To Give a Heart Wings by Mary Kay McComas

Author:Mary Kay McComas [McComas, Mary Kay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4532-8619-7
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2012-10-15T20:45:00+00:00

Seven

IN THE END IT WAS Hannah alone who accompanied Trevor and a few members of the crew to the half-mile track south of Martinsville. Tuesdays weren’t prime racing time. For a fee and with arrangements to have a rescue squad unit standing by on the field, the track was theirs for the afternoon.

With seating for twenty-one thousand spectators, the oval asphalt track with its boxwoods growing neatly along the turns was an impressive sight to a novice like Hannah. Racetracks were a lot bigger than they looked on television, not that she’d seen that much of them before she’d swiftly changed channels. She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting, but the size and potential filled her with wonder and anticipation.

She stood under the hot sun while they released the Mallini-McKinnon Pontiac from the short trailer. Mallini-McKinnon because they owned the car; Pontiac because with a broad stretch of the imagination it resembled a late-model Pontiac with gross modifications. It was bright yellow with a lucky number eleven on the door and decals representing everything from lumber to refrigeration to hygiene products stuck everywhere else.

Trevor took the track at a reasonable pace the first time around, blowing a cloud of dark smoke like a tail behind him. But once he’d burned the excess oil off the engine, his speed picked up and up and up. The ground under Hannah’s feet trembled when he whizzed past her, and before she could blink, he’d passed her again, taking her breath away.

She missed most of what was being said, the mechanics being too busy and too engrossed in the car to pay her any attention. But she didn’t need words to pick up on the energy and excitement they were feeling. It was serious business, but it was more than that. It was their lifeblood, the sparkle in their lives. It was what they did to give their hearts wings.

Her hands balled into fists and her nails dug into her palms as she watched Trevor zoom around and around, faster and faster, until he was practically a blur. So close, so close, she thought over and over before she realized what she was feeling. Trevor was touching death, taunting it, pushing himself and the car as close as he could, tickling it, never quite stepping over the boundary. He’s crazy, she told herself even as part of her envied his nerve.

When he finally pulled into the infield, he was sweating and grinning like a fool. She couldn’t help it, she smiled too.

The crew was all over the car in a matter of seconds, and Hannah stood back out of their way. Trevor squeezed out of the window in the door and stood talking to Frank for a few minutes before he swaggered over to her.

“What do you think?”

“It’s wonderful. Scary, but wonderful. And you’re crazy,” she said, knowing he’d take it as a compliment.

“Not really.” He sobered enough to let her know he was serious. “I’m very careful. That car’s safer at two hundred miles an hour than yours is at fifty-five on the highway.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.