Inside Pass

1 The New Car Come on, cowboy. Let's take a ride." The pair of legs sticking out from beneath the red race car didn't indicate whether their owner had heard the command from the taller dark-haired man standing next to the vehicle. The slender body they were attached to stayed under there, deliberately finishing up applying torque to a stubborn bolt. Finally, slowly, the heels dug in, and the creeper rolled out. The unnatural brightness from the overhead fluorescent lights fell on the young man's face, revealing tanned features and longish hair so blond it looked sun-bleachedthough sunlight certainly never found its way beneath the race car. "Will, you know I want to finish up with this today," the young man said. His eyes squinted and his white teeth flashed as he grimaced. Even with the grime and sweat on his face, he was clearly movie-star handsome. And, at the moment, just a tad bit irritated. "I got my eye on a first-place trophy this weekend, even if nobody else on this team seems to." "That old rear end'll still be here when we get back if one of the other boys doesn't get to it first," was all the tall dark-haired man offered in reply. "Aw, all right then," the kid answered peevishly, pointedly dropping his wrenches with a clatter on the shop's cement floor as he climbed to his feet. Technically, he supposed, Will Hughes was his boss, and he was bound to do his bidding. Will could order him to stand on his head and stack bowling balls if he so desired. Will was crew chief on the 06 Ford race car, and Rob Wilder, the tall blond kid, was only its driver. No denying the pecking order on that rather well defined organizational chart. And if Will Hughes ordered him out from beneath the car and proceeded to drag him off on some time-wasting joyride, Rob figured he had no choice but to obey the man. But if the rear end of the car came ratcheting right out from under him smack-dab in the middle of next Saturday's race, well, that was no fault of Mr. Rob Wilder. No, sir! Wilder stood, dusted himself off, slipped out of the coveralls, hung them on a nail near the door, and then followed Hughes outside, muttering under his breath the whole while. Will could tell the kid was irritated, but he simply ignored him Once outside the shop, the bright sun and warm temperature surprised Rob. The first few days of October had been unseasonably cool so far, even for the foothills of the Smoky Mountains in eastern Tennessee. It had been downright cold that morning before daylight when he had shown up at the shop. He had been unable to sleep and eager to get something done, so instead of wearing out a spot spinning idly in his bed, he'd climbed out of the sack, came on to the shop, and gone to work before any of the others had even thought about showing up. The first thing he had done, though, had been to turn up the thermostat on the big electric heaters. But this day had turned out nice, as if Nature was having a last gasp at hanging on to summer, despite the Technicolor leaves and frosty nights that already heralded an early winter. Now, despite his annoyance, Rob couldn't help but notice what a glorious day it had turned out to be, and he was glad to be out in the midst of it. He admired the golden sunshine and bright blue sky as they eased along in Will's big pickup down the long gravel drive that led to the highway. An empty trailer on the hitch bounced noisily behind them. The kid even felt a twinge of guilt that he had been wasting one of the last beautiful days of the year underneath a race car in a stuffy, noisy old shop. Lately, more than one important person in his life had been urging him to slow down, enjoy theWright, Kent is the author of 'Inside Pass' with ISBN 9780812545081 and ISBN 0812545087.