Chapter 23: A Day together: Part 2
A few hours later, the two stepped back and looked at their creation with tilted heads. They looked together at the plans and then back at the car.
"Okay, something isn't right here." Francis grumbled.
Kowalski pulled down on the plans so that he could see them better. "It's the wheels. I told you they were not all the same size."
"Well they were supposed to be! I told Red One to order a set of four identical wheels. They look the same size to me."
"Because you lack depth perception, Francis."
Francis narrowed his eye at him. "Careful, Kowalski."
"I'm being honest. I've had enough black eyes to know that only having one working eye makes it hard to judge size and depth." He glanced up at him. "But I think it's just the front right wheel and the back left are bigger. If we switch the right wheels, it'll balance out." He picked up a wrench.
"Well if you could tell they were difference sizes, why didn't you put them on like that already? Hmm, Mr. Depth Perception?"
"Because I put on what you rolled to me. Putting them on one by one it's nearly impossible to judge their sizes." He shrugged, taking off the front wheel. "Like I said, they're close in size.."
"Yeah, well, I think that's not the only thing wrong here. Something else is fishy." He grumbled and looked over their plans again with a frown.
Kowalski rolled his eyes as he swapped out the wheels. "I think it'll look fine once it's even."
"Wait. You wanted it to be an American model, right?"
"Huh?" He raised his head on the other side of the car.
"Steering wheel's on the right, not the left."
Kowalski slowly turned and looked at the car dashboard. "Oh yeah...That's going to be confusing."
Francis waved him off. "I know how to fix that. We'll swap out the steering mechanism completely to something way cooler."
"Like what?"
The dolphin then grinned at him. "Think spy cars."
Kowalski stared at him as he considered this for a long moment before looking at the dashboard again. "You mean like...Push a button and the steering can move to the passenger seat from the driver's?"
"Bingo." He flipper gunned him. "Won't take long to switch out. If you have your shrink ray, we can use one of the spare parts for my own cars for it."
"Oh yeah!" He took out his plastic clipboard from his feet, opened it, and took out his shrink ray. "I brought it just in case."
"Excellent. Let's fix this up then we can go try it out."
About an hour later, the two rolled out from the lair and into the dark amusement park. Francis was on his segway like always, and Kowalski was in his new car. Resting on Francis's segway is a little bluetooth controller that he was using to drive Kowalski.
"I could drive it myself, you know." Kowalski looked up at him with his flippers crossed and an unimpressed expression.
"Oh keep your feathers on. You'll get to try driving it when we get to the go-kart track. I don't want to risk you wrecking it into a ride or game first."
"I WOULDN'T WRECK IT! I'M A GOOD DRIVER!"
Francis glanced down at him. "I've seen how you peng-u-ins drive, Kowalski. I'm afraid I do not believe you at this point."
Kowalski scowled, leaning back into his seat. At least the seating was pretty comfy and he had plenty of legroom...But his driving being judged based off of Rico's was rustling his feathers. He glared back up at the dolphin before taking a deep breath and sighing. Perhaps Francis driving it there wasn't terrible. He did, after all, know where they were going while he did not. He was just trying to be helpful...In an infuriating way.
Patient. He needed to be patient.
"While I understand your concerns about Rico's driving, Francis, it would be nice if you didn't assume my driving skills based on another penguin's." He grumbled.
The dolphin stopped and looked down at him. "...I'm not just judging off of Rico's reckless driving record. I'm also factoring in the variable of your bad luck." He paused. "However, I apologize that I offended you. I just don't want you to injure this expensive piece of equipment so quickly."
Kowalski sighed again and nodded. "...I suppose that would be my luck, wouldn't it?"
"Mmhmm. It'll be safer for you to test on the track where you have room for malfunctions to occur without being in such close quarters with large, solid objects."
"I suppose it is the safest idea if you continue what you're doing." He sighed and relaxed his flippers with impatient acceptance.
After what felt like eons, Francis steered Kowalski's car onto the go-kart track in a center lane. He then looked down at him. "Okay on the count of three I'm switching the vehicle to self-control. Are you ready?"
Kowalski sat up and took a hold of the steering wheel with a nod. "Beyond ready."
"Okay. Three...Two…" He flipped a switch and rolled back a few feet.
"And off we go!" The penguin pressed down on the gas and the car shot backwards very quickly.
Francis's eyes widened slightly as he reached for the controller again, but stopped as he saw Kowalski put on the breaks. "What happened?!"
Kowalski checked the gear-shift. "Well, I'm in drive and it went in reverse. Obviously, I went backwards."
"You don't say." The dolphin rolled his eye. "Well, try putting it in reverse and see what happens. You still need to check the steering as well."
"Right, right…" He changed gears and again pressed the gas. This time the little car shot forward. Kowalski grinned to himself as he sped off, carefully navigating the curves. His flipper danced over the nitro boost setting, thinking of testing it out, but then returned to the wheel. Perhaps if the car already was having a gear-shift issue, testing nitro was not a good idea. Instead he completed the circuit and stopped in front of Francis.
"So?"
"It's a really smooth ride." He nods. "Steering works like a charm."
Francis nodded and leaned down. "Sit back a moment."
Kowalski leaned back and watched as the dolphin looked at the gear shift. He then swallowed slightly when he realized how close the dolphin was and looked away.
"Jan. I think the car has an ID-10-T error." He then purred, turning towards him.
"ID-10-T-Francis." He scowled at him. "I did not make an idiot error. I know how to work a car."
"Then explain how you are currently in drive when you thought you were in drive earlier?"
"What?" Kowalski furrowed his brows and ducked under the dolphin to see for himself. Honestly...He couldn't see for himself even still. The white letters along the shift were smudgy...So it could be possible what he thought was a D earlier was actually an R. "...Ah."
"You can't see a difference, can you?"
The penguin leaned back with a defeated sigh and shook his head. "They're smudges."
Francis gently lifted his beak with his flipper to look at him. "I'm making you an eye appointment for this week. You need to be able to see clearly. Had I let you drive yourself here, you could have wrecked because you couldn't read the gear-shift."
"...Yeah...I guess." He sighs, still avoiding eye-contact. The dolphin did make a good point after all.
"So for now just keep in mind until you get glasses. Park is blur one, reverse is blurr two, and drive is blur four."
"And the other two?"
"Three is neutral and five is for snow."
Kowalski nodded with a sigh. "Well...Thank you."
The dolphin looked at him for a moment before rolling his eye and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "If you want, you can park and we can hack into a few arcade games before you go back."
"...Why do I get the feeling you've done that before?"
"Why else do you think I keep purchasing real estate that was an amusement park, or build under one?" He chuckled, leaning away. "It makes for an excellent cover, but of course I hack the games and rides for my own leisure."
Kowalski pondered this momentarily. Part of him felt like this was a bad idea. After all, it was technically trespassing and perhaps even stealing, because he was nearly certain Francis would not be paying for the games….But at the same time, they would only be playing games. That wouldn't hurt anyone, just perhaps a few high scores. Not like they could be arrested if they were caught anyway-Then again, they are in New Jersey, if they were caught they could be taken to Hoboken Zoo-
Francis booped his beak then, breaking his train of thought. "So...Amusement park fun or are you leaving?"
"Amusement park-" The response rolled off his tongue before he had a chance to think more about it.
"Excellent choice." He smiled, picking Kowalski up from the small car. "Then let's go play some games, shall we?"
