Speed Freak (11 page)

IT WAS HARD
work waking up the next morning. We’d got home late, or early depending on how you looked at it. Felix slept most of the way.

But the alarm went, and school was waiting. That trophy was looking damned good on my shelf.

By the time I got myself to the breakfast table, Felix was already in mid-flow, describing the day to his mum. Erica’s face was doing that switch from thrilled to not so thrilled, but I have to say this for her — she asked him questions and she smiled in the right places.

Nice to see Felix so chatty, but I was quite glad to be left in peace after the two of them tootled off with Dad. I needed to get my head together for school.

There, as predicted, Nina’s first words were, ‘My hex worked! Aren’t you glad I’m on your side, Archie?’

‘Yep,’ I said. ‘You’re one scary dame.’

But they were all rapt I’d won. Colin’s rugby team had won as well. A good weekend.

‘So you’re beating that Craig guy? He’s eating dust?’ Silas asked.

I shook my head. ‘It’s all done on points. He’s got 257 so far and I’ve got 256.’

‘Nothing in it, then,’ Colin said. ‘Three more rounds. Plenty of time.’

‘When’s the next one?’ Silas asked.

‘End of July. Bay of Plenty.’

Three whole months away, with only a couple of club days between now and then.

Not that the time dragged. I kept in touch with Kyla and my other friends as much as I could. The news came that the European venue was Portugal. I read up about the track on the net. Read some stuff about the country as well. Portugal. My heart gave a kick. I
had
to win the Challenge.

School seemed to think mid-year exams were a nifty idea. Teachers kept on expecting assignments to be done. Life as usual, except that now Felix came with us to club days. His eyes still shone and he held his head up as he bustled around the club rooms, or stood on the sidelines to watch. Erica didn’t talk about it, but one day soon her little boy was going to ask to race. Then the sump oil would hit the fan.

Towards the end of the term, Kyla skyped me with good news. ‘Archie! I’m coming to Wellington for the first week of the holidays. You going to be around?’ She was all lit up and bouncing in her seat.

I just sat there, grinning at her, then said, ‘I’ll make bloody sure of it. When do you get here? Where are you staying?’ Thanks to Erica and Felix, we didn’t have a spare room any more.

But she was staying with her auntie. The good thing about that was it wasn’t too far from mine.

The day she was due to arrive turned out to be stormy — typical holiday weather. I hoped like hell it wouldn’t mess up her flight, but when I got to the airport — half
an hour early — the arrivals board said it was on time.

Outside, the wind blew and the rain fell, but her plane landed and there she was coming towards me, a wide bright smile lighting her face. I ran and threw my arms around her. She dropped her gear and we kissed.

‘Ha!’ said a voice behind us. ‘I see that it wasn’t for love of me you were so keen to spend a week at my house!’

Kyla let me go and gave a woman of about Gran’s age a smacker of a kiss on the cheek. ‘But you come a very close second, Joanna!’

The auntie rolled her eyes, then shook my hand. ‘Pleased to meet you, Archie. Call me Joanna — unless you want to live dangerously.’

I grinned back at her. ‘I’ll save the danger for the track, thanks.’

It turned out she was a great-aunt and a kind of stand-in grandmother, and she’d just come back from doing something with slum kids in the Philippines. The two of them teased each other and swapped family gossip all the way back to Joanna’s house. I worked on a plan to whip Kyla away so we could hang out for the rest of the day.

It didn’t quite work like that. We had to have lunch with Joanna. Then we had to look at the photos of her trip. The thing was, she was doing it deliberately. Even though she kept a straight face, she couldn’t keep the gleam out of her eyes.

Go with the flow, Archie.
I kept quiet, hoping Kyla would slam the brakes on sooner rather than later.

After we’d done the photos
and
the souvenirs, Joanna said, ‘Now I’m going to show you my teaspoon collection. You’ll be fascinated, Archie. I’ve got …’

‘Teaspoons!’ Kyla yelped.
‘You!
Yeah, right! And anyway, we’re going to disappear now. Goodbye, auntie dearest.’ She grabbed my arm and tugged me away. We ran out of the house with the sound of laughter chasing us.

‘Is she always like that?’ I asked.

‘No,’ said Kyla. ‘She’s usually worse. We got off lightly. I think she likes you.’

‘I’ll try not to make her change her mind then. What d’you want to do with the rest of the day?’

‘Sit somewhere out of the weather and watch the sea. One day, I’m going to live by the sea and I’ll build me a house where I can watch it all day.’

We caught the train into town, then a bus out to Lyall Bay where we got a window table at Maranui café right on the beach above the crashing waves.

We talked and talked, so that the afternoon flew by. And then I remembered — it was my night to cook. I needed to get going. ‘Wanna have dinner at ours?’ I asked.

She shook her head. ‘Not worth the hassling I’d get from Joanna. Another night, though.’

The week sped past so quickly. Sometimes we went out to a movie, or else we had a cheap but reasonably healthy meal in town and just hung out. A couple of times we went to Silas’s house with my mates and watched DVDs. Kyla — and Joanna — came to dinner on Thursday night, but I was pleased that Erica offered to be the chef.

Felix got grumpy with me on Friday. ‘You keep going out with that girl. You should stay home.’

Dad said, ‘It’s called young love, Felix. You wait. Girls get a lot more interesting as you get older.’

Felix did the trick of dropping his head and keeping
his mouth shut. Erica looked worried. Dad laughed. ‘It could be worse, mate. Now, how about you come and give me a hand with that lounge door. I reckon we’re going to need to re-hang it to stop the bloody thing sticking.’

I escaped as Felix was squatting beside Dad, examining the hinges, and Erica was looking relieved.

‘Would you believe it?’ I said to Kyla when we met a couple of hours later. ‘Felix is jealous of you.’

‘Well, of course he is, thicko! He’s had your undivided attention till now.’

I didn’t like it. It felt weird — as if he had some claim on me.

‘Look,’ my girlfriend said, ‘the kid worships the ground you walk on. You can’t take him along for the ride, then toss him out when it suits you. That’s not how families work. At least, they’re not supposed to.’

I wondered if she’d remembered that my mother had pretty much done that to me. I sighed. It still niggled at me. Why had she? There had to be more to it than her and Dad just being too different.

Kyla slid her arm around my waist. ‘You’ve gone all quiet.’

‘Thinking does that to a bloke. D’you really think — do you reckon that Felix really … ?’

‘Sees you as his big brother? There ain’t no debate about that, my friend.’

We didn’t talk about it any more, but it lurked in the back of my mind for the rest of the evening, bugger it. As we were heading to the station for her to catch the train back to Joanna’s I said, ‘If Erica wasn’t so bloody paranoid about racing, we could take him out to the track over the weekend.’

‘We could start with indoor go-karts,’ she said. ‘You could ask your mates along as well. And Bill and Erica.’

I laughed. Why hadn’t I thought of that? Not even Erica could object to indoor driving. ‘Joanna could come too.’

FELIX WAS IN
bed when I got home. I made the love birds a cup of tea and put the suggestion to them.

‘Good thinking, Archie,’ Dad said.

‘No. Absolutely not,’ Erica said.

I took my own cup of tea and went off to my room. Bloody Erica. If she wanted me to be a big brother to her son, then she should bloody well let me
be
one.

I sat at my desk, trying to calm down. Stupid to get my chassis twisted over this. She was just trying to keep her little boy safe.

But — I crashed a fist on to the desk. Spilled the tea. Didn’t care. She couldn’t have it both ways. Let him loose or keep him wrapped up. Not this half-arsed, neither one thing or the other racket.

Before I’d really worked out that it was time she learned a few things, I was on my feet and walking. I crashed open the door to the lounge. Didn’t mean to, but Dad and Felix had stopped it sticking.

‘I’ve got something to say.’

Dad raised his eyebrows but gave me a small nod.
Go for it.

Erica looked like one of those plants that shuts itself up when it gets touched.

Too bad. I eyed her fair and square. ‘Do you want me to be a big brother to Felix? I don’t want the lecture. Just give me a yes or a no.’

She wasn’t stupid. She snapped her mouth shut and sort of moaned like something was pulling her in half. Dad put both arms around her. ‘He’s got a point, darling. And you’ve known this was coming. You’re going to have to decide. One way or the other.’ He flicked his head in the direction of my room.

I was plenty glad to leave them to it. If she was gone by morning, her kid with her, it’d be fine by me.

Bloody hell. Who was I kidding? I’d miss the little ankle biter. Families. It looked like one had snuck up on me and I hadn’t even glimpsed it in my peripheral vision.

IN THE MORNING
when I hit the breakfast table, Erica was there and eating. Felix was giving me the silent treatment which, in his case, meant he didn’t hand me one of his quick smiles, and Dad was imitating an expressionless statue. I helped myself to hashed spuds and eggs. They really should put the radio on. This silence was not cool.

I sat down and started eating.

Erica took in a couple of breaths — on her way to hyperventilating if she wasn’t careful. I figured we were about to discover which way she’d crumbled the cookie.

Yep.

‘Felix, Archie’s got a surprise for you,’ she said. Then, to me: ‘It’s all booked. We’ve got a slot for the whole place this afternoon if you want to ask your friends.’ She looked sick, and for a split second I saw an image of the skull with the escaping brain tissue.

For the first time, I felt a bit sorry for her. ‘Will you and Dad come too?’

‘Where? What?’ Felix looked at her, then at me, then at Dad.

She gave a sort of sob. ‘No. I can’t.’

Dad stood up so he could hold her shoulders. ‘Yes,
you can. And yes, we will. Archie, that’s an excellent idea.’

‘What?’ Felix shrieked.

I started eating again. He could wait a few seconds, the little toerag. But I gave in soon enough. ‘Nothing much. We thought we’d try out the indoor go-karts. Kyla and her auntie are going to come too.’

It’s a wonder his eyes didn’t fall out of their sockets and land in his porridge. ‘All of us? Me too? Can I drive one? Can I really? Mum?’

She gave her eyes a scrub and dredged up a smile. ‘Yes, darling. You can drive one.’

I swear that kid’s feet didn’t touch the ground for the rest of the morning. His mother could well have regretted that he was into talking now, because every two minutes he’d ask, ‘Is it time yet? Can we go now?’

MY MATES WERE
already there when we arrived. Erica took one glance at the track and looked like she might faint.

I beckoned Felix over. ‘Listen, mate. I’m going to drive a few slow laps. You follow me. Follow my line through the corners. Do exactly what I do and don’t worry about the other buggers. Okay?’

He nodded, eyes on full beam. ‘Will we pass other karts?’

I grinned at him. ‘Let’s just get the cornering right. First things first, kind of thing.’

‘Okay!’ He buzzed off to get kitted up.

I reckon Dad was just as excited as Felix was, but he
was trying to keep the brake on it for Erica’s sake. If she actually got into one of the karts it’d be a miracle.

The last group of drivers finished their session, and it was our turn for the track. We got the briefing and the instructions about how to drive the karts, then we were off. Dad waited behind to make sure Felix got started, and by the time I came round again there was no sign of either of them, or of Erica, so I figured the little rat must be doing okay. I caught him up, passed him, and we did five slow circuits with me in front to guide him round the corners. The others kept whipping past and yahooing as they went.

The sixth lap, I lifted my hand to signal to Felix and accelerated. He’d either be okay, or he wouldn’t.

I got down to serious racing. Kyla was leading — no surprise there — but Joanna was right behind her, with Dad poised to sneak past her. James was leading my group of mates, followed by Ginnie, then Colin, with Nina and Silas trailing them. Erica was a couple of kart lengths back and seemed to be intent on keeping the gap. Felix was out on his own and, by the look of it, he was doing all right.

My mates were so easy to pick off in the corners, it was pathetic. I looked ahead — Joanna had to have raced before. By the time I caught her, Dad had got past her. I ducked through as she came out of a corner, then it was off after Dad.

He was a cunning old bugger and hard to get past. He was up there, niggling away at Kyla too. The three of us circled in formation for a couple of laps before we caught Felix. I passed Dad when he took his mind off the game to watch him. Didn’t catch Kyla, though. She knew it was me behind her and no way was she going
to let me through. We lapped Erica and the bunch of five, but Kyla held the lead. We got the
time up
signal. I moved out beside her to race her to the finish. She won by a nose.

Dad came in next, followed by Joanna. Kyla and I started to laugh. Felix had passed Nina and Silas. Erica was last off the track, but she arrived in time to watch Felix scramble out of his kart, whip off the helmet and see his huge grin. She heard him too — the whole place probably did. ‘That was
awesome
! I passed Silas and I passed Nina. Did you see that, Archie? Mum — isn’t it
awesome
!’

Dad, with a swift look at Erica’s less than ecstatic face, said, ‘Good work, my man. Not many people get past two karts and especially not their first time out.’

Erica gave him a hug and he didn’t notice she was trying her best not to bawl. Joanna gave her a thoughtful look, slipped an arm round her and said, ‘You and I need a good cup of tea, Erica. You others go and amuse yourselves.’

Dad came with us and we spent the rest of the afternoon playing snooker, watching other karters and eating. At some point, Dad drifted back to Erica. By the time we left, she was looking calmer. Not happy, though. More like resigned — as if she’d accepted that her kid was going to race.

‘She okay?’ I asked Joanna on the way home in her car.

‘Give her time. She’ll get there. I pointed out that he’s going to scare her no matter what he does.’

‘It must be hard for her, seeing what people do to themselves,’ Kyla said.

‘You drive a mean race,’ I said to Joanna. I needed to
be distracted from the image of the broken skull Erica had stuck in my head.

She said, ‘But I’m not at all competitive.’

Kyla laughed all the rest of the way home.

We went out that night, just the two of us. Her last night. We ate at a cheap and cheerful place in town, then wandered along the waterfront for a bit, before finishing the evening with a movie.

Joanna picked me up early the next afternoon to go the airport. When Kyla got in the back to sit with me, Joanna turned herself into a tour guide with a fairly pointed commentary. ‘And now we’re passing Te Papa where, if you’re not careful, you will see plenty of exhibits of the perils of passion.’

The other one that stuck in my mind was her comment on the Wellington sign. ‘Up there on the hill is the Wellington Blown Away sign. It’s really a message. Love blows away on the wind, is what it says.’

In spite of the sarcasm, she took her time parking the car so we could say goodbye properly. She wouldn’t let me stay to watch the plane take off, though. ‘Well, you can if you want, Archie. The bus goes regularly.’

For a moment, I considered it. But I’d dented my bank account during the past week and the bus cost money. Joanna drove me home. I watched the city pass by and felt the ache of missing Kyla.