Page 84 of Trading Paint

So far, I’ve been there four years in a row and had yet to win it. I wanted that win. My dad has won the event eight times. All eight times he’s gone. I was both happy and depressed to see he wasn’t going. Instead, he was in Australia racing sprint cars and wouldn’t be back until the Chili Bowl.

Turkey Night was an annual national race held on Thanksgiving Day. The first one was held in 1934 so it was a tradition. The only years they didn’t hadn’t held it at various tracks in southern California was during the war years. It was more than a tradition to racing though. Families and racers showed up and camped out. The fans cooked Thanksgiving Dinner and served it to the racers, mechanics and team members at these large picnic tables.

The greatest midget racers around the world attended this event each year so to me, it was a chance to see how I stacked up against the competition. I knew I’d gotten better over the last year; that was evident when I watched highlights from this past summer. Now was a chance to test it out.

I wanted drivers like Justin West, Tyler Sprague and Ryder Christiansen there. I wanted them there because to me, they were the best USAC racers out there. If I won against them and the other midget racers, that meant something.

I needed a break from my family and I didn’t feel an ounce of sadness when Emma and Spencer stayed home.

Spencer, who asked Alley to marry him during an argument, was now planning a wedding. Those two did not need to be married but who was I to judge that. I know they told me the date of the wedding but I silently hoped I hadotherplans. Attending a wedding was not something I wanted to do. It just didn’t appeal to me.

Glancing around my room to make sure I didn’t forget anything, I reached for my cell phone. There was a message from Sway telling me good luck. I asked her to come with me but she said she needed to spend some time with Charlie and with the race being on Thanksgiving, she didn’t want to leave him. I couldn’t blame her.

While I played puppet to sponsors this last season racing four nights a week, the rest of our team, Sway included, was just as exhausted from the temper tantrums; mood swings and whatever else I subjected the poor bastards to. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I heard the phrase: “You’re an asshole.”

So I welcomed traveling alone.

I was racing Bucky’s midget that Bowman Oil, Sound Logistics and my new sponsor Skinner Welding was sponsoring for me.

Bucky lined up a crew. It was a good setup and all I needed to do was show up and drive.

I got to keep sixty percent of whatever I won. That seemed good to me but then again it was never about the money. I didn’t do any of this for the money; I did it for myself. I wanted to know I was the best and races like Turkey Night or The Chili Bowl confirmed that. Sadly I wasn’t making it to the Chili Bowl this year. I’ve been numerous times with my dad but had yet to race it. That was my next goal.

Mom cried when I left because she wanted me there for Thanksgiving dinner. She knew exactly why I was doing it though and ended up fixing Thanksgiving dinner earlier in the week for me.

The race was on Thursday, Thanksgiving, so I left that Wednesday morning which put me in California that afternoon.

I met the guys where I was supposed to, an hour late. I was never timely while traveling through an airport. I was lucky security hadn’t detained me after I told a flight attendant that she could suck my dick because I wasn’t checking my goddamn bag.

I had a real problem with all their damn restrictions. I barely had anything in that bag and yet she wanted me to check it, I don’t think so. I don’t know if I scared her by telling her to suck my dick or if she was tempted but regardless she didn’t call security and left me alone for the remainder of the flight.

“It’s about fucking time!” Justin grumbled hoisting himself from the metals chairs they were sitting on. “What took you so long?”

I shrugged and gave them a blank expression. I didn’t think I was that late until they informed me I was an hour late. I blamed the flight attendant.

We went to dinner that night as none of us were old enough for a bar yet so that left us at an Applebee’s.

“I have to ask,” Tyler began smiling and I knew what he was going to ask. It was the same question everyone asked, “What’s with you and Sway?”

I dug the heel of my palms into my eyes and sighed heavily with my arms resting against the table. The rest of the guys chuckled. “Fuck, I don’t know.”

“Are you together or is it just like friends or something with benefits?”

“What?”

“Oh, well, I saw you two...I don’t remember when but you two were drunk and well I just thought...” his voice trailed off when I groaned.

“It’s not like that with us, we haven’t...it’s just not like that.”

“My god!”Tyler nearly shouted causing a few kids to turn and look toward us. “What is wrong with you, why haven’t you? She’s fucking hot!”

“Do you mind?” a woman’s voice demanded beside us. “There are children present.” Those fucking snot nosed brats beside us were hardly kids and judging by the appearance of their parents, I highly doubted they were subjected to proper language.

We all nodded but you couldn’t expect a group of guys like us to behave let alone keep our voices down or censor our language.

I glared sharply at Tyler. “If you want to keep your good looks you won’t ever say that again.”

Tyler just laughed at my threat.

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