6 Golden Days

The old garage stood rusty and abused nestled between some trees. A small parking lot sat outside the little building, and one of the doors sat wide open. The other two stood closed with fogged over windows being the only way to see out.

Anyone off the street would think it was closed. The rusty metal walls, and leaf covered roof gave away the neglected state of things at the garage, but inside sat an old man with the automotive equivalent of a green thumb.

At fifty years old this man had learned every trick of the trade when it came to the art of automotive work. Tony was his name, and he was the only reason work ever got done on the three-oh-two. He loved the car almost as much as me and did work on it for half the price for me.

I pulled the fox body up into the open garage door and parked it. In the corner office I could spy the graying old man through his window. He put down his newspaper and ran his fingers through his gray streaked head.

Tony hoisted himself up and lumbered out to the fox body as myself and Johnny exited.

"It has been awhile since you brought the fox body in. You looking to do some work on it?"

"Just some off-road tires if you've got some in the back. I'm looking to make some passes on the trails"

Tony's eyes widened half in surprise and half in an odd wistful happiness.

"You're running the trails again? It's been a while"

"To long if you ask me Tony. How much do I owe you for the tires?"

Tony shook his head and waved his weathered hands.

"Nothing at all. Just bring her back in one piece"

Tony lumbered to the back searching through for some old tires. Johnny sat back in wonder looking around the shop. It was a relic from the past honestly. All the tools and machines where vastly outdated, but Tony made due.

"Man, this place looks lit!"

Johnny exclaimed dragging his fingers across the metal walls.

"This place is like straight out of a sixties movie or something"

I nodded to myself smiling a little. Tony had been the only person my Grandfather trusted to work on the three-oh-two. It was how I came to know the guy. In many ways he was my Uncle and mechanic.

"Hey, can I ask a question Jack?"

"Sure. Hit me"

"What made you start stunt driving?"

I sighed deeply and leaned against the fox body. My hands found their way into my jacket pockets instinctively as I recited the story I gave to everyone who eventually asked.

"It was my grandpa. When I was little my grandpa would take me for joy rides in the three-oh-two. It just stuck with me. The speed, the g-force, the rush. It was amazing. I carried that with me all my life and when I started driving I couldn't help but follow him. My years of riding with him I guess some of his skill rubbed off on me. That being said Ill never be as good as him"

"So the three-oh-two was your grandpa's? Your grandpa on your mom or dad's side?"

"Mom's side. My dad is a step and I honestly haven't seen my grandparents on his side. Also, yeah the three-oh-two was his. When he died he willed it to me along with his house up North"

"Damn he must have loved you to give all his shit to you"

"He was basically my dad. My step dad understood that and never tried to over step that boundary thankfully."

From the back of the shop I heard Tony call.

"Roll the fox body on the lift so we can get these wheels on!"

I dropped the e-break and with Johnny's help we pushed the car onto the lift. Tony hit the button to move it up and grabbed his impact gun. He had the wheels off and the new ones on in record time despite his old age.

"Bring in the three-oh-two next time. I haven't seen it in a while"

"I'll bring it when I can drive it up here"

Tony gave a deep rich laugh and patted the hood of the old fox body as the lift lowered it.

"I'll hold you to that Jack."

Johnny hopped in the passenger seat and strapped in. I drove us down the road a little way more, and took a small dirt road off the main road.

"So... Are you about to take a run down the trails?"

"Yeah, I am. Gotta get back in shape"

"Oh..."

Johnny looked around in a panic as his hand grabbed onto the seat belt for safety.

"Are you sure you want to run with me in here?"

"Well Adal did say Id have a co-rider. That's you Hound. "

"I'm not going to lie Fox... I'm scared..."

I smiled wide and let loose with my trade mark maniacal laugh. Flash backs to all the other times I brought people up here for a little thrill ride ran through my head.

"So is everyone else the first time, and usually every time after that"

Before Johnny could give another protest I dropped the clutch launching the mustang down the well-traveled dirt road.

I've never done any drugs but I can only assume that running the trails was the closest I would ever get. The fox body screamed a v-eight symphony to the trees that drowned out Johnny's screaming. The motor bounced off the rev limiter as the tires broke loose on the first turn.

I held the slide all the way and ripped the e-break at the end to help correct myself. Johnny latched onto the door screaming helplessly into the wind. As I heel-toed my way through the curve I felt instinct take over. My hands flew over the shifter and steering wheel nearly automatically.

The best part was how open all my senses felt when I was driving like this. My eyes picked out and noticed everything, my ears heard every subtle sound of the car, even my nose could pick out the faint smell of car exhaust on the crisp wind.

I slid every corner and hammered down on every straight. Just like the old times. It was the purest high anything could ever give me. Johnny probably had a different idea. When I came sliding to a stop at the end of the trail he was petrified against the door.

"Well..."

He began not even trying to hide the shake in his voice.

"You didn't seem very rusty to me"

"Nah I'm rusty alright. It's been a while since I ran those back roads. Especially that hard"

"How long exactly?"

I put my finger to my lip thinking for a moment before it hit me out of the blue why I had stopped.

"Well I guess I stopped when Sara left me. That would be around the midpoint of senior year"

Johnny pried himself off the door and sat back in seat. He seemed better now. I didn't want to be the one to tell him we had to go back up the trail now so I figured I'd just let him have the peace for now.

"Are the two things related? Sara leaving you and you stopping the trails?"

I shrugged and cut the car off so I wouldn't waste gas.

"I guess inadvertently. I got kind of depressed after she left me so I didn't really feel like doing it. That and we spent a lot of nights here together."

Johnny stretched out and pulled his black hoodie over his head. His bangs came away messy after the action but he didn't seem to mind.

"Ok so Sara was your girlfriend. What about that girl that came around earlier?"

"That's Jessica. Jessica Song. She is just a friend"

"Oh... So free game then?"

Suddenly I snapped to attention tightening my hands on the wheel.

"Hell no"

Johnny laughed tossing his hoodie in the back seat.

"That's how you get em. Just a friend my ass Jack. I assume Sara didn't see it that way either."

"Sara and Jessica hated each other for a completely different reason"

Johnny got a sly smile on his face and leaned over the center console towards me.

"Did they now? Enlighten me then. Why did they hate each other?"

I frowned at my steering wheel. I tried to summon up that information but It wasn't coming. Like it wasn't there. A blush started on my cheeks like I just got caught in a lie so instead of answering I turned the car over and dropped the clutch.

The fox body lurched forward and spun with the pull of the e-break, and the flick of the wheel. Johnny screamed every bad word he could get his hands on before we went flying back up the trail to the north side of town.

I ran the trail a few more times with Johnny till sundown came. By the end of it he was getting use to the idea of riding shotgun with me, but he was still absolutely terrified of it. Johnny and I talked all the way back to my house. It was the most talking we had done since becoming friends.

Despite us being all we had when the rest of the senior class ditched this town we never really sat down and had a good talk. I was always busy wallowing in my little pity party, and he was always off smoking weed somewhere. The best thing I can say about this dumpster fire we had gotten ourselves into was that we became better friends.

Johnny was laughing wildly at some story I had just told as he reclined the seat getting more comfortable.

"You popular kids have all the fun man"

He remarked casting a gaze out the window to the sky.

"I never had to many friends to run around with"

He said quietly. I turned the radio down and pursued that line of conversation.

"You seem to have a lot of contacts out here"

"Yeah contacts. Not friends. As long as I have money to buy drugs they stick around. When I run out suddenly no one is around"

He smiled to himself a little and I found myself stealing glances to see it. A real genuine smile from him. It was something I hadn't seen before.

"You're different though Jack. I never needed money to hang out with you this last summer. It was a nice change of pace"

He turned his head to really look at me. I kept glancing at him but my eyes stayed on the road most of the time.

"I'm really sorry I got you tied up in this. Like for real. I never meant for it to get this deep."

I shook my head and waved it off.

"Not like I was doing anything else with my year off"

"Yeah but you could have been"

"Sure man. Like what?"

Johnny gave a little wistful sigh and sat up in the seat.

"Jack you're smart as all hell. You could go anywhere with those grades. Even if your parents didn't want you to work on cars I don't see why you didn't just skip out on them and go to school for it anyways."

I let his words hang in the air mostly because I didn't have a good answer for him. What was I supposed to tell him? I was sad because my girlfriend left me? It was honestly the truth but I didn't trust that information to Jessica much less Johnny despite how much I loved him.

"You are like the best role model I've ever had"

Johnny continued looking out into the night sky again.

"My mom and dad really aren't people to look up to even if I do love them. Both dropped out of high school and now they make it on minimum wage. Guess I made it a little farther then they did"

He sighed to himself and crossed his arms. He looked like he was thinking hard about something as he looked out into those stars.

"They kind of gave up on everything they wanted. You on the other hand. Every day Jack. Every day you are working on that mustang in your barn. You don't give up easy do you? I kind of got that impression from you early on"

I wanted to tell Johnny how wrong he was. I wanted to tell him no. I already gave up. I gave up the second Sara left me, and I probably gave up before that subconsciously. I let depression win so long ago that I didn't remember what it was like not doing things just out of self-preservation.

Despite how royally fucked I really was Johnny was looking up to me. Just like Jess. I didn't have the heart to tell either of them the truth of it. To tell them I kept working on that three-oh-two because it was to only thing keeping me alive.

"Johnny..."

I began to speak but something stopped me. I don't know what it was but something wouldn't let me ruin his dream image of me. Maybe in some small way I hoped I could live up to it before he found out the truth.

"Johnny... Just keep going. Hang in there and I'm sure you'll get where you need to go"

"Yeah maybe, but I don't even know where I'm going"

"Neither do I, but as long as you're doing it on your own terms that's what matters"

Johnny paused and scratched his head.

"I never thought of it that way. I guess you're right"