The Good Samaritan

Chapter 7: Racing Bug

Another month goes by, and things have only gotten better. Last night we went to the restaurnt that Bobby took
us too before, again. When Bobby told momma about he and mom getting married, she was overjoyed. She was also
impressed by the ring Bobby gave her.

At one point just before we left the cafe, momma took Bobby aside and had an animated discussion. Whatever they
were talking about, it was very important to momma that Bobby needed to do something, and very soon.

When mom asked Bobby what was wrong, he said, "I'll explain later! I promise, you have nothing to worry about."

Mom turned to me, "So Vicky, Honey, are you looking forward to the baby shower tomorrow? I'm all excited for
you."

I said, "Yea, I am. Though I didn't expect to be this excited, I can't wait."

Clara and the girls had arranged to throw me a baby shower tomorrow afternoon. A great way to spend a Saturday.
And I was really looking forward to it. My only hope was that nothing went wrong.

Mom and Bobby had been intimate with each other since before the engagement last month, so it was no surprise
that when we got home, they quickly made their way to the bedroom. I was sure I wasn't going to hear anything
from them for the rest of the night.

As I passed the door on the way to my room, I could hear them talking, but not make out what was being said. I
was closing my door and beyond being able to hear their sounds, when I heard mom's raised voice say, "WHAT?"

Nothing further came from their room, so I relaxed, thinking that whatever it was, I'm sure I would find out
when the time was right.

So I spent the rest of the night Skyping with Clara, Cloe and Zoe. Doing the usual, homework and talking about
boys, well, and girls.

*****************************

The next morning, I woke up and went to the kitchen to see what there was to eat. I found Bobby in the midst of
making a whole big breakfast. Thankfully, I have had no issues eating, I had not suffered from any morning
sickness at all. So the smells were heavenly.

Bobby saw me and told me to sit down and that he had everything covered. So I sat and watched for a couple of
minutes before he presented me with a plate of pancakes topped with eggs, sausage links, hash browns and a
strawberry in the center. It looked like a face with the hash browns as the hair.

As he sat the plate down in front of me, "There you go Princess! Got to make sure your little Princess is taken
care of."

Smiling, "Thank you Bobby! You're in a very good mood this morning." About then, mom staggers in, like she's had
no sleep at all, but a silly grin on her face.

The two of them smiled stupidly at one another, mom's only words were, "Coffee, please!"

I finished chewing my first bite, then with a knowing smirk, "So, should I plan on having a little sister or
brother any time soon? Hmm?"

I thought I had her, when her smile got even bigger, "That's not out of the realm of possibility, but most
likely a bit premature."

I almost choked on my orange juice. "What?"

She kept smiling, "Well, I only stopped taking my birth control pills a few weeks ago, and I know it usually
takes a few months before it's possible to conceive. But you never know."

Bobby added, "Your mom and I talked about it the night I proposed to her, and she said she would like to try for
another child. I couldn't say no to her."

I got a hold of myself, "Okay, okay, I can understand that. But the least you could do is warn a girl." After a
thought, "Besides, little Wallis will need a playmate."

Mom knew I had been struggling to come up with a name to honor Walter, at least I thought that Vicky would have
liked it. She said, "You finally decided on a name. Wallis? What is the meaning of the name?"

Bobby beat me to the answer, "Oddly, it's Celtic. It means, foreign."

I chuckled, "You'ld understand if you were me. But I think it is beautiful."

That afternoon at 3pm, the baby shower was held at the twins' house. Cloe had said that her mom insisted on it,
since she was one of the parents that had made such a big fuss of my pregnancy in school and wanted to make up
for it. Her folks and mom had become good friends since the four of us girls were like the Musketeers.

The girls parents also learned early on in our friendship, that I always preached for getting the best
education, and that there was plenty of time after that for boys. I told them not to make their life hard by
having an unplanned baby.

The shower was fun. Everything that was given to me was something that would be greatly needed. Most of the moms
attended too. They said it was to keep us in check, but they didn't fool me, most women, but not all, love
anything that has to do with babies.

Hell, even myself as an old guy loved babies. Maybe I was always meant to be a mother.

After all the gifts were open and the cake was eaten, people were mingling around and at one point I found
myself alone in the kitchen, putting my plate in the sink. Bobby and the twins' dad, Martin Sr., were sitting on
the patio looking over the large back yard.

Looking through the window out at the detached garage, I saw Cloe and Zoe's brother, Martin Jr., working on
something. I may be a girl, but I still had some of my boy type things I liked, so I decided to see what was up.

He saw me walk in before I could say anything, "What's up Vicky? How's the party going?" He asked.

He was alright for a 16yo brother, or so the twins were always saying. "Party is down to people mingling. I got
bored, then I saw you out here and was wondering what you were doing?"

He smiled, perfect teeth, "Nothing much. Just working on my race car. Do you know what an RC car is?"

Looking passed him, I see a scale size car, torn down into pieces. "I'm guessing that's a radio control car? It
looks a lot better than the toy cars I've seen before."

He added a smirk to his smile, "Wow, I'm impressed, for twelve your cute and smart."

I knew my face must have turned as red as my hair, I turned, to run back into the house. When he grabbed my arm.

"Vicky, I'm sorry! I shouldn't have said that. I'm used to teasing the twins and their usual vapid friends, But
I see you are more mature than that."

"Thank you." I said.

Letting go of my arm, he looked down at his feet. "You know, those two and Clara are big fans of yours. Zoe
almost took my head off a couple of weeks ago at the dinner table when I made a stupid comment about you should
get rid of the baby. Cloe explained what you had said to them about that. I think I was more impressed with you
than my parents were."

I said, "Thank you! Again. That means a lot."

Looking back up, "I don't think I could do it, in your shoes. I'm not strong enough." He started working on his
car as I watched for a bit.

I saw a poster for a race track in town. Pointing at it, "Is this where you race?" The pictures on the poster
made it look like a lot of fun.

He got very animated, "Yeah, Tacoma RC Raceway, right here in town. You should totally check it out." Then
thinking, "You know, if you wanted to try racing? You could, like, drive my car to see if you like it. Then if
you did, since I race in the stock 2wd buggy class. You could run it in the beginner class. Then, who knows, you
could get your own car."

I smiled back, "Sounds like a lot of fun. When do you race next? The girls and I can come and cheer for you."

Marty says, "Tomorrow. We start at 1pm, but the track opens for practice at 10am. If you want to try the car
out, you should come early. The closer to race time, the busier the track gets. And some of the racers can be
real ass-hats, if you know what I mean."

I nodded, "I know 'guys' all too well." Then added, "I'll see if Bobby will take me. Maybe I'll see you
tomorrow. Bye MJ."

He laughed, "Oh, so now I'm MJ? Who you think you are? Spiderwoman?"

I laughed, only in your dreams little boy.

It took Booby a while to load everything into his Durango. The only thing I would need now before the baby came
was a crib. Mom wished we still had the one I had slept in as a baby, but it was gone many years ago. On the way
home, Bobby mentioned he may have a line on the perfect crib.

That was when I asked Bobby if he would take me to the RC track where Marty raced in the morning. His only
answer was. "My Princess' wish is my desire! Sure, sweetheart, I know where it is."

I hadn't said anything to the girls before we left the house since I wasn't sure that Bobby would be able to
take me. So I had to convince them to go. Mom didn't know what it was, but thought it was good father-daughter
bonding time. She had a strange smile on her face.

We got home and got everything upstairs, boy was that tough work. Bobby made some offhand remark about needing
to look into getting us into a house of our own.

Mom was surprised, "What brought that up?"

Bobby said, "While you ladies were inside, I was sitting with Martin and we got to talking. He said that there
was a nice house at the end of their cul-de-sac. It has the largest yard on the street and the owner is looking
to make a quick sale, because he needs the money for other things. It hasn't been listed yet and Marty thinks we
could get it for a song. If you like it?"

"Well, I suppose we could look at it after we drop Vicky off with her friends and Martin at that place in the
morning." Mom added.

Wow, things were moving fast. We might be getting a house. I got on Skype to the girls and told them about going
to watch Marty on the race track. At first they didn't want to go, but when I said we could cheer for him during
a race, they thought it would be a great chance to embarrass their brother.

I then told them about us looking at the house at the end of the street. Since Clara only lived a block away,
that would keep us together easier.

*****************************

The next morning, dressed in dark green Capri's and a light green blouse and sneakers, mom and Bobby dropped me
off at the track as Marty was unloading his stuff with his dad and the girls watching.

Bobby said, "Thanks Martin for looking after Vicky for a while. We're going to take a look at that house you
told me about yesterday."

Marty said, "That's great Bobby! I'll call Tom and let him know that you're on your way over. Good luck man." To
MJ he says, "Got everything Jr.?"

Marty looks at his dad, "Dad! Please, we talked about this, it's Marty away from the house. God, you can be so
embarrassing!"

Senior laughed, "I'm, embarrassing? Do you forget who it is that pays for your 'toys' here at the track?"

Looking contrite, "Sorry dad!"

Still laughing, "And don't forget, you still need to mow the back lawn after school tomorrow. That's what you
promised for the last parts for your car."

"Yes, sir." We all giggled at his expense.

Inside kind of smelled like stale dirt and pencil shavings. I asked MJ what the smell was, sniffing and looking
around, "Oh, the smell like pencil shavings? That's some stuff they use when they sweep up to keep the dust out
of the air. We also use some stuff on our tires that smells close to that, it makes the tires grip more."

"Traction compound, makes sence." I say.

He and his dad give me the eye, like, how dare a female to know anything mechanical. Hmpf!

MJ picked a spot at the end of a table that gave a good view of the track. "This is where I usually pit. My
racer friends sit in this same area. I'll set up and get everything ready. Then I'll show you how to drive.

Okay?"

I said, "Sure." The girls wandered around looking at things.

Senior says, "JR... Sorry, Marty, I'll go sign you up. Stock buggy, right?"

"Yes, sir, Thank you." MJ points to a structure on one wall of the track, there were a couple of guys walking up
a ramp on the one side. They had radios in their hands, and I could see their cars on the track. MJ says, "If
you want to, you can walk up onto the driver's stand and get a better idea of the track. You can watch those
guys, they're pretty fast. I'm not as good as they are."

"Okay." And wandered up near where the guys were standing. You could see all of the track really well from here.

As I watched the two guys running, between the way the used their radios and what the cars did, I got a good
sense of how the cars worked.

I watched them for about ten minutes or so, they didn't make very many mistakes. When they crossed a line on the
track, a computer voice would announce their lap times. I thought that was a great idea. Their times were
generally between 18.2 seconds and 18.8 seconds. The few times they crashed, mostly with each other, they
managed to free their friend's car or flip it over without going onto the track.

They pulled off into the corner where they had walked up the ramp. As they passed by, I said, "That was pretty
good!"

They both stopped when I spoke, not sure if they should talk to me or not. They both were maybe a year younger
than Marty, but not as dorky as the boys in my seventh grade class. The taller of the two, who was like a giant
compared to me, says, "Yeah, we've been racing together for years. We have fun rubbing wheels."

The shorter one laughed, then said, "So, you here with Marty? He's a little old for you, isn't he?"

I giggled, "No, his sisters are friends of mine. He just offered to let me try his car out to see if I wanted to
start racing. It sure looks like a lot of fun, that's for sure."

Tall one said, "Okay, but if you need a better teacher, come see Roger and me. I'm Aaron. Nice to meet you... "

"Vicky." I answered, "Nice to meet you too."

I followed them off the ramp, listening to them talk about 'camber' this and 'caster' that. Words I remembered
from being an car mechanic forty some years ago. As I listened to them as they sat down and worked on their
cars, I realized these weren't toys by any means.

I got back to Marty's spot, "They bother you up there?" Asking.

I said, "No, they were just being friendly. Aaron asked if you were my boyfriend. I told him that your sisters
are my best friends and we came to watch. Though they offered their expertise as driving instructors if you
proved insufficient."

Marty laughed, "You may be the prettiest of my sisters' friends, but you're still only twelve. Now if you were
maybe fourteen, I might reconsider."

Knowing that he was trying to tease me, I just ignored him. A little later, he had the car ready to go. He said,

"I'll run it a few laps to make sure everything is alright, then you can give it a try. Okay?" I nodded, following him onto the stand.

When he crossed the finish line the first time, it called out his name. He drove a few laps with the girls and
his dad watching. His dad took a spot on the track to do what MJ called marshalling, which meant flipping over
the car when you crashed.

MJ asked, "You saw how I drove the car, just take it easy and get a feel for how the controls work. They react
very fast. The wheel is the steering, left for left, right for right. The trigger is the throttle, pull it for
speed and push it for brakes. Okay?"

I took the radio and kind of rested it on the rail in front of us. I wiggled the wheels, MJ was right, it had
very fast response. Then I pulled the trigger and the car took off, I let off, but thankfully the car was on the
straight section of the track.

The girls laughed, but Senior said, "That's good Vicky, just get used to it."

After that, I used only enough throttle to putt around a few times, getting used to how the car reacted. MJ was
smiling, he said, "Try going a little faster now, just give yourself more time to react when you let-off in the
corner. You're doing really well."

I was hopping over the jumps when I tried to clear my first 'double'. I ended up darting the front into the face
of the jump before clearing it. MJ said I need more gas to clear it. Senior flipped me over, and I tried again.

After many more crashes, I was starting to get the hang of it.

MJ says, "We need to take it off and let the motor cool down and charge another battery, but for the first time
driving a car, you did very good."

Senior says, "Way to go Vicky, keep going like that and soon you'll be giving the boys fits!" The girls cheered
for me.

All I knew was that I was hook.

End of Chapter 7

Thanks for Reading!

Goddess Blessings!

Mopar