"The carburettor is completed busted .. we need to replace it or the engine is going to just keep flooding." I explained still with my head under the car bonnet.
I've never been a regular girly girl much rather have been out skate boarding than playing with dolls, hadn't always made me very popular at school but not many 18 year old girls can take their car apart and put it all back together in perfect working order. It had managed to get me a decent job working at the local dirt tracks as well, of course having an uncle who's the owner helped a little too though the guys that worked there didn't let me off easy. I didn't mind though I've always been more comfortable being 'one of the guys', I've learnt over the years that males gossip just as much any girl.
"Damn it, that's the third time in 5 months, these guys have got to stop working these cars so hard or there won't be any left to race!" shouted Maky also known as Steven Makenfield, my uncles old college friend.
Uncle Dave had kept the business within the 'family' as much as he could. It was a small place only had 8 employees there was Maky, Adam, Joey, Dan, John, Pete, Uncle Dave and then myself. Though it wasn't often that real names were used around the tracks, I can't remember the last that Uncle Dave called Maky by his real name, it would just sound too formal around here. Adam was always called Skrech everyone always told me it was because of his driving but no one seems to tell me that with a straight face so i know there has to be another story there somewhere. I've always known John as Silver, as in the pirate 'Long John Silver' again i'm not sure why though no one else seems to either. Then of course there was Dan that all the guys called 'Legs' this story i do know; a girl he was seeing didn't like that he had such thick hair on his legs, in a bid to impress her he went and had all the hair waxed off, not only did the hair never grow back but the girl found this even creepier and dumped his ass. His never been able to forget it and has the smoothest legs i've ever seen.
"Can you fix it darling?" asked Maky.
"Course i can ... easy! Just need the parts .. which means i need money please?" i placed my hand out towards my uncle.
"How is it that the employees i pay to work here end up costing me more in parts then the customers that pay to use our cars?" moaned my uncle.
"Come on now how do you expect us to have fun, besides the more we practice on the tracks the more likely that we get sponsored, become famous, earn fistfuls of cash and treat this whole to a much need overhaul." I answered back though i did feel bad how much these cars got trashed because of us fitting in as much practice as we could between customers. In the winter seasons we got a lot less trade, with no customers to show round the tracks it meant that the whole crew could enjoy the empty tracks.
"Here you go that should be enough, just make sure there is a receipt and that Al doesn't rip you off. Second hand will do the job fine need to make sure we are saving money where ever we can until business picks me up .. ok?" said uncle Dave.
"Second hand, fully working, cheapest price ... yea i got!" i said shoving the cash in my pocket and running out the door, i grabbed my jacket off the counter and grabbed the keys to my uncles truck. Despite how much he loved cars and the high spec racing cars he had the track he still drove a broken down old chevie that he'd had ever since i was little, i guess he still poured every cent he had into the tracks. I loved his truck though it smelt just like him a mix of petrol, cigar smoke and the musty smell of the old seats, it's not a smell that most people would find very pleasant but it was familiar and comforting to me. I climbed in and started the engine which roared alive as if it was trying to prove its stamina through its rusty exterior. I turned on the radio attempting to tune it to anything that wouldn't return static; eventually a song that i recognised started blasting through the speakers. The weather lately had been something unpredictable with the gale force winds, tsunami like rain and the patches of blinding sun. Though it wasn't unusual for Philadelphia in April, i tend to live in boots, shorts and any clean tshirt that i can find amongst my bomb site of a room. Today i opted for my black leather military boots, which always seemed like a sensible choice if i planned on working in the garage, then matched with a pair of cut off black denim shorts and a white Dickies tshirt with a grey lightweight parka in case i needed to keep the rain off. I'd had my hair scarped up and clipped behind my head while i was working in the garage but as i was nearing the scrap yard i took out the clip and let my hair fall down around my face, i always felt more comfortable with my hair down, felt like i could hide in plain sight.
I pulled up on to the dirt road and through the big gates into the scrap yard, there was a tall grey fence surrounding the yard made up of corrugated sheet metal it wasn't very nice to look at it but it kept the wild life out and any one stupid enough to want to try and go through a scrap yard at night.
"Hey there doll face it's been a while since you been round 'ere?" boomed Al as he appeared from behind a beat up old car from the looks of it had been left outside to battle the elements for a few too many years with very little care. Al was wearing his Navy overalls covered in grease and oil, you could see where Al's wife had patched up the overalls in several pieces with any odd material they had aound wouldn't be long until he his own full patchwork overalls. "Its a shame ain't it, could have been a nice little racer if it had been looked after, picked it up off an old dear a few towns away who says it has been started in a couple of decades and it definitely shows". Guess he caught me inspecting the peeling paint and patches of rust that had formed and started to eat away at the bottom of the back door.
"It doesn't even look like its healthy enough to give you any usable parts." I replied inspecting the vehicle further and peering in through the filthy windows that were hiding its dated orange and brown interior.
"Managed to salvage a few parts but nothing too impressive, anyway what brings your pretty face round 'ere then lovely?" asked Al wiping down his grease covered hands. I pulled my attention away for the rusted heap to look back at Al "Looking for a carburettor if you've got a half decent one lying around here anywhere?" gesturing toward the several heaps of intertwined metal sat around the yard. "Yea sure 'ang on round 'ere a minute and i'll see what i've got in the workshop" Al wondered off toward his workshop that looked a lot more like a shack then a work shop, made of the same metal as the fence around the scrap yard it looked as if it could be blown away at the slightest breeze.
I stood leant against the old chevie enjoying the patch of sun that had managed to break its way through the dark clouds that had set in this morning, though the sun felt nice on the skin it was still cold enough to give me goosebumps i was definitely glad to have my parka. Around 10 minutes later Al appeared carrying the carburettor. "Perfect!" i exclaimed as he handed over the car part, "how much do i owe you?". "Nothing, this ones on me i owe your uncle for some towing he did for me the other week we'll call us even now."
"Cheers Al your my hero, i'll come by sometime soon and see Pearl as well. I could do with some of her world famous lasagne" I said as i climbed into the truck.
"Make sure you do kid, i know she misses you, you're growing up too fast as it is!" Al shouted after me as i pulled out of the scrap yard and headed back to the tracks to get the carburettor fitted and hopefully get a chance to test it out on the tracks before it started raining.