Part 2-CONTACT
The Racer home was a neat split level ranch style dwelling and attached carport that was about a half a mile away from the Racer factory and track, at the end of a private cul-de-sac. Surrounded by trees and shrubs, the front lawn was picture perfect, like right out of House and Garden, neatly trimmed and green. The backyard was the real attraction for just after the white concrete patio with matching brick barbecue, swing and picnic table complete with umbrella was a profusion of well cared for flowers, the perimeter of the yard lined with white rose bushes in full bloom. The ivory buds were the favorite of the matriarch of the Racer family, affectionately known as "Mom" to everybody. She was on her knees, a basket beside her as she trimmed the bushes, taking the roses and placing them into the basket.
Mom was an attractive brunette with bright blue eyes, of average build with a trim figure that retained its girlish dimensions in spite of having given birth to three boys. As the lone female in a house filled with men, her husband and her sons absolutely doted on her. All of them kept her hopping with the exception of her eldest, Rex, who was sadly, absent from the family. Rex's departure had been a dark cloud over the fairly serene life of the Racer family and an occasional bone of contention between her middle son Speed and her husband because up until he was 11 when Rex left, Speed had idolized his older brother. Since Rex had left, Speed had done everything like his elder sibling, including eschewing college after he had graduated high school to become a professional race car driver, much to Pops' chagrin.
Mom was still on her knees, trimming a bloom off of one of her beloved rose bushes when she was interrupted by a high pitched scream, coming from the general direction of the carport. She turned her head in that direction.
"Spritle, what in heaven's name is going on out there?" she called out.
Spritle Racer, a precocious seven-year-old with a gamin face and shining chocolate eyes came around with an innocent look. "What'd you mean, Mom?"
Mom put her clippers down, got to her feet and faced her youngest son with a stern look and arms akimbo. "You know exactly what I mean, Spritle. How many times must I tell you that Chim Chim is not a toy and you can't treat him like that. Your father and I have told you again and again that if you tease him or torture him too much, that he can hurt you. So what did you do to him?"
The party in question came scampering out and aligned himself beside the baby of the Racer family. The large brown chimpanzee placed his arm around Spritle as if to defend him. "Honest, Mom, I didn't do anything to Chim Chim. He's my best friend." Spritle stood there with his arms crossed in front, a stubborn tilt to his chin.
"Well, then explain why I heard all that screaming," Mom demanded, brooking no nonsense.
"Okay," Spritle admitted grudgingly. "I wanted to see if Chim Chim could ride my bike so I put him on the seat and then I pushed him to see if he would start pedaling. He fell down and then came over and pinched me. Hard." He rubbed the offended member, his posterior as Mom stifled a giggle.
The unique but highly recognizable sound of the Mach 5 rumbling up the driveway rescued Mom from insulting the little boy's dignity further by bursting into laughter. "Looks like your brother's home."
"Speedy!" Spritle squealed in delight as he met his brother and Speed made his way around the carport and into the yard. The boy nearly tackled him in greeting with Chim Chim right behind.
"Uh! Hey Spritle, take it easy. I don't play football any more and I'm tired," Speed protested good-naturedly as he held his baby brother and simian pal off. "Give me a break, okay?"
Mom smiled fondly at her two boys. The way Speed used to worship Rex when he was younger was exactly how Spritle felt about Speed. "He's just glad to see you, dear. So how was your practice session?"
Speed grinned as he leaned in to kiss his mother on the cheek. "Terrific, Mom. Oh, by the way, what time's dinner?" he asked as they all made their way into the house.
"About 7:30."
Speed frowned, "Why so late?"
Mom put her basket of roses down on the kitchen counter. "Your father is tied up at the factory with some new plans for another car. He won't be home till then. If you're hungry, you can make a sandwich or have some fruit to tide you over."
Speed sighed in dismay, his sunny disposition gone. "Okay," he said, resigned.
Piqued by his tone of voice, Mom turned around to see her son's disappointment and puzzled she inquired, "Why such a long face because dinner's late, Speed?"
Speed flinched slightly and pasted a forced smile on his face. "Oh nothing, Mom. I was just hungry like you said." He opened the refrigerator and pretended to root around for something to eat although right now food was the furthest thing from his mind. He grabbed an apple for appearance's sake and closing the door he headed out of the kitchen. "I'm going up to my room to rest before dinner, okay?"
"Okay, sweetheart. I'll be starting dinner shortly." Mom Racer replied as she arranged the roses she had cut into her favorite vase.
Speed sighed as he made his way across the living room to the stairs. Spritle, who was watching his favorite cartoon show on television jumped up from the couch and stopped his brother. "Speedy, can you take me to the hobby store after dinner? There's a model I want to get with my allowance."
"Gee, Spritle can't it wait till tomorrow?" Speed asked in an irritated voice. "There's something I gotta do after dinner." He turned and started climbing the stairs.
"But you promised me this morning you'd take me tonight!" his kid brother whined. "Please, Speedy?"
Speed sighed deeply, his frustration mounting. It seemed nothing was going to go his way. At this rate he'd never get to call Trixie and he really was looking forward to talking to her again. But Spritle could be persistent to the point of being relentless when he was promised something so to avoid a meltdown by his excitable little brother he agreed. "Okay, okay. But make sure you're ready to leave right after dinner. And let's not spend all night at the hobby store."
"Thanks Speedy, you bet," Spritle crowed happily. Satisfied, he went back to watching TV.
I'm glad somebody's happy Speed said sullenly to himself as he mounted the stairs and headed for his room. He entered and closed his door hard enough to display his mood yet not loud enough to be considered a slam. He tossed the apple on his dresser; discarding it, flopped on his bed and stared morosely out his window as he debated with himself as what to do. The last thing he wanted was for Trixie to think that because of his newfound celebrity status that he would just break a promise to call her. What she thought of him was of the utmost importance to him for some reason.
Speed consulted his watch. It was 6:15, and he glanced at his phone, sitting on his nightstand. Good thing that due to his growing career and reputation as a racer, his father had suggested he have his own private line, he didn't want Spritle to pick up another extension and listen in like he was fond of doing on the main phone. He reached in his hip pocket for the black notebook in which he kept all his phone numbers. He thumbed open to the page where he had scribbled Trixie's name and number. He reached for the phone then hesitated.
What if she's not home? Or what if she's busy and can't talk? Speed worried as he tried to decide. He nervously ran a hand through his coal black hair and then laughed at himself. Take it easy, Speed you've done this before, you're not 13 man, you're 18. You've called girls lots of times before, so why is this chick so different? He picked up the phone and looking at the book, dialed the number..
Trixie was just getting ready to step into the shower. She had spent the rest of the afternoon finishing tuning up the engine of her helicopter and she was covered in grease and sweat. She stripped her clothes off, dropped them into the hamper and selected some towels, placing them on the hamper. She was adjusting the spigots and was about to step under the steaming curtain of rushing water when the phone rang. She hurriedly grabbed her robe hanging on the hook on the bathroom wall, donned it and scurried to the princess phone in her bedroom.
"Hello?" she said a bit breathlessly into the receiver.
"Hi, Trixie, it's me, Speed." the rich tenor voice on the other end answered.
"Oh hi," she said, pulling her robe about her self consciously, even though he was just on the phone. "How are you?"
"Good. Say, did I call at a bad time?"
"Uh, no, I was just about to take a shower. You're early, you told me you were calling me at eight."
"I know and I'm sorry, Trixie but I wouldn't have been able to call then. I forgot that I promised my kid brother that I'd take him somewhere so I wouldn't have been home and I didn't want you to think I'd blow you off," Speed explained, feeling embarrassed that maybe he'd have made a mistake. "If you can't talk now, I'll understand."
"Oh no, no, it's okay." She hastened to reassure him. "Could you hang on a minute? I need to shut off my shower."
"Sure," Speed replied, relieved. "Take your time."
Trixie got up from the bed and rushed to the bathroom to shut off the shower. She returned to the phone, took a deep breath to calm her hammering heart and said cheerily into the receiver, "I'm back."
"Welcome back," Speed said warmly. "I missed you."
Trixie smiled, blushing. "So how'd practice go?"
"Great. I bettered my time by 2 tenths of a second. Sparky-he's my mechanic, helped a problem I had with the rear wheels getting loose which had affected my times during the morning. I averaged a speed of about 220 miles per hour in just under 30 seconds."
"It must be something to drive a car that fast," Trixie said, awe in her voice. "I couldn't imagine driving a car at that speed. When I fly my plane, it's different 'cause you have to gain a lot of speed to get airborne, I couldn't imagine staying on the ground going that fast."
Speed laughed, "It's nothing really. You get used to it." He continued, "So did you finish your repairs on the chopper?"
"Uh-huh. I was just giving it its quarterly tune up. I do the repairs on the plane and on my convertible, too. My dad taught me how to tune up engines, change oil, calibrate spark plugs, gap 'em and change wires so I don't have to spend money hiring someone to do it. Especially now, with Dad gone, I have to watch my pennies."
Speed listened, becoming more and more entranced. He calmed himself and stated, "That reminds me. I'm really sorry I asked about your mom and made you cry today, Trixie. I felt really bad that I had just met you and I ended up making you cry," Speed apologized. "And I meant what I said, if there's anything I can do, please let me know."
Trixie was touched by his concern. Speed Racer, the celebrated rookie racer was turning out to be one of the nicest, most genuine guys she'd ever met and she had only known him for half a day. "Thank you, Speed," she said softly, demurely.
Speed felt his heart pound as he was enchanted by the soft sweet voice. "Look, Trixie I was wondering if you weren't busy tomorrow afternoon if you'd like to go for a ride in the Mach 5 with me after I finished practicing. That is if you don't have anything important to do," he added modestly.
"Oh no, I don't have any plans tomorrow." Trixie was quick to reassure him. Coyly, she answered, "I'd love to go for a ride with you, Speed."
"Outta sight! Tell you what, I'll swing by your place around 1:30 tomorrow afternoon and pick you up, okay?"
"Sure. I'll be waiting."
Speed was exultant. "Groovy, I'll see you tomorrow afternoon then. Bye-bye Trix."
"See ya, Speed."
Speed hung the phone up and then let loose a delighted whoop "Yeah! She's gonna go out with me. All right!"
His bedroom door swung open and Spritle charged in with Chim Chim. "Speedy, why were you yellin' like that?"
"Uh-huh. And how'd you know I was yelling, huh, Spritle?" Speed asked in mock anger, picking up the youngest Racer by his arms and glaring right in his face.
Spritle stammered, "Uh, uh I was playin' with Chim Chim in my room and I heard you. So who's gonna go out with you?"
"That, squirt, is none of your business," Speed told his brother as he set him down and playfully slapped his bottom.
"OWW! Speed! That's where Chim Chim pinched me before! Have a heart, will ya?" Spritle complained as he rubbed his hand gingerly on his buttocks.
"Gee, I'm sorry Spritle, I didn't mean to hurt you," Speed said, concerned. He tussled the boy's head affectionately. He really loved the little guy even if he did get on his nerves at times being constantly underfoot.
Spritle grinned at his big brother. "That's okay, Speedy," he said, tackling him and giving him a bear hug. Chim Chim, feeling left out made a flying leap on top of Speed and Spritle, sending both Racer offspring prone on Speed's bed and knocking it into the wall with a loud bang. The three wrestled about on Speed's bed in the wild abandon of horseplay.
"Boys! What's going on up there?" Mom Racer called at the foot of the stairs. "Speed, are you being too rough with your brother? Be careful, he's still a little boy. And Spritle, you leave your big brother alone. He's had a long day at the track and he needs to rest," she admonished.
Speed and Spritle halted the action at the stern sound of their mother's voice. Both boys chimed in unison, "Okay, Mom." Exchanging looks with each other and snickering, they went back and resumed a somewhat subdued wrestling match.
The Racer home was a neat split level ranch style dwelling and attached carport that was about a half a mile away from the Racer factory and track, at the end of a private cul-de-sac. Surrounded by trees and shrubs, the front lawn was picture perfect, like right out of House and Garden, neatly trimmed and green. The backyard was the real attraction for just after the white concrete patio with matching brick barbecue, swing and picnic table complete with umbrella was a profusion of well cared for flowers, the perimeter of the yard lined with white rose bushes in full bloom. The ivory buds were the favorite of the matriarch of the Racer family, affectionately known as "Mom" to everybody. She was on her knees, a basket beside her as she trimmed the bushes, taking the roses and placing them into the basket.
Mom was an attractive brunette with bright blue eyes, of average build with a trim figure that retained its girlish dimensions in spite of having given birth to three boys. As the lone female in a house filled with men, her husband and her sons absolutely doted on her. All of them kept her hopping with the exception of her eldest, Rex, who was sadly, absent from the family. Rex's departure had been a dark cloud over the fairly serene life of the Racer family and an occasional bone of contention between her middle son Speed and her husband because up until he was 11 when Rex left, Speed had idolized his older brother. Since Rex had left, Speed had done everything like his elder sibling, including eschewing college after he had graduated high school to become a professional race car driver, much to Pops' chagrin.
Mom was still on her knees, trimming a bloom off of one of her beloved rose bushes when she was interrupted by a high pitched scream, coming from the general direction of the carport. She turned her head in that direction.
"Spritle, what in heaven's name is going on out there?" she called out.
Spritle Racer, a precocious seven-year-old with a gamin face and shining chocolate eyes came around with an innocent look. "What'd you mean, Mom?"
Mom put her clippers down, got to her feet and faced her youngest son with a stern look and arms akimbo. "You know exactly what I mean, Spritle. How many times must I tell you that Chim Chim is not a toy and you can't treat him like that. Your father and I have told you again and again that if you tease him or torture him too much, that he can hurt you. So what did you do to him?"
The party in question came scampering out and aligned himself beside the baby of the Racer family. The large brown chimpanzee placed his arm around Spritle as if to defend him. "Honest, Mom, I didn't do anything to Chim Chim. He's my best friend." Spritle stood there with his arms crossed in front, a stubborn tilt to his chin.
"Well, then explain why I heard all that screaming," Mom demanded, brooking no nonsense.
"Okay," Spritle admitted grudgingly. "I wanted to see if Chim Chim could ride my bike so I put him on the seat and then I pushed him to see if he would start pedaling. He fell down and then came over and pinched me. Hard." He rubbed the offended member, his posterior as Mom stifled a giggle.
The unique but highly recognizable sound of the Mach 5 rumbling up the driveway rescued Mom from insulting the little boy's dignity further by bursting into laughter. "Looks like your brother's home."
"Speedy!" Spritle squealed in delight as he met his brother and Speed made his way around the carport and into the yard. The boy nearly tackled him in greeting with Chim Chim right behind.
"Uh! Hey Spritle, take it easy. I don't play football any more and I'm tired," Speed protested good-naturedly as he held his baby brother and simian pal off. "Give me a break, okay?"
Mom smiled fondly at her two boys. The way Speed used to worship Rex when he was younger was exactly how Spritle felt about Speed. "He's just glad to see you, dear. So how was your practice session?"
Speed grinned as he leaned in to kiss his mother on the cheek. "Terrific, Mom. Oh, by the way, what time's dinner?" he asked as they all made their way into the house.
"About 7:30."
Speed frowned, "Why so late?"
Mom put her basket of roses down on the kitchen counter. "Your father is tied up at the factory with some new plans for another car. He won't be home till then. If you're hungry, you can make a sandwich or have some fruit to tide you over."
Speed sighed in dismay, his sunny disposition gone. "Okay," he said, resigned.
Piqued by his tone of voice, Mom turned around to see her son's disappointment and puzzled she inquired, "Why such a long face because dinner's late, Speed?"
Speed flinched slightly and pasted a forced smile on his face. "Oh nothing, Mom. I was just hungry like you said." He opened the refrigerator and pretended to root around for something to eat although right now food was the furthest thing from his mind. He grabbed an apple for appearance's sake and closing the door he headed out of the kitchen. "I'm going up to my room to rest before dinner, okay?"
"Okay, sweetheart. I'll be starting dinner shortly." Mom Racer replied as she arranged the roses she had cut into her favorite vase.
Speed sighed as he made his way across the living room to the stairs. Spritle, who was watching his favorite cartoon show on television jumped up from the couch and stopped his brother. "Speedy, can you take me to the hobby store after dinner? There's a model I want to get with my allowance."
"Gee, Spritle can't it wait till tomorrow?" Speed asked in an irritated voice. "There's something I gotta do after dinner." He turned and started climbing the stairs.
"But you promised me this morning you'd take me tonight!" his kid brother whined. "Please, Speedy?"
Speed sighed deeply, his frustration mounting. It seemed nothing was going to go his way. At this rate he'd never get to call Trixie and he really was looking forward to talking to her again. But Spritle could be persistent to the point of being relentless when he was promised something so to avoid a meltdown by his excitable little brother he agreed. "Okay, okay. But make sure you're ready to leave right after dinner. And let's not spend all night at the hobby store."
"Thanks Speedy, you bet," Spritle crowed happily. Satisfied, he went back to watching TV.
I'm glad somebody's happy Speed said sullenly to himself as he mounted the stairs and headed for his room. He entered and closed his door hard enough to display his mood yet not loud enough to be considered a slam. He tossed the apple on his dresser; discarding it, flopped on his bed and stared morosely out his window as he debated with himself as what to do. The last thing he wanted was for Trixie to think that because of his newfound celebrity status that he would just break a promise to call her. What she thought of him was of the utmost importance to him for some reason.
Speed consulted his watch. It was 6:15, and he glanced at his phone, sitting on his nightstand. Good thing that due to his growing career and reputation as a racer, his father had suggested he have his own private line, he didn't want Spritle to pick up another extension and listen in like he was fond of doing on the main phone. He reached in his hip pocket for the black notebook in which he kept all his phone numbers. He thumbed open to the page where he had scribbled Trixie's name and number. He reached for the phone then hesitated.
What if she's not home? Or what if she's busy and can't talk? Speed worried as he tried to decide. He nervously ran a hand through his coal black hair and then laughed at himself. Take it easy, Speed you've done this before, you're not 13 man, you're 18. You've called girls lots of times before, so why is this chick so different? He picked up the phone and looking at the book, dialed the number..
Trixie was just getting ready to step into the shower. She had spent the rest of the afternoon finishing tuning up the engine of her helicopter and she was covered in grease and sweat. She stripped her clothes off, dropped them into the hamper and selected some towels, placing them on the hamper. She was adjusting the spigots and was about to step under the steaming curtain of rushing water when the phone rang. She hurriedly grabbed her robe hanging on the hook on the bathroom wall, donned it and scurried to the princess phone in her bedroom.
"Hello?" she said a bit breathlessly into the receiver.
"Hi, Trixie, it's me, Speed." the rich tenor voice on the other end answered.
"Oh hi," she said, pulling her robe about her self consciously, even though he was just on the phone. "How are you?"
"Good. Say, did I call at a bad time?"
"Uh, no, I was just about to take a shower. You're early, you told me you were calling me at eight."
"I know and I'm sorry, Trixie but I wouldn't have been able to call then. I forgot that I promised my kid brother that I'd take him somewhere so I wouldn't have been home and I didn't want you to think I'd blow you off," Speed explained, feeling embarrassed that maybe he'd have made a mistake. "If you can't talk now, I'll understand."
"Oh no, no, it's okay." She hastened to reassure him. "Could you hang on a minute? I need to shut off my shower."
"Sure," Speed replied, relieved. "Take your time."
Trixie got up from the bed and rushed to the bathroom to shut off the shower. She returned to the phone, took a deep breath to calm her hammering heart and said cheerily into the receiver, "I'm back."
"Welcome back," Speed said warmly. "I missed you."
Trixie smiled, blushing. "So how'd practice go?"
"Great. I bettered my time by 2 tenths of a second. Sparky-he's my mechanic, helped a problem I had with the rear wheels getting loose which had affected my times during the morning. I averaged a speed of about 220 miles per hour in just under 30 seconds."
"It must be something to drive a car that fast," Trixie said, awe in her voice. "I couldn't imagine driving a car at that speed. When I fly my plane, it's different 'cause you have to gain a lot of speed to get airborne, I couldn't imagine staying on the ground going that fast."
Speed laughed, "It's nothing really. You get used to it." He continued, "So did you finish your repairs on the chopper?"
"Uh-huh. I was just giving it its quarterly tune up. I do the repairs on the plane and on my convertible, too. My dad taught me how to tune up engines, change oil, calibrate spark plugs, gap 'em and change wires so I don't have to spend money hiring someone to do it. Especially now, with Dad gone, I have to watch my pennies."
Speed listened, becoming more and more entranced. He calmed himself and stated, "That reminds me. I'm really sorry I asked about your mom and made you cry today, Trixie. I felt really bad that I had just met you and I ended up making you cry," Speed apologized. "And I meant what I said, if there's anything I can do, please let me know."
Trixie was touched by his concern. Speed Racer, the celebrated rookie racer was turning out to be one of the nicest, most genuine guys she'd ever met and she had only known him for half a day. "Thank you, Speed," she said softly, demurely.
Speed felt his heart pound as he was enchanted by the soft sweet voice. "Look, Trixie I was wondering if you weren't busy tomorrow afternoon if you'd like to go for a ride in the Mach 5 with me after I finished practicing. That is if you don't have anything important to do," he added modestly.
"Oh no, I don't have any plans tomorrow." Trixie was quick to reassure him. Coyly, she answered, "I'd love to go for a ride with you, Speed."
"Outta sight! Tell you what, I'll swing by your place around 1:30 tomorrow afternoon and pick you up, okay?"
"Sure. I'll be waiting."
Speed was exultant. "Groovy, I'll see you tomorrow afternoon then. Bye-bye Trix."
"See ya, Speed."
Speed hung the phone up and then let loose a delighted whoop "Yeah! She's gonna go out with me. All right!"
His bedroom door swung open and Spritle charged in with Chim Chim. "Speedy, why were you yellin' like that?"
"Uh-huh. And how'd you know I was yelling, huh, Spritle?" Speed asked in mock anger, picking up the youngest Racer by his arms and glaring right in his face.
Spritle stammered, "Uh, uh I was playin' with Chim Chim in my room and I heard you. So who's gonna go out with you?"
"That, squirt, is none of your business," Speed told his brother as he set him down and playfully slapped his bottom.
"OWW! Speed! That's where Chim Chim pinched me before! Have a heart, will ya?" Spritle complained as he rubbed his hand gingerly on his buttocks.
"Gee, I'm sorry Spritle, I didn't mean to hurt you," Speed said, concerned. He tussled the boy's head affectionately. He really loved the little guy even if he did get on his nerves at times being constantly underfoot.
Spritle grinned at his big brother. "That's okay, Speedy," he said, tackling him and giving him a bear hug. Chim Chim, feeling left out made a flying leap on top of Speed and Spritle, sending both Racer offspring prone on Speed's bed and knocking it into the wall with a loud bang. The three wrestled about on Speed's bed in the wild abandon of horseplay.
"Boys! What's going on up there?" Mom Racer called at the foot of the stairs. "Speed, are you being too rough with your brother? Be careful, he's still a little boy. And Spritle, you leave your big brother alone. He's had a long day at the track and he needs to rest," she admonished.
Speed and Spritle halted the action at the stern sound of their mother's voice. Both boys chimed in unison, "Okay, Mom." Exchanging looks with each other and snickering, they went back and resumed a somewhat subdued wrestling match.