Warmth. Deep, soft, comforting warmth. Warmth with a cozy weight to it. She squirmed slightly deeper under the covers of the bed. Relishing in the comfort. Wanting to forget the awareness that was slowly dragging her away from her slumber.
She started to drift again, when she heard something. Muted, but then it stopped as soon as it had begun, and the sweet lullaby of the bed started recalling her back to her dreams. She heard it again, disrupting the sweet calm. It was a deep, rumbling...rattle? Groaning, she cracked an eye to the dimly lit room. Across the rumpled field of the pillow, stood the darkly laden bookcase. The thick metal blades of the blinds in the window blocked the morning sun, except for small cracks which streamed brilliance into her eyes. The dresser under the window and its little clock let her know that it was six twenty.
The rattle came again, this time longer, more insistent. As it passed, it was followed by a deep "Meeerooow!" Anthony had given her fair warning that the cat could be a persistently annoying little bastard. Opening her other eye as she sighed, she rolled over and looked to the door. She watched as a white tipped paw slid under the door, and started rattling it again. Another pitiful yowl came.
Wondering if she could wait the beast out, her mind fell onto Anthony...or Rebekkah. Or whoever was which. It was awkward really; she knew that mentally at least, he was Anthony. But the form didn't follow the function as it were. Rebekkah, was just pure femininity. Worse, was that in the midst of acting like Rebekkah, even she could have a hard time remembering that this other girl, wasn't reall-totally a woman. Sort of. Robyn sighed as the door rumbled again. At least Anthony seemed to have intelligence and wasn't just some other arrogant, ignorant cock. She had to smirk at that thought, this sort of situation happening to a jock, or some ignorant, sexist prick. Then it'd almost be divine, poetic justice.
Rattle.
Course, that brought to mind just how well Anthony seemed to be coping in the first day of being a woman. Aside from a few slips, he was playing it well. Sort of eerily so. She couldn't imagine waking up one day as a guy. Although it might be easier than what Anthony was facing. Women have their ways, and it might take Anthony a while to pick up on it. Guys however, were simple. At the very least, she wouldn't have to worry about her period then. That would be a relief.
Rattle, "Merrooow!"
She rolled back over and fell into another train of thought. Besides that though, she was faced with the staggering realization that yes, indeed, God, and Angels existed. Yet...she had thought of herself as an Atheist. She despised the Bible and all it's mis-translated, contradictory bullshit, she loathed Christian zealots, and people who jut passed off the world's ills as, "God's Will", or "God's Plan". But, she still celebrated Christmas, didn't she? Easter? She hated how commercialized Christmas was, she hated how people ignorantly forgot the reason for either, in the desire and greed that the marketing companies spawned.
Rattle, "Merrrrooowww!" Rattle.
But hypothetically, if she were atheist, and God still exists...What does that mean for other, actual religions? What of Allah, Buddha, and the numerous other faiths of the world? Do God and Angels exist with Allah and the rest? Have God and Heavenly Host parties? Do they despise each other? Are there wars between Pantheons of different faiths? Or is it just God? Or does God go by different names?
"Mrrrooow!" Rattle!
"Augh, you win!" muttering as she flipped the blankets off of her, sliding off the bed as the air sucked the warmth from her skin and clothes. Her feet touched cool hardwood, and she walked over to the door, twisted the ratchety knob, and opened the wooden slab. A black blur streaked past her legs and bounded onto the bed, which settled under the feline's weight with a creak. Muttering as she closed the door, she turned around, greeted by a cool, yellow-green eyed stare, questioning who she was, and why she was in his room.
Extending her hand to the black and white cat, he cocked his head to the side as he boldly sniffed the oils of her skin. Declaring her as part of his kingdom, he rubbed his cheeks against her hand, surprising her by the force of the action, literally pushing her hand around until she offered resistance. Twisting her fingers around she gave the old tomcat a quick scratch.
Accepted, Robyn crawled back into the bed, pulling the thick covers over herself as she watched the little monster at the end of the bed carefully cleaning his ears and cheeks. She sat, entranced by the power and charm this little Emperor exuded. She wished she could capture the strange confidence this cat had on film, but the lighting, not without a tripod. However...rolling over to the side of the bed, she pulled her sketchbook from the open maw of the backpack, and fished out a pencil.
When she rose, she was greeted by a piercing stare, those golden-green eyes watching her with such intensity, they seemed to burn into her memory. She started sketching them first. Pencil to paper, she worked to sketch the posture, and the feeling of Noel, trying to capture it before he moved too much, but as cats have their way, he laid down, still however, watching her. His ears twitching with every sound, and more than she could hear herself.
She flipped the page and started anew. Copying his relaxed form onto the page swiftly, she began to focus on the details; the damaged fringes of his ears, the small black spot on his nose, and the changing color of the pads on his feet. Small things became whole in shades of graphite.
She was working on those intelligent, piercing eyes when there came a proper knock upon the door, "Wake up! Pancakes!" It was the feminine voice of Rebekkah. The distraction tore her away enough to look at the clock...it was damned near seven thirty. Stretching out her lengthy posture, she gave the cat a smile a he slowly blinked and turned his head to look at the window, one ear swiveled however to monitor her actions as he otherwise paid attention to the chirping of birds outside.
Hooking the pencil inside the spiral winding, she set the sketchbook down beside her on the second pillow before sliding out from underneath the covers, her feet settling onto the cool wood floor again. Walking to the door, her hand ran over the cat's head before she left the room. The smell of bacon hit her like a hammer, instantly causing her mouth to water as she walked into the dinning room. "You said nothing about bacon!"
"Did I really need to?"
Rolling her eyes and she stepped into the kitchen, Anthony handed her a plate, as he flipped the crackling strips of meat in the frying pan. "Sleep well?" He asked while looking over his shoulder to his new friend.
While spearing a pair of pancakes and dropping them upon her plate, Robyn nodded, "Atleast until Noel woke me, demanding attention."
"Henh, yeah. That cat loves to be noticed. He doesn't always want to be petted though, so be careful of that, he does still have his claws, though Shyla might be a bit more hazardous in that regard."
"Oh? How is that?"
"Sharpness. She doesn't use her claws like Noel does, so hers are like needles, they pierce through anything. And she's the faster of the two, even though she's like 15. Oh, butter's in the cupboard. Forgot about that."
Robyn shook her head, "Hmm, crazy cats. Actually though, where's your jam?"
"Jam?" Anthony looked at her inquisitively before shrugging, "Don't know if my parents even have jam. If they do, it'd be most likely in the fridge. No one in my family is big on jam really. Least of all on pancakes."
Opening the fridge door, Robyn peered into the white confines, "Hunh, your family is weird. Jam is awesome, and you're all missing out! There isn't even any in here!"
"Hmmm, sorry, didn't know."
"Ahh well, means I'll have to settle for butter and syrup then..." She let out an overly dramatic sigh, causing Anthony to chuckle.
"Oh the hardships you face!" He quickly fished a couple strips of bacon out of the pan, and laid them on Robyn's plate as the girl waited. Turning off the stove, he filled his own plate and followed Robyn to the dinning room, sitting at the large wooden table.
"I am so going to be drawing this view sometime." Robyn sighed as she peered out the window that overlooked the ocean. "Anyways, what is the plan?"
"Heh, the view never does get old. But the plan? Well, we're going to be leaving a bit earlier than I intended. I'd forgotten to get a torque wrench yesterday, and I want to make sure the lugs are tightened to spec before really abusing the car today. Otherwise, dress for the weather, and go pretty much."
Robyn considered that as she swallowed some of the pancake she was chewing on, "And the plan for Kevin?"
"I'll figure that out when we get there."
After they had eaten breakfast, Anthony let Robyn take her shower first, while he took Phantom outside. It was going to be a gorgeous day, that was clear as he stooped to pick up a dirty tennis ball from the doorstep, Phantom barking loudly in response, spinning around in overjoyed excitement before scampering down the stairs after the lobbed ball to the side yard. Snatching it from the ground, the odd black dog looked back at Rebekkah before trudging off to relieve herself.
Anthony sighed and leaned on the railing, staring out through the clean clear air over the Spit, and past the jutting edge of East Sooke to the fog bank that prowled the Juan De Fuca straight. Letting the view melt his tensions, he relaxed for a moment. Various cars were lined up and down the street, all for Sunday morning Mass at the church. The old white building just across from his road probably seating its maximum capacity, and the people within all happy and content for follow their beliefs. "And they'd all call me a hereti-", his spoken thoughs were cut off in surprise as a loud bark came from below and to his side.
Looking up at him from the bottom of the stairs with a stained yellow ball in her mouth, Phantom waited, expectantly. As Rebekkah smiled at the little mongrel, Phantom started chewing on the ball. "Phantom, Give!"
Chew, chomp...splut! The ball launched from her teeth by accident and Phantom snapped after the skittering ball.
Laughing he descended the stairs and followed the little dog, "Come on Pup, give me the ball! I can't play with you if you don't!" And the game began, letting Anthony forget about all the preposterous situation he found himself in. Just focusing on the little dog, and having, for a moment, a bit of fun while listening to the forty pound monster tearing across the grass, her strides hammering into the earth with solid authority. It was hard not to admire the strength the supposed runt of the litter possessed. Built like a small bulldog almost, Phantom was all about brute force, effervescent happiness, and endless energy.
In a short time, Phantom was panting heavily, and Anthony was breathing hard after playing a couple rounds of his patented "Fetch and Seek" game where he threw the ball, and then would run the opposite direction, and hide on the pup, forcing her to run more, and exercise her other senses. Now laying in the grass, and relaxing, Anthony watched the little dog and kind of wished he could be like her. No cares, no worries. Meanwhile Phantom kept the ball between her forepaws, ready for him to make any move, but as she waited, she panted, her thick long tongue lolling out the left side of her jaw and dripping saliva.
Eventually he shifted, and Phantom snatched the ball into her teeth, watching him, hoping for more fun and games, but instead Anthony rose and walked into the house, leaving Phantom waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs. Inside he found Robyn out of the shower and already throwing things into her backpack. She was however, dressed in massive baggy black jeans, and from what he could see, an equally large black hoodie displaying her love of Corrosion of Conformity. "Ahem..."
she looked up, puzzled, "Yeah?"
"You looking to commit suicide today or something?" He looked at her clothes incredulously.
Her face suddenly shifted, disgust and anger flowing through her features, "Oh fuck you, and your judgmental bullshit! Just because I'm goth doesn't mean I'm going to fucking commit suicide!"
Rolling his eyes, he shook his head, "I meant the fact that wearing that while at Western will kill you. Ever been to Western in the Summer? It's kind of a bowl at the base of the mountains, it collects humidity. The entire place is paved with no buildings or trees nearby for shade. If you wear that, you are going to suffer heat stroke in less than an hour."
Blushing slightly at her outburst, she sighed and shook her head. "I...hadn't thought about it. Victoria doesn't get that bad."
"Because it is flat, and open to the breeze that runs down the straights. Also, the buildings give you plenty of shade, not to mention it is direct waterfront. Western is set a bit inland. Don't you have shorts and a t shirt?"
Pulling off the hoodie, she revealed a black t-shirt from Arch Enemy, prompting Anthony to slap his palm to his forehead just to express his opinion on the matter. "Shorts out? Anything not black?"
"I think I have a yellow shirt from some band...at home."
Anthony sighed and shook his head. "Well, lets go I guess, we might have time to stop by my place and try to find you a change, cause otherwise you will be sweating to all hell and utterly hate it."
"It won't be that bad, I'm kind of used to it." Robyn rolled her eyes now.
"Ready otherwise?" getting a nod, he grabbed his purse from the counter in the kitchen, checked for keys, made sure there was water in Phantom's water bowl, and the headed to the front door, "Lets roll!"
With Stabbing Westward pouring from the Alto's speakers thanks to Robyn's expanded CD selection, they took advantage of the quiet Sunday roads to hustle it into Langford, not excessively speeding, but keeping an aggressive pace, and paying little heed to the "Sharp Corner" signs, tossing the little hatchback through the flowing turns like a toy.
A quick stop at Rebekkah's place rewarded the duo with a a pair of dark grey shorts that would sort of fit the tall italian, well enough for now at any rate. After that came the quick buzz down to the Canadian Tire and grabbing the last torque wrench that was in stock, and a socket that would even fit the Alto's lug nuts. Finally, they were on their way up Millstream Rd, and turning off into the expansive parking lot, virtually empty except for the small cluster of cars crowding about two white tents.
A quick gaze through the early arrivals saw two Integras, a Subaru, a handful of Miatas, and perhaps a strange cluster closest to the shade of the trees; A grey first gen 300ZX Turbo with faded paint, a glistening red first gen Rabbit GTI, a gorgeous red BMW E30 M3, and a particular rusty blue Toyota Corolla. Clustered in the middle of the assorted cars with the hoods all propped open, were a bunch of young men animatedly talking to each other as they stared into the engine bay of the M3. Yet as the Alto pulled up next to the crusty Corolla, all attention was turned upon the diminutive Japanese econobox. Sticking out like a Maroon thumb in this gathering.
Cutting the engine, Rebekkah and Robyn climbed out of the small car, and instantly Rebekkah could feel the eyes of every single person in the parking look watching them. Not being able to help it, she blushed slightly as she reminded herself to grab that stupid, retard god damned purse. "Act natural, remember...what would Cara do right now? What would she be doing..." Her thoughts repeated in her head as she smiled to Kevin, "Mornin!"
Kevin was suddenly punched in the back of his right shoulder, sending him stumbling forwards a few steps as one of the guys behind him laughed, "Don't just stand there asshole, start introducin' us!" Both Robyn and Rebekkah burst out laughing, thankfully easing the tension even as other competitors started to swarm in on the alien sight.
"Alrigh' alrigh'! Jesus man, you are such a fuckin prick you know that?" Kevin grinned back at his friend before turning to the girls. "Hey, mornin'. Sorry for this cock's attitude, but that just the way Carl is. Anyways, Robyn, Rebekkah; these punks are Carl, he drives the beat ass 300ZX," He pointed out a heavier set young man, his black hair cut into a short spike, and he wore a red t-shirt and blue jeans with several black grease stains embedded in the fabric. "This is Chris Skeen, goddam rich brat. Modded to shit GTI is his." Chris nodded and stepped forward, offering his hand. His bright strawberry blonde hair and naturally pale skin making him stand out a bit in this company. Wearing a button up blue shortsleeve, and khaki shorts, all clean seemed to say something about himself. "Dean is my brother, you can guess what he drives...M3."
Dean stood a fair bit taller than the others, and was obviously the eldest, wearing thin framed glasses, and shorter cropped hair, he seemed to carry a bit of sophistication with him. He was just wearing a yellow tshirt and some black denim shorts. "Don't mind Kevin, he get's a bit energetic. And if you'll turn around, there's Doug, Khaled, Wayne, Brandon..." and the rest of the names seemed to fade into a blur that Rebekkah already knew. Still however, she kept smiling, and nodding to everyone who was introduced.
After the initial round of introductions, she took the hint and bent into the open driver's side window to crack open the hood release. Walking to the front of the car she reached under the lip, found the catch and lifted the hood up to prop it with the rod that swung up from rad support. Fielding questions in rapid fire manner, she agreed that it was a tiny engine, yes it was actually awd, no it did not make much power, no, no limited slip diff, yes it had modified suspension, yes she had plans for it.
It was a fast, furious bout of question and answer that was customary when someone brought something outrageously different into a group of people who knew each other. It was injecting new unknown DNA into a tight-knit community.
Meanwhile, Robyn stood back and let them all ask their questions as she sighed, pulling at a string on her frayed backpack. "Figures, hot chick gets the attention..." until she noticed Rebekkah pointing in her direction, "...nd she insisted on coming with, she's got several rolls of film ready to be used! She's an amazing photographer already!" The only thing that crossed Robyn's mind at that moment was, "I am going to KILL that bitch!"
Having bought herself breathing room, Rebekkah quickly dragged out both the manual, and the torque wrench. Flipping through the Japanese booklet was almost painful to her mind as she scanned the foreign language for numbers, until landing on a page showing a wheel, and a tire iron. Flipping to the next page, she found the chart, and with a bit of deduction, figured out the proper torque spec for the lug nuts. Quickly setting the torque wrench to the needed setting, she set about checking to make sure that her wheels were properly torqued down. As she circled to the passenger side of the car, she noticed that the horde that had engulfed her friend had thinned to just the four guys in the immediate group. Their eyes met and Robyn shot her a look of infinite vile, which she replied with a look of pure innocence while continuing to tighten the lugs.
As she was working on the second to last lugnut, she heard the sound of another car approaching and looked up to see a black second generation MR-2 pulling up beside the Alto, dwarfing it. Out climbed a average height Japanese male, with perhaps a bit of roundness to his features. Kevin of course, jumped up yelling out, "TOMO! Dude! You made it! Fuck yeah!"
Tomo of course, almost flinched at the greeting and nodded, "Yeah, but my parent's are not happy about this. But wait...what? Is that an Alto Works?"
Kevin nodded and Rebekkah waved over the hood, "Yeah, it's mine."
"Nice! My Uncle back in Japan tunes a bunch of these little kei-cars. He's built a few engines and race cars." He said as he walked over towards the car and its driver.
Rebekkah's head of course, shot upwards, looking at him with a shining light in her eyes. "Seriously?"
"Yes, he's always had them there before. Said he built them for the K4GP."
"What's the K4GP?"
"A race series back home," Tomo recalled, "an all kei-car race series. People can get very in depth with it; making replicas of old race cars."
Her eyes lighting up, Rebekkah grinned, "That is awesome!"
He nodded in response, "Unfortunately I do not know much more than that, I only recently have become fascinated with cars." He pointed to Kevin, "He is to blame."
Both Rebekkah and Robyn smirked as Kevin shrugged nonchalantly accepting such an accusation, before pointing to the tents, "Lets get you three registered now and start going over the course layout sheet."
Robyn quickly put up a hand of resistance, "Oh, I'm not going to be driving...no. I brought my camera to take pictures with however."
"Oh, damn, really? Hmm, well, we'll get you a pit-pass then. That way you'll have full access to the track to take your shots from."
Registration was a straight forward and simply process that was dispatched with quickly and efficiently...if a bit awkwardly for Anthony having to pretend he'd never done this before, although Kevin was more than helpful in getting Rebekkah through the paper work.
Walking back to the cars with temporary licenses, and track sheets in hand, they spread out one of the regular size pieces of paper with the map printed in rough black ink out over the hood of Carl's 300ZX. Robyn looked at the sheet with curiosity; it looked like a black squiggle being threaded through numerous in crosses. Over-laid on a faded grey map of the track itself. Kevin placed a finger at the point where it said start, and traced it as he gave details, "The start is on the track's Corner 2 exit. It is banked, and will level out as you approach the first turn. You will want to be wide here, because this circle thing has a weird apex caused by this joint in the pavement." His finger was at a loop, then moving over to the small dead space on the exit of the corner, "Here. The track is uneven, and right here is a bad section, big inch or so shelf that can, and has damaged people's cars."
"From there, you're coming down to the backside corner, coming wide so that you can turn in and clip the apex at this corner here." His finger traced the line from the loop, to the next corner of the oval. Numerous black "x's" marked cone locations showing that the width of the track would be narrow, and come to a sharp corner half-way up the banked corner. "We aren't using the horn, so it turns into full throttle blast down the front straight until this hair pin. You can go around it either way, left or right doesn't matter. But it is less distance to go around to the left, which will be harder with the Alto because of the right-hand drive." His finger slid back up the black line to another corner, "You need to watch out here, especially, as there is a curb on the inside of the transition of the track to the infield. Hit it, and say goodbye to your suspension. The corner leads into the slalom; again, you can initiate either left or right, But with four cones, it might be best to start on the left to set yourself up for the exit corner."
Rebekkah nodded along with his narration of the track, trying to feign interest because she already knew this layout well. As Kevin finished, he looked over to Rebekkah with a grin, "Cool?" Nodding in response, Kevin beamed a little more until Carl shoved him out of the way.
"While you were busy showing off your knowledge of this simple ass track, Chris and I got to talkin' and..." The conversation carried on, leaving Rebekkah to take a moment to breathe and try to envision the track, plan out her lines and apexes while trying to factor in the hazards that Western presents.
It didn't take long however before the swap meet was over and the Autocross began. First by sweeping and cleaning the track, setting up cones, timing gear, and all the rest. As those who were taking part in the Autocross did the necessary volunteer work, Robyn quietly walked among the cars all lined up along the track, taking several pictures of the cars she thought of as interesting or unique. Finishing a roll of film, she sighed and pushed a slightly damn strand of hair out of her eyes. As it approached one in the afternoon, it began to feel as though someone had turned up the temperature just a few notches higher. "Damn you Rebekkah..." Robyn muttered under her breath as she returned to the Alto. She pulled the shorts they had picked up off the back seat, and switched out the rolls of film in the camera, pausing to grab several more to stuff into the pockets of the shorts. Standing at the edge of the track with the sun beating down blinding light, she scanned the track for a hiding spot to change...and then realized that behind her was empty space, and the billboards at the top of the banking would provide her the perfect privacy.
Walking along the row of cars towards the track entrance, she noticed that some people had broken away from the track preparation and had begun to fiddle with their cars, or rather, take excess stuff out of them. At the opening of the corner wall, she pivoted around it, her feet once quiet on the asphalt, now crunching and grinding across the loose gravel. This area was much less tended than the rest of the track, with clumps of weeds growing here and their, long tall stalks of some kind of vegetation. It seemed quieter here too, the commotion of people's voices distant over the corner wall, letting her heard the sound of the machinery at work in the industrial park behind the speedway, and the sound of the birds in the forest that was a little ways away to her right. Ahead were three short rows of mangled looking cars, some still having remains of their once bright and gaudy race livery. It was here that she rested the camera and shorts on the hood of one of the derelicts, and after taking a second to make sure she was alone, she quickly pulled off the pants and for less than a second, relished what felt like a cool breeze on her bare thighs before pulled the shorts on.
Plucking her pants and camera from the hood of the car with faded and scratched black and yellow flames, she turned around and started walking back to the main part of the track. Walking back to the Alto she found Rebekkah just opening the passenger door, "Hey, almost time I see?"
Rebekkah looked up and back towards the voice and nodded, "Yeah, just gotta get all loose objects out, you know...flying CD cases can be a bit of a distract-Ahah! I knew you'd want the shorts!"
Sighing while rolling her eyes, Robyn smirked, "Don't rub it in. Anyways, I'm going to go take a walk around the inner, grassy...circle-"
"Infield."
"Ah, yes, infield, to find some place to take pictures, that okay?"
"Yeah," Rebekkah nodded while standing up, pulling out her purse in one hand and the mostly empty CD wallet in the other. "Just stay towards the inside, try to avoid being on the outside edge of a corner. Don't want to get hit by a 2 ton mistake!"
Pausing for a moment as the ramifications sink in, Robyn smirks and laughs, "Good advice!" Dropping her pants against the turn wall, where Rebekkah had left her purse, she walked down the bank and headed towards the infield, looking for that might give a good angle. Remembering the basic course layout in her mind, she tried to picture how the cars would be at any given point, and soon located six possible locations.
It wasn't long before the action started. A couple stock vehicles (other than Rebekkah's) started out, and Robyn practiced with them. Leading them, following them, panning with them, snapping a picture as she moved to follow them, never stopping her movement. For the most part, Robyn left the film out of the camera, using this as pure practice without wasting film. Then the group switched to the one in which most of the guys were running.
Loading a roll of ISO 80 into the camera, Robyn estimated the light levels, the effect she desired from the pictures and closed her eyes as she ran the numbers in her mind. Film is slow, fucking bright afternoon sun...less depth of field so about f6.1 and speed. 500? Try it. Setting the camera up with her 70-210mm telephoto lens in place, she pulled out a small notepad and pen from her backpack and flipped to a page. She wrote down the date, and the numeral two, followed by the settings on the camera. She followed by writing the identical numeral on the empty film canister. She was almost finished when the first car of the group started, the raucous noise of the engine piercing her thoughts as she looked up, it was already starting it's turn for the first loop, or donut or whatever they called it. Scrambling she dropped her pen and the empty canister, fumbled for her camera that hung from her neck, but by the time the first little boxy car had gone past, she was too late to bother taking a shot of it. Grumbling, she quickly put away her pen, pad of paper and empty case, and got ready for the second car.
After near the end of the class's run, the roll was finished. Robyn casually rewound the film, watching the remaining runs. Putting the spent film back into its canister, she dropped it into her open backpack while fishing a fresh roll out of her pocket. After loading the Ilford into the camera, she proceeded to change the settings, this time using a smaller aperture and a slower shutter speed. Settling on F11 and 160th of a second shutter. Where if the previous photo's turned out, everything should be nice and clear, but the background would be out of focus, now she was trying to get motion blur with just the car itself in sharp focus.
Anthony eyed the car and start line ahead with eagerness and curiousity. How the hell do I launch this thing? Ran through his mind as he waited. The driver ahead of him revved his engine up slightly, the V8's loping idle giving way to a low thunder. Suddenly the car launched, the stiff suspension barely squatting as it did. Anthony shrugged, low power, all wheel drive...As the signaler raised his flag, Anthony simply floored the accelerator, clutch in, first gear selected. The three-pot suddenly jolted to life snarled and spat above the turbo's hissing air. The flag dropped and Anthony dropped the clutch, the sudden application to torque caused the tires to slip a little before the gained traction, bogging down the engine slightly as the car lurched forwards. Regaining its composure, the engine revved hard until Anthony kicked the clutch in and shifted into second, releasing the clutch and the car surged towards the what he thought was the turn in point for the donut, just lifting the throttle was enough to dive into the corner with stunning alacrity.
Blinking Anthony held the throttle in position, as he cut the apex and floored it as he carried through for a wide exit on the donut to miss the uneven pavement as the two sections of track met. Accelerating to the wall and shifting into third, he sliced to the apex marked by the cone to the straight that cut the track's banked turn into a down and then uphill run to a sharper left hand corner that lead to the front straight and the hairpin. As the Alto left the banking, he shifted into the fourth of the transmissions five tightly spaced gears, keeping the engine in the meat of its power. Siding up to the wall just inches from his own door was a slightly unnerving experience, when he was much more used to it being half a car-width away from himself. Hitting his braking point, he swiveled his heel onto the brake pedal and pressed hard on it, keeping his toes on the gas as his left foot punched the clutch in. Braking hard, he cursed, and let off the brakes early as he finished the shift into third, the engine suddenly bogged again, causing him to furiously shift down to second, before he even entered the hairpin, swinging around the hair-pin to the left, his face contorted in a grimace, he hustled the car to the next corner, shifting back into third.
Cutting the turn wide, missing the apex cause him to enter the slalom at the wrong angle, as he sawed the wheel back and forth, he felt the car shudder as he punted a cone off the track and into the infield. Punching the gas out of the slalom, he cut hard right and finished in the stop box, before moving out and rolling around to get back in line. Punching the steering wheel out of frustration as he rolled to a stop behind the heavily modified Camaro, he paused himself in the middle of his thoughts to recollect his mind. New car with vastly different performance characteristics. He just needed to learn from them. Analyzing the corners one by one, he realized that he was going too slowly overall. The car was light as hell and had more grip than he was utilizing. Braking for the hairpin needed to be later, the discs were strong up front and the car weighed nothing. The braking point for his old car was no longer valid. Nor was the gearing the same. Second out of the hairpin this time. Second gear.
The second run was quite improved, working to maintain the momentum that the car had as much as possible to make up for its lack of power paid dividends in the time, shaving off damn close to two seconds. As the end of the class' run, he packed the little Alto in his spot and pulled off his helmet, getting his hair trapped between his grip and the helmet as he did. Muttering under his breath, movement in the corner of his eye alerted him to someone approaching. Turning around he was confronted by Kevin, Dean, and Robyn. Slightly damp hair was clumping in the side of his vision and as he was about to turn and look inside the car for an elastic, he remember the trick Robyn had showed him and pulled on off his right wrist as he grinned to welcome his new friends. "How'd I do?" He questioned, trying to be as innocent as he could trying to remember to pretend that he'd never done this before while he semi-fumbled his hair into a pony tail. Hopefully these two wouldn't notice the lack of speed and ease most women would do that with.
Kevin and Dean looked at her with a bit of shock in their expression, while Robyn just looked impressed. "That...you're SURE you've never done this before?" Kevin shook his head, "Seriously, first run yeah, was shit. But everyone's first ever run is shit. But your second, and the way you recognized your mistakes was...newbs don't usually do that!"
Dean nodded in agreement, "Yeah, usually the second run is almost an imitation of the first. But both had something weird, getting that close to the wall on your first time takes more than guts. That's plain fearlessness, or blatant stupidity. Maybe both. Either way, you have talent."
Rebekkah couldn't help it, she grinned enthusiastically. "Thanks I guess, it was just exhilarating driving like that!"
Robyn chuckled softly behind to two guys, "Well, I hope the pictures of it turn out okay, cause I think the one of your second run should be just about perfect!"
After a second round of runs for all the classes and some corner work for Rebekkah, the Autocross was over. When the cleanup was done, and Rebekkah and Robyn were loading their belongings back into the Alto, Kevin jogged up with two slips of paper, handing each of them one, "Hey, me and the guys are headed out to grab some food, prolly to Romeo's or something. You two in?"
Rebekkah shook her head, "Sorry, I gotta get home and take care of my dog and get ready for work tomorrow. "
Nodding, Kevin smiled, "That's cool, anyways, those are the numbers of the guys an' I. Need anything, give us a call. Kay?"
Both of the girls nodded, with Robyn answering first this time, "Right. Good night!"
As they climbed into the Alto, and strapped in, Robyn commented, "Thanks. Today was really...different. But fun. I haven't had a good day like this in a while..." Her voice trailing off as she realized just how long it had been. Her eyes lowered as she sighed. "Unf!" She muttered as she found herself shoved into the door of the car, "HEY!"
Anthony looked over at her grinning, "Snap outta it, tonight gets worse...or better. I'm not sure how much exactly you like rifling through the history of Rebekkah Hall, and laughing at me, but I kinda need to know more before I go back to work. Tomorrow." He turned the car on as he finished talking, shoulder checking as pulling out with the rest of the crowd to head home.
"True...But then..." She paused, thinking of it, "Perhaps you should take tomorrow off? Sick day...cause well, I'd say this qualifies. I mean, you pulled today off as a girl to total strangers fairly well, but trying to pull of being someone else entirely in front of people who know you? I think that deserves a solid day of research and practice, at the very least."
Grumbling and lowering his head to the point that he almost rested his chin on the steering wheel, he sighed. "Dammit. You sure I can't just...you know. Die in a fire before then? Might hurt less..."
"Fire? Doubt it. I've always considered that as one of the most painful ways to die. I mean what, with all the burning, breathing in fire and smoke and such..."
"Ugh."
As Rebekkah started opening the front door, a small black muzzle that had, until just this moment been barking loudly, wedged itself between the door, and the white brick planter box just inside, and pried the door open with remarkable strength before the small dog burst outside, scrabbled down the stairs and just made it to the grass before she squatted. "Oh damn, I'm sorry Phantom! I'll make your dinner special tonight, okay?" He turned to Robyn and motioned for her to go on inside, as she passed, he let the screen door close behind her as he started back down the stairs.
Robyn however held the screen door open and asked, "How about I get Phantom's dinner ready? What does she need?"
"Oh, uh-" He turned his head to look back as the girl with her short black hair, "A scoop of her food. It's in the big cat-food print tin on top of the microwave. Maybe add some hot water to it?"
Smiling, Robyn nodded and headed inside to get the dog's food ready. Moving into the dinning room, she slung her backpack down and to the floor by the back wall and continued into the kitchen. Looking to the microwave she found the rather obvious tin...being about a foot and a half in diameter and about the same in height, it was hard to miss. She looked around the tin for a scoop, but found none, but upon opening the tin, found what looked to be an old porcelain tea cup, white with a ring of blue flowers. She dug it into the kibble, and dropped the contents into the metal bowl between her feet with a rattling clatter. Returning the tea cup to the tin, and closing the lid, she stooped to pick up the bowl and in three long steps, turned on the tap to wait for the hot water to arrive.
The view out the corner windows was spectacular, as it seemed to be the case for this house. Large sweeping views of the Sooke harbour and basin, stretching out past a spit of land and the hills of East Sooke draped in lush evergreens. Beyond, the Juan De Fuca sparkling and glistening in the evening summer sun. If it were not for the power lines crossing her view, it would be flawless. Snapping herself out of mentally painting the view, she noticed the steam rising from the sink. Sliding the bowl under the hot water for just a second, she shut off the tap and turned around, swirling the contents of the bowl as she strode to return the bowl from where she found it.
Moving into the dinning room, she pulled out a chair but paused before she sat down. Looking over to her backpack she took a step and stretched down to pick up the old decorated sack and placed it on the wooden table. Taking a seat at the head of the table to have the best view out the window that she could, she opened her backpack and fished out the pad of paper with her notes from earlier. As she mulled them over, the events of the day were relived; the sight of the cars, the sound of the engines and tires, the smell of hot asphalt and tortured rubber. It was an experience to say the least.
It wasn't long before there was barking at the door, a metallic clank and a low squeal of old springs and a blank thundering blur swept behind Robyn and into the kitchen to being happily gulping moist kibble. Rebekkah appeared soon after, smirking while breathing a little harder than normal. "Better shape than I ever have been, and that dog would still run the legs off of me if I let her!"
Robyn couldn't help but laugh.
"Anyways, I'm starving, you hungry?"
Pausing, Robyn thought about it, and shrugged, "Kinda? Not starving anyways, why, what are you thinking?"
"Not sure." He twisted his mouth a little in thought and shrugged. "You? Just remember; if you say 'pizza', I shall nickname you for evermore; 'Big Italy'. Got it?"
Her features slackened like that was the stupidest thing she'd ever heard. "Right. I'd kick you in the nuts-" Her retort suddenly cut off, leaving her even more stupified.
"If you could find them! Which, if you do...kick them, before I find a way to be a guy again...I'd really rather not go through that pain!"
Chuckling Robyn shook her head, "But wouldn't that defeat the point of it all?"
"True," He shrugged, "But come on, that'd be cruel!"
Finally Robyn just snickered and shook her head. "So, food?"
"Hmm, true." With that, Anthony wandered into the kitchen and started opening the cupboards in a routine sequence. Grumbling at the lack of anything appealing, he turned to the fridge and found a pound of ground beef thawed on a plate. "Hunh...burgers?"
"Yeah, sure. Where from?"
Dropping his head and looking under his arm to bellow, "What? No no no no! Home made, real, authentic fuckin burgers woman! Jesus, you've never made, or had home made burgers?"
"Well...no...not th-"
"Oh right, senor douchebag. Gotcha. Well, gonna have to change that. First, need buns."
After eating the pair settled in to do a bit more research on Rebekkah. As before, Robyn took to the computer, checking things through Rebekkah's Myspace account, youtube, email, pretty much everything while Anthony flipped the pagers in her fuzzy monkey journal.
19/10/02
The first place I looked at today was...disgusting. Mold, dead bugs on the carpet, water damage, everything. When I asked the scumlord about this shit, he just shrugged as if it didn't matter. Yeah, my health doesn't matter you shit head? Ugh.
Second place was nice, but just wasn't what I was expecting. Seemed really expensive for the size of it. Besides, it didn't even have a stove. Just a pair of hot plates. Bullshit. Third place was pretty sweet. A separate bachelor suite with a full kitchen, albeit small stove and fridge. Full bathroom, really nice. Stupidly close to work too! I hope I get it, landlord was pretty nice and I'm hopeful for it. Commute would seriously be like 5 minutes, instead of this hour and a half long drive of pain!
20/10/02
Although hopeful for that third place yesterday, I decided to look at a few more; just in case. Honestly, nothing stood out except for the last place again. Strange. It's in a duplex, a three bedroom place with two guys; Jason and Mike. They both seem like pretty nice guys...for guys. Apparently they've been friends since elementary and their friend and previous roomie Trevor just moved Alberta to work in the oil fields. Neither of them drive since they both work close by, so I'd be able to park the Alto in the garage. Finally! No more washing bird shit off my car! Seems promising as well, at the very least will make a good backup plan to the bach in Saanich. Only really downside is the distance from work, but it still shave like 40m off the commute, which is acceptable atleast.
That was good, same roommates. Course, he suspected as much since it was the same house. That would at least be...awkward as all hell. As Anthony began turning to the next page, Robyn made some kind of noise, looking up from the page, he eyed Robyn and shrugged, "What's up?"
"Well, not much really. Looks like a month ago Rebekkah broke up with her boyfriend, Aaron. Aside from posting about crap music, posting party pics and shit. In her email account, it look like you and your sister have plans to meet up in Van about two weeks from now. Looks like she's got tickets to some show for you...lucky bitch!" She stuck her tongue out at him and then got back to looking through the email.
Anthony shook his head, still not used to the feeling of hair brushing his shoulders as he did so, but ignored it and read through more of the journal entries. Most of it was trivial things, some parts regarding her opinions on current events that he couldn't remember and other general things that as individual entries meant little, but as a whole, helped him to understand more about Rebekkah and how she worked.
About an hour later he ran across the entry of when Rebekkah and Aaron started going out, and the entries seemed to get more frequent as Rebekkah wrote more about their relationship. Some parts of which, Anthony best left skipped as they just felt exceeding awkward to read. Arousal at the moment was just unnatural. It turned out however that Anthony started trying to dominate Rebekkah's life, and she eventually ended the relationship after about four months. "Hunh..."
"Hmm, something up?"
"Oh...yeah. Turns out Aaron was a prick, but they still lasted 4 months. Still beats my longest relationship. But...I guess in this instance, that isn't a good thing."
"Ahh."
"Anything else found in her mail?"
"Nope...henh, sorry. Kinda got side-tracked and been looking at a camera review site for the past bit." Robyn smiled sheepishly at him, hoping he wouldn't get angry or anything.
"Ahhh, alright. Probably for the best, this shit is dry and making my head hurt. Besides, only one more month left to cover. And it keep bringing up weird questions in my head...like, had I been born female, WOULD I have ended up this close to how I was as a guy? Or would I be completely different? Like, did this changing of files bullshit try to minimize the alteration of reality to coincide as close as possible, or is this just the natural progression of how Rebekkah was raised? Is it fate or something that our lives seem to have close parallels?"
Robyn looked at him curiously and shrugged for lack of an answer. "Well, here's something to over ride that: God and Angels exist."
"True...apparently."
"And what does that mean?"
"That I am going to hell?"
Laughing Robyn shook her head, "Wrong thread of the question: What about Buddha, Allah? What about all the other religions of the world? Does that mean that all other religions are bullshit, and that billions of people believe in false gods? Does it mean that God goes by many names, and the Jesus is Mohammed, is whoever else? Or does it mean that all gods are part of some worldly Pantheon? And if that is the case, do they have tea and crumpets together while playing God chess, or are they locked in some cosmic struggle?"
Anthony paused, considering all of that.
"I mean, to be honest, I always considered myself an Atheist and now...That's pretty much fucked because now I know God and Angels exist. And if they exist, so does Hell. And if Hell exists, does that mean I am going there since I never believed in God before? And since God does exist, why does he...she...it let all this horrible shit happen? I mean, I saw this quote once, 'If God is willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. If God is able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. If God is both able and willing? Then where does does evil come from? If God is neither willing, nor able? Then why call him God?' I mean, I makes a lot of sense to me, since...well, the world is full of evil shit, and it keeps perpetuating and never stops.
If God can fix it, why doesn't it? If it can't, then why not? Or does God just not give a shit? Are we some experiment? Some plaything?" Robyn paused for a moment to breathe.
"I don't know. I don't know if we CAN know the explanation for it all."
Silence fell upon them as they stewed in their own thoughts of their now fractured views of the world. The ominous silence lasted until Phantom herself became aware of it and nudged Anthony's leg with her muzzle to get his attention. Offering a small snort of a chuckle and a smirk, he looked down to the little black dog and rubbed his hand on the crown of her head, flicking one of her floppy ears around between his fore and index fingers. "Smart pup reminded us silly people that we shouldn't dwell on shit we cannot change. Mindless action movie time?"
Robyn blinked out of her solitude and looked at Anthony quizzically. "Right. Only a guy can think like that...but yeah, that sounds good enough for me right now. Any more thinking of that shit and I'll end up with blood running from my ears or something."
Deciding to walk to the store rather than drive, as the sun was setting and the air was finally beginning to cool off, Anthony pointed out a pair of local restaurants that made decent food, and that the corner store had been there since before he was born and that while they never had the largest selection of ice cream available, they did make those "two scoops" count. At the video store Robyn stopped them as they were scanning the new releases wall, and picked up a DVD with a red jacket. "This. No option, I haven't seen it yet, but it is supposed to be amazing!" Anthony turned to look at the case and read the title, '28 Days Later'.
"Oh...shit, neither have I!"
Renting the title for the 1 day allotted, they returned to the house and Anthony got the movie started in the living room. Anthony settled in on the floor laying down on the old persian rug with a throw pillow under his elbow, while Robyn lounged on the pink-tinted couch. From the opening screens of violence and chaos being shown to the monkeys, they were hooked, and Anthony barely noticed Phantom laying down against him.
As Jim standing in front of the monument to the missing people, let go of the scrap of paper and turned to walk away, as the music faded out to the ominous silence; the old phone with the mechanical bell shattered the tension, causing Robyn to scream as she jumped to the other end of the couch, away from the noise that was right behind her head. Rebekkah squawked out of surprise, her right arm that had been supporting her flailing out in surprise as her torso thudded into the persian carpet. Phantom yelped and scampered out of the room faster than they could blink.
Hearts pounding, both of them looked at the phone with both disbelief and fear as it rang again. Rebekkah, twitching slightly fumbled with the remote and hit pause before standing and grabbing the phone on the fourth ring. "H-hello?"
"Oh thank god you're there! Where the hell have you been? I tried to get ahold of you friday, yesterday, almost all of today! I thought Phantom wasn't being taken care of! I was worried sick that something had happened to you! Jesus Rebekkah, I-I-..."
Anthony sighed heavily, "Mom, I'm sorry. The past few days have just been really, REALLY weird but you don't need to worry. I'm fine, Phantom is fine, I was here yesterday morning. The cats are happy and healthy. If we had fish still, they'd be fine too. How are you?"
"Ohhh, okay. That's good dear. Well the flight over wasn't bad, but the lady at the terminal was so impatient and bossy. She kept trying to take my purse, but I was just trying to help her find what she was looking for! I mean really, had she just told me what she was looking for, I could have found it for her much faster...But she's doing alright now, bless her. She's a strong one. But she's stubborn too, the nurses are having a hell of a time getting her to eat or take her vitamins. But sh-"
"Mom, what the hell are you talking about? Why does the airport woman have nurses giving her vitamins?"
"Oh, no. She doesn't have nurses giving her vitamins, but she wouldn't tell me what she wanted to see in my purse. Had she told me, I could have foun..."
Grimacing with frustration Anthony, "Stop mom, jesus christ! What the hell are you talking about? Who has nurses and vitamins, and why the hell did some lady want to look in your purse? You're not making any fucking sense!"
"Well...Fine!" The line went dead as his mother hung up the phone, leaving him with a dull axe wedge of pain growing in the back of his head.
Robyn looked at him with trepidation and worry, "That sounded...weird?"
Sighing as he settled the receiver on the hook before wrapping his slender hands around the back of his neck and slowly kneading the muscles, trying to release a bit of the tension that might be causing the headache. "Yeah. Talking to my mom when she's fucking plastered is like trying to listen to half of a regular phone conversation. She switches topics mid stream, starts in the fucking middle of what she is trying to say, and cannot, for the life of her, explain what the hell she is talking about in anything remotely approaching simple, normal terms." He paused to pinch the bridge of his nose, and sighed again.
"Ugh...fucking drun-Oh, shit, I shouldn't say that about your mom!"
Slowly standing, he shook his head, "Don't worry about it. I don't. Anyways...I think I'm gonna take two tylenol and crash. Mood to watch the movie is utterly shattered, and even just from that I feel drained. Tomorrow I'll call in to work and let them know I'm not coming, and we'll figure out how to train me more or some shit.
"Sorry bout this and all...but good night for now. See ya tomorrow."
Robyn nodded solemnly, "Yeah, see you in the morning I suppose..."
Thinking about what just happened, Robyn sighed, feeling rather helpless. Sure her problems with Gord were what most would call worse...but having your mother be batshit crazy while drunk wasn't much of an improvement. Then it hit her like an anvil, the waves of exhaustion made her feel like each limb weighed five hundred pounds. The lack of sleep on friday night, the emotional and psychological toll this horseshit was causing just seemed join forces and lock her brain in a submission hold. "Perhaps bed is a good idea 'bout now." Mumbling as she wandered to the guest bedroom, leaving the TV and equipment on, as well as the lights since there were three light switches at the front door to control...1 light.
As soon as she was under the covers, she let the sleep take control and drag her off into dreams of random weird things that she would never remember.