.

Lifting my sore leg carefully onto the stool in front of me, I turned and looked at Dad in surprise. “Are you really telling me that you think I should race that car?”

“Well, I think you’d better let that heal first,” he pointed at my leg. “I’m not exactly sure how having a broken leg is going to affect your taking that job in the city either. I don’t think you’re going to be able to handle the work they have for you, at least not the way you’d planned. Meanwhile I can’t see why you shouldn’t at least clean up that car and prepare it as if you were going to race it. I think both Tom and George would be quite willing to help you if you did.”

“But Dad, I really wasn’t planning on racing the car. It was a gift and I really thought that we’d just take it apart to use for repairs for our other cars.”

“Actually I had a close look at that car, Chris, and there isn’t very much of it that you can use on the cars that you and the boys are driving now. The engine has been modified so the lubrication system will still work during a race and as well as that, the carburettor and several things on the motor have been modified. The transmission and rear end have been changed. The body of the car is a complete wreck. The frame has been twisted or bent and modified to turn to the left. The interior is gone, replaced with a complete roll cage. All four tires and wheels are different sizes and the suspension is just plain wierd. All in all, I can’t see that there’s anything much on there that is really useful on a standard car.”

I just stared at him for a moment, then I broke into laughter.

“Looks as if I’ve trapped myself.”I said, shaking my head. “I sure didn’t mean to.”

“I could see that and I didn’t think you realized what you had done,” he chuckled. “Yet in a way it might be for the best. You do have that competitive streak and this might just be a good way to harness it, at least for now.”

“Am I old enough to drive it though? After all, I’m only sixteen.”

“Well, Wil thinks you are, at least for dirt-track racing. This isn’t like the stock cars that run on the blacktop tracks. The car you’ve got is meant to be run on the little quarter mile dirt tracks like the one over at Pine Lake. I know you have to be eighteen to race on the bigger tracks, but Wil thinks that the drivers on dirt tracks start a lot younger.”

“But what would Mom say?”

“That’s something you’re going to have to handle yourself,” he grinned. “And now that you seem to have added a girlfriend; you might have to convince her as well.”

“I think Mom is the problem,” I smiled back. “If you’d seen Sandy’s face when Mr. Dolens showed us the car, you’d know what I mean.”

“So Sandy is car happy?” Dad asked, with a touch of a smile on his face.

“I think so,” I sighed. “She’s surprising me in several ways.”

“Women tend to do that, son,” he snorted.

“Just what do women do?” I heard Mom say, as she stepped out on the porch.

“See? There’s the perfect illustration, and she does that often,” he laughed softly as he reached out a hand to her. “She’s always surprising me.”

“This time I wasn’t planning on surprising you, Willard,” she said, taking his hand. “I was wondering if you’d go talk to Beth for a moment, she’s really quite upset.”

“Absolutely.”

And with that, he was out of his seat and moving toward the door. As soon as he was gone, Mom slipped into the seat he’d left.

“Chris, I have to ask you about your trip into town. Did something happen to scare Beth or anger her?”

I thought a minute before I answered.

“Mom, it’s really not for me to say, I mean, its Beth’s business. Didn’t she tell you anything about the baseball game?”

“Yes she mentioned that, but Chris, she’s upstairs sobbing her heart out and hanging onto Sandy like she was her last friend in the world. If there’s anything you can do or say...”

“I doubt if there’s anything I can do,” I sighed, shaking my head.

“Well, did something else happen besides the baseball game that could have upset her? Did George get carried away or something?”

“Oh I don’t think so. They were getting along famously, maybe almost too famously, if you know what I mean.”

“I see,” Mom said quietly. “By the way, Sandy called her mother to let her know you’d brought her here and why. She’s a very responsible young woman.”

“Unh huh.”

Mom just sighed.

“Now what did I do?” I asked.

“Sometimes you’re a typical young man and you take things for granted,” she shook her head.

“Sorry Mom, but you taught me to look for certain kinds of women in my life,” I grinned. “Did you think I’d date a floozy or something? I know Sandy is a sweetheart, it’s just that I don’t know if she’s going to be my sweetheart.”

Mom looked at me strangely for a moment, then she just shook her head.

“Now what did I do?”

“Oh Chris,” she chuckled. “Just when I’m positive I know what you’re doing or going to do; you surprise me by doing making a completely opposite decision and going your own way or saying something that astounds me.”

“Well, turn about is fair play,” I laughed. “I was just telling Dad about Sandy doing that when you came outside and he was saying you do it to him too. Perhaps it’s just a gender thing.”

“I don’t think so,” she sighed. “In your case, I think you’ve simply grown up and turned into a young man faster than I want to believe.”

“Well, I did just graduate from highschool, even if I was the youngest in the class,” I grinned at her.

“Oh, yes. That reminds me, you start tests for your finals next week don’t you? Are you ready for those?”

“Yes, Mom,” I grinned. “You know me and written tests. I’m always ready.”

She just rolled her eyes and shook her head. I was one of those people who simply had an easy time with written tests.

“I’ve done a complete review, Mom, and I’ll glance through my notes before each test. Since these are my final exams, I want to be sure that I do well.”

She simply sighed deeply, knowing that there was no sense in arguing with me on that point.

I’ve always refused to cram for tests, and yet I always seemed to do well. I think I simply have a brain that works well under pressure or perhaps a memory that files things away in a different manner than most. I won’t try to explain it, I just know what helps me and what doesn’t.

“So what are you going to do if your leg prevents you from being able to go work in the city for the summer?” Mom changed the subject.

“I really don’t know Mom. I need that experience and I was looking forward to it a lot,” I sighed.

“Well, your second passion seems to be cars,” she sighed. “Frank Bolens seems to have taken a shine to you. I don’t suppose you’d think about asking him for a job?”

I hesitated for a moment and then turned to face Mom more directly. “Dad told you about what he thinks of the car, didn’t he?”

“Yes,” she sighed softly. “I’m not sure I agree with him though. I still think racing is so dangerous. I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“With this leg, I couldn’t drive for a while anyway,” I shrugged my shoulders. “Besides, I’m not sure that I’m ready to try racing. I think between the leg and my hand, I’m going to be limited in what I do for a while. I sure that I wouldn’t want to try to race like this anyway.”

“I think that’s wise,” she chuckled, which surprised me because it implied that once the casts were off she might not argue so loudly against me racing.

I had turned to look at her and was almost ready to ask her about that, when Sandy came out of the house.

“Whew,” she sighed softly. “I think Beth has cried herself to sleep and I think she’ll be okay now. Having her Dad there to hug, while she cried on his shoulder helped a lot.”

“Oh, Sandy, thank you for staying with her. I’ve never seen her that upset before and having you stay with her helped a lot,” Mom stood and hugged her.

“It was nothing she wouldn’t have done for me,” Sandy smiled at me over Mom’s shoulder and I gave her a thumbs up sign. “If I wasn’t here, of all places, I’d have called home and told Mom I was going to stay the night at her side.”

Mom chuckled. “That wouldn’t be a good idea since Chris’s bedroom is just down the hall, would it? Your father might not like that idea at all.”

“Yeah, he’d be on the warpath, since he told Chris I had to be home,” Sandy giggled. “You might not sleep so well either.”

I couldn’t help but snort at that and Mom pulled back, but left her arms on Sandy’s shoulders.

“I might not have slept well, but it would have been Beth I would have worried about, not you,” she smiled, then turned to face me. “I think you two should head back toward town, but you might stop on the way and talk for a while, Cris.”

I was flabbergasted. She was telling me in her own way that I should tell Sandy I didn’t want to get carried away and I didn’t know how to do that without having Sandy angry with me. I looked at Sandy and her eyes were huge, so Mom had surprised her as well, but I think she thought there was a different meaning to Mom’s words than the one I read into them.

“Unh, okay, I guess,” I managed to mutter.

Mom gave Sandy another quick hug and then leaned over to hug me before heading for the door, but pausing before she went inside and turning back to us.

“It’s almost eleven now, so if Sandy’s folks call, I’ll tell them you’ll have her home by one. That gives you two a couple of hours to talk, okay Chris?”

“Yeah, sure Mom, thanks.”

“Fine, goodnight then,” she said shortly and she went inside before we could say anything more.

Both Sandy and I were left staring after her and at each other, then Sandy wandered over and sat down at my side.

“What was that about?” she asked.

I shrugged my shoulders and sighed. “To be honest, I think she wants us to talk for a while and get to know more about each other a bit better.”

“Oh?” Sandy’s face fell. “Did I do something wrong?”

“Oh no,” I reached out and grabbed her hand. “I think she’s worried that we’re going to go too far and too fast, because we don’t know each other all that well.”

She just stared at me and then blushed. “I guess ... well, it could happen, I suppose”

“Whoa, whoa,” I grinned, chuckling softly. “Can I explain?”

She nodded and squeezed my hand lightly, her eyes staring into mine.

“Well, you’re the first girl that I’ve ever taken out and I think this is your first date too, right?”

She nodded and smiled. “The ‘Ice Cubes’ don’t count, huh?”

“I never took them out,” I snorted. “You already know how that happened.”

“So what? You were in bed with them,” she grinned and stuck her tongue out at me.

“Not by my choice,” I snorted. “I told you; I’m shy. That night scared the dickens out of me. I think though that Mom feels I should explain my feelings to you and ask you about yours, just so we both know where we stand.”

“That’s easy,” she smiled and lifted our hands. “I like you and I think you’re a nice guy. I’d really like to spend some time with you and get to know you better. I do have another year of school to finish and then I guess I need to learn to be a nurse, or a secretary, or something? But, I don’t want to get married yet or anything, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

When she paused, I was going to speak, but she lifted her hand, silencing me again.

“Look, I know that we’ve almost been pushed together. What you probably didn’t know is that I’ve had a bit of a crush on you for a long time. My sisters told me a lot about you after they came out to see Beth and the horses. On top of that, I used to hear about how smart you were at school and everything. Then you defended the ‘Ice Cubes’ and right afterward, you ended up in the hospital. That’s when I surprised myself by teasing you about that stupid bed pan and everything,” she paused as she blushed.

“I really don’t know where that came from. I mean I don’t do that sort of thing. It must have been just because I didn’t know what to do, just because it was you,” she hid her face for a second and giggled. “I’m usually not that sort of person at all.”

“I didn’t think you were normally like that, and to be honest, I wasn’t exactly myself either,” I smiled. “Actually, that’s part of what’s been bothering me. I mean, either I dreamed it, or I kissed you last night.”

“You weren’t dreaming,” she giggled. “ But I didn’t have to lean over you to tuck you in like I did and I could have pulled away, but I didn’t do that either.”

“You mean you wanted me to kiss you?”

“Well, what do you think? For gosh sakes, you’re good looking, you’d just proved to the whole town that you were a nice guy. Besides, you looked like you were lonely and wanted someone to be nice to you,” she was leaning forward and taking excitedly. “Of course I wanted you to kiss me, you dummy.”

“Oh,” I said as I leaned toward her and touched my lips to hers for an instant, then pulled back with a grin.

“Was that supposed to be a kiss?” she spluttered in surprise.

“Nope, just a promissary note for sometime when we aren’t sitting on my front porch under a bright light with the possibility that all my family could be peeking around corners and watching us,” I whispered, twisting my head and glancing quickly at the bushes and corners of the house as if looking for someone to appear.

She pulled back to stare at me for a second, then broke into loud giggles. After a second, she stood up and grabbed my crutches, handing them to me.

“Then maybe you should drive me toward town ... slowly,” she whispered as she leaned close. “And maybe we can stop somewhere along the way and talk ... or something ... for a bit.”

Just the way she said it, I had to laugh.

“Talking is a good thing,” I chuckled as I hobbled to my car and she walked beside me.

“Oh shut up,” she giggled, hopping in the passenger’s door and reaching across to take my crutches from me.

As we drove out of the yard, we saw Wil and the twins waving wildly at us from far down the yard. I didn’t want to stop because I was positive that they just wanted to come with us for the ride, but I wanted to be alone with Sandy.

“Hey, what if they wanted us for something important?” she asked.

“If they need to go somewhere, Dad’s pickup is there and all three of them can drive. I’m guessing that they just wanted to come along to be with us and I want to be away from them for now.”

“Oh, that means I’ll be all alone with you,” she said in a mockery of a fearful voice. “Whatever will I do?”

Still, at the same time as she was talking, she was also snuggling over close to my side.

“Maybe we can find somewhere out of the way where I can pay off that promissary note?” I suggested.

“That’s the best idea that you’ve had all night,” she giggled and lifted my right arm away from the steering wheel to duck her head under it and pull it behind her shoulders so she could snuggle even closer. “And I’m not wearing lipstick, so you won’t look like George did.”

That surprised me and I thought for a moment before I spoke. “Sandy, I thought you said you were shy?”

Now it was her turn to be quiet for a little while. “Usually, I am. You just seem so ... so comfortable, I guess. I don’t know?” she sighed heavily. “I trust you and I want to be around you, because I really like you, a lot.”

“I think that’s why Mom wanted us to talk,” I almost whispered. “I think she’s worried that since you seem to like me so much that I might take advantage of you. She’s worried that I might be tempted to do things that you wouldn’t really want to do, but would go along with because you’re with me. I don’t think I would, but even I worry about getting carried away.”

“You mean stuff like sex?” she did whisper that and I barely caught it.

“Yeah, stuff like sex,” I sighed, deciding not to tell her about the condoms that Mom had given me.

“Unh, I don’t think I’m quite ready for that yet,” she giggled. “But your Mom is smart, I do like you an awful lot and I seem to be willing to do things with you that even surprise me.”

“Yeah, and both of us are new to dating as well as to being trusted to be alone together,” I laughed. “In fact I couldn’t believe your Dad gave me permission to date you.”

“Umm, I’m not,” she murmured and snuggled a bit. “He’s probably heard all about you too, after all it’s a small town. I think he was trying to be realistic about me. I was about ready to rebel against all his rules anyway and he knew it, so when a nice guy came along he took advantage of it.”

Suddenly she broke into a giggle. “Did you know Daddy dated your Mom before she got married to your Dad?”

“What? You’ve gotta be kidding?”

“Unh uh, your Mom told me about it.”

I was quiet for a moment and she suddenly sat up straighter and turned to look at me.

“Are we going to stop somewhere for a bit, so you don’t have to pay all of your attention to driving the car?” she demanded.

“Yep,” I grinned, pointing to the top of the ridge we were approaching. “I was going to pull off the road up ahead so we could have a view when we parked, but I’ll need both hands for a bit.”

“Okay, but I want a cuddle with both arms when we get stopped,” she giggled and shifted so I could move my right arm back to the steering wheel.

I knew just where I wanted to stop, so when we came to the trail that lead off of the road, just over the crest of the hill, I turned. Then I drove along it for a short distance before I swung the car so it faced the far off lights of the town. We were under an old poplar tree and hidden from anyone on the road by a growth of willows, but we had a view of the whole valley and the little town where she lived and where both of us went to school.

“Wow. I didn’t know this place was here,” Sandy sounded surprised.

“I don’t think many people do,” I shrugged. “If they did, I think it would be a favourite parking spot for people wanting to neck and make out.”

“Is that why we’re here?” she giggled, again lifting my arm and snuggling closer.

“I thought you wanted to talk,” I kidded, whispering in her ear and then kissing it lightly.

“First I want that kiss you promised me,” she growled and then she was kissing me.

Wow! I felt that kiss all the way down to my toes and I reacted. Suddenly I was kissing her as well and my hands were roaming over her back and her sides. She twisted, then she moaned into my mouth as I felt the softness of her breast through her shirt and her bra. She even pressed back against my hand and her mouth opened. Our tongues twisted and twined around each other. Everything we did seemed to accelerate our desires.

One way or another, I had my hand inside her shirt, then under her bra and suddenly I was squeezing and caressing her bare breast. One of her hands was around my neck, the other was roaming wildly over my chest and my stomach, then it was pressing on my erection through my cutoffs. I was holding her round butt, pulling her tighter against me and she was helping, climbing into my lap.