Laura's Big Win (17 page)

Tires checked and tow strap in place,
with Jack and Franz in the front seat, the tractor lugged the big
car around to the garage for servicing. Franz handled the battery
and the other service items while Jack started wiping down the
inside of the car. It was truly a labor of love for the big buggy
and Jack fell to it with gusto. The more he wiped, the more the big
car glistened in the sun.

An hour later Jack suddenly realized he
could hear his mother calling for him from the cottage. “Over here
mom. You gotta see this. It’s great!”

Laura was duly impressed by the big
car, but a little less impressed by the fact Jack had simply
disappeared out of the cottage that morning. “You, young man, need
to let me know where you are going, and who you will be with,
instead of just wandering off. What happens if Mandy starts doing
things like that? That is not acceptable.”

“I’m sorry mom, I won’t do it again,
but look at this car. Isn’t it great? I get to wipe it down so it
looks ever better; I get paid to do it so Franz can take the rest
of the day off.”

“1930 Duesenberg Torpedo Phaeton isn’t
it?” Laura recited, recalling it from the previous Monday morning
meeting.

“I dunno. Is it Franz?”

“Yes, it is exactly that. Your mother
must be pretty smart to know that, don’t you think?” Franz seized
the opportunity to change the subject from Jack’s early morning
departure from the cottage, but give Laura the upper hand at the
same time. Nonetheless, Jack was still entranced by the
car.

“Is it okay if I work on the car mom?
Please?”

“Franz, he won’t be in the way will
he?”

“No ma’am, not a bit. And he’s right,
we do need it dusted down a bit. Sir Thomas would not be pleased if
he could see it just now. Should have it running within the hour if
you want to come back for a test drive.”

“Okay Jack, you can stay, and yes I
will come back for the test drive. This has to be a once in a
lifetime opportunity, and I wouldn’t want to miss it.”

True to his estimate, the Duesey was
purring within the hour, and they took a tour of the perimeter road
to make sure, as Franz explained, “it runs like it’s supposed to
run. Wouldn’t want to strand Sir Thomas. Besides this thing makes a
Rolls look like something off an assembly line.” The remainder of
the morning was expended on the second bay of the storage garage, a
Model A Ford Roadster, perhaps not as flashy as the Duesey, but
certainly a runner in its own right. And by noontime, both cars
were back in their stalls ready for their owners to arrive. One
thing Jack learned from Franz that would stay with him a long time
was that if you took care of fine machinery and treated it right,
it would serve you a long time. “They’re just like people” Franz
would say; “You get a lemon now and then, but treat them right and
things might just work out. Never can tell.”

As per schedule, the Collins group
arrived mid-afternoon on Monday, in party mode as usual. One of the
really nice things about them was that they never felt any need to
play their wealth card. While it was true that the Windmere staff
went out of their way to make sure things went well, little bumps
on the path of life were taken as just that, little bumps and
nothing more. Dennis sighed that it would take days to replace all
the divots on the course, but it was a half-hearted complaint; he
was pleased to see people enjoying themselves and each other, and
to some degree it was catching. His compatriot Franz was equally
pleased because he understood that these people appreciated fine
machinery and would take good care of it. Both cars were given a
good workout, including a road trip through the countryside for the
sheer pleasure of feeling the wind mess up their locks. With eight
people in the party it was somewhat of a squeeze in two cars, but
the rumble seat housed a couple easily (although getting in and out
was not so easy) and the big car could host a bridge game in the
back seat alone.

In the midst of all the fun, Jack and
Amanda arrived home from summer camp. Franz was right about the
Collins group enjoying kids. Unable for the moment to spoil their
grand kids directly, they lavished time on Jack and Amanda, to
their delight of course. The nightly poker games started up as
usual, with Alice running the show, and in general things went very
well and to everyone’s satisfaction. The minor bumps were ignored,
but a big bump was coming.

On Wednesday afternoon, after a
leisurely lunch and while some of the others were taking a siesta
in the midday sun, Tom Collins decided it would be fun to take a
run around the perimeter road one more time. He realized his
opportunities to do so were going to be limited in the near future
as his eyes deteriorated, and he knew there was nothing that could
be done, not yet, even with all the research about age related
macular degeneration. So, it was reasonable that he would make good
use of his remaining time. The kids, playing near their cottage at
the time, heard the big engine cough to life and came
running.

“Please take us for a ride. Can we go?
Please?” was their plea, although just seeing them come running
would have been enough to convince Tom. Just in case, though, he
looked over to Franz with eyebrows raised in question. After all,
as much as he loved entertaining them with simple hand tricks and
so on, they weren’t actually his kids or grandkids and he didn’t
want to get in a bind over parental permission or something so
simple as that.

“Not a problem” Franz replied. “I’m
sure their mother wouldn’t object, but I can check in a second if
you want.”

“Maybe we better do that, just in case.
Don’t want to step on any toes you know.”

Franz quickly called Laura on the house
line and told her the deal. “He’s safe enough around the grounds
and doesn’t go very fast. Shouldn’t be any problem, and the kids
are really anxious. Is it a go?”

“Yes, it’s a go” Laura replied. “Just
tell them to behave themselves. Mr. Collins is an important guest
and they need to learn the rules of the business. Besides, good
manners are always in style. Okay?”

“Okay Miss Laura. I’ll deliver the
lecture…..Your mother said you kids can go for the ride but if you
misbehave, I get to beat you. Okay? Now off with you.”

The kids giggled at the warning, but
were aware that it was serious at the same time. At Sir Tom’s
bidding, they piled into the big back seat where they could stand
up holding on to the back of the front seat to see the scenery
better. And off they went at a leisurely pace of maybe fifteen
miles per hour or so. The big car rolled easily down the road, and
they chattered about the deer they saw crossing the road with her
fawn in broad daylight, and they caught a groundhog sleeping in the
sun until the engine noise awoke him up and he dove for his burrow.
Jack noticed that Mr. Collins was starting to look sleepy, head
nodding a little. Just like grown-ups to not take a nap when they
need one, he thought to himself. Coming around another slow turn,
the big car strayed off the roadway and into the fairway itself.
Jack wasn’t very concerned; after all, this was a paying guest, and
a grown-up, the fairway was dry so the car could roll along, and
certainly Amanda was enjoying the novel trip. It wasn’t until they
came over a slight rise and started slowly down the other side that
Jack started to get nervous. “Mr. Collins, are you trying to scare
us?…..Mr. Collins, do you see the water hazard? I think it’s too
deep for the car to wade through. Mr. Collins, what’s
wrong?”

But Tom Collins didn’t hear him because
a tiny blood clot in his neck had caused him to pass out cold with
a stroke, and he was slumped over the steering wheel while the car
continued to move. Jack was now frightened, and Amanda, sensing the
fear in his voice, was starting to cry. The only thing Jack could
think to do was to try to steer the car away, but to do that he
needed to be in the front seat. Just as he arrived at that
decision, hands gently pushed the two kids back onto the seat.
Looking up, he saw a woman about the age of his mother standing on
the running board next to Tom, and as she reached in and turned the
steering wheel, the big car turned slightly, rimmed the water
hazard and went axle deep into the adjacent sand trap, killing the
engine and leaving them shaken but entirely safe. Jack heard her
say “Run get help, as fast as you can. He’ll be okay if you hurry,
both of you. Now run, quickly!”

At her urging, the frightened kids
bailed out of the big car and ran for the carriage house they could
easily see from where they were stuck in the sand. Longer legged
and older, Jack knew he could outrun Amanda easily, but he couldn’t
just leave her. Taking her hand, he paced her as fast as he could,
sometimes almost dragging her, but never leaving her. Franz
happened to glance up when he no longer heard the gentle rumble of
the big engine, and saw two kids tearing at a frantic pace toward
him. Fearing the worse, he yelled at Dennis and the two of them
raced off down the roadway.

“It’s Mr. Collins, I think he’s dead or
something and he really needs help. The lady said we should run and
get help. Maybe he’s asleep but we yelled at him and he didn’t wake
up. Can you help him, please?”

“Dennis, 911 right now, then call the
big house. I’m on my way to the car. You kids get to your cottage
and stay there; there’s going to be a lot of people flying through
here in about five minutes and I don’t want anyone else getting
hurt. Okay? Scoot. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” And with that,
Franz vaulted on to the ATV and left at full throttle.

As soon as Dennis informed the big
house of the problem, people started for the back door and the
course as fast as they could, nearly running over each other in the
process. Cal and Roger led the group at high speed, and by the time
Ryan could bolt the office they were well ahead of him. Once out
the door, he could see there were plenty of people on their way,
and he knew 911 had been called; the sirens were a faint noise but
already getting louder. Calling back for Marcia to open the main
gate, he thought to stay where he was and direct the paramedics to
the course access road. And then he saw two small and very
frightened children standing by their cottage; Laura had to get off
line before she could leave the office due to the sensitive nature
of the material she had been working on, and she had no way to know
her children were involved in any way. It was apparent these kids
were scared and in need of an adult to take care of them. Ryan
jogged over to them and knelt on the ground by them. “You two look
scared to death; what happened?” That was all it took for the two
of them to rush into the protection of his arms, sobbing and tears
streaming, unable to talk. Now that the action around them was over
for the moment, the serious nature of what had happened was
overwhelming them. Ryan simply held them next to him until they
became a little calmer, by which point Laura had arrived at the
cottage. She could see the kids were apparently fine, but very
distressed, and could also see Ryan was calming and protecting them
like their father never would have.

“Are you kids okay? What happened out
there?” At the sound of her voice their courage returned a little,
although Amanda needed her mother to hold her a bit longer. Jack
was able to talk now, and told their tale.

“We went for a ride with Mr. Collins.
Franz said it would be okay because it was just around the outer
road and no one was around. We aren’t in trouble are we? Will Franz
get fired?”

“No, no one’s in trouble, at least not
until I find out what happened out there. So, you were riding along
on the outer road. Then what happened?”

Amanda had recovered a bit more and was
not about to be left out. “We saw a deer and her baby and a big
thing that lives in the ground that we scared.”

“Okay, that’s good Amanda. But what
happened then?”

“We were driving on the grass and Jack
got scared and Mr. Collins wouldn’t talk to us and then I got
scared and started to cry and then the lady made us sit down on the
seat and she steered the car into the sand and then we ran here
like she said to get help,” told all, in one breath by the little
girl.

“Jack, is that what
happened?”

“I yelled at Mr. Collins; he was
driving into the water hazard and wouldn’t listen to us and I got
real scared. I was gonna climb into the front seat ‘cause I
couldn’t reach the steering wheel, but this lady made us sit down
and then she steered the car into the sand trap and it got stuck
and we ran here like she said.”

“Both of you keep talking about a lady
steering the car; where did she come from,

how did she get there; can you tell me
that? I’d like to thank her, whomever she is, for averting what
could have been a disaster.”

Both kids looked at him, unable to
answer beyond a shrug of the shoulders. Ryan was getting nowhere,
and he seriously did want to thank this person for taking action
that could have been perilous to her person, regardless of how
things came out for Mr. Collins.

“So you kids didn’t see where she came
from?”

“No sir; she was just sort of there all
of a sudden.” Mandy nodded her head in agreement with her
brother.

The rescue truck came screaming by on
it’s way to the hospital with the ailing Mr. Collins, slowing at
the big house only enough to allow his wife to climb aboard, then
roaring off down the road. Franz came along with the big car, able
to free itself with a little throttle power properly applied,
followed by Dennis on the ATV. Others followed along at their own
pace. Seeing Ryan and Laura with the kids, Franz came over to make
sure they weren’t in trouble for something he had
authorized.