11-23-2019, 02:23 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-10-2022, 12:40 AM by Terry Bentley.)
Well one vote is better than nothing. Next chapter...
Some of this story may have be written in first, second or third person. I didnt have a clue about writing. So bare with me if it is hard to follow. It would be way too time consuming attempting a complete rewrite. Then may take away from the original intent of the story. I will try to clean up things as time allows.
Chapter 2
It was late into the night and I had gone thru all three of these magazines cover to cover until noticing the sun coming up. Crap, I better get to sleep quick. No sooner had my eyes closed in comes mom. Hey Terry, rise and shine, you have 15 minutes till breakfast.I let ot a heavy sigh. Oh no, this isnt going to be good at all..... as my eyes slipped back into oblivion.
What seemed like only a second was almost 30 minutes later. Get up NOW!, mom yelled this time in a very agitated shrill. YOU better be on your way to school in 5 minutes or else! I sure knew what that tone in her voice meant. Man, I should not have stayed up so long drooling over the mags. But it was so hard to put them down. Jumping up out of bed I nearly blacked out from lack of blood circulating in my head just then. Woh, gasping for a quick breath while trying to catch myself on foot of the bed. I sure hate it when this happens.
Throwing on some let over clothes laying around, I then rushed outside heading to school. Just as I was leaving out the door, moms fading voice reminded me in no uncertain terms to come home immediately after school and no lollygagging on the way. I sure know what that means. There were going to be some extra chores when I get home as a reminder for the mornings mishap.
No sooner I reached the school grounds a bell rang. Was that the first bell or last? Hopeful of the first. I picked up the pace, just rounded the corner and inside of classroom when another bell went off. Phew, that was close, saying under my breath. Its so nice for you to join us, Ms Gillette broke out. How about taking a seat so we can get started this morning. Or would you like a little more time? No m'am, I replied, while turning a bright shade of red as the class watched intently, with some snickers bouncing around in back of the classroom. OK, class open your book to page 286 and read the first two chapters. You have 30 minutes.
As I started to read, my mind kept drifting off to some of the articles in those mags. I kept asking myself and wondering why reading this book in class was so difficult and just could not stay focused. Then thinking how much I really hated reading. But then suddenly realized how much reading that I had done during the night. I just couldnt put those mags down even after reading them several times cover to cover. But today in class, it was the hardest thing to keep focused on todays assignment. It would be so cool if school books could ever have anything interesting to read. My mind kept drifting on anything but those chapters. What seemed like just minutes when the teacher broke my thoughts.
OK class, close your books then get out pen and paper. Oh great, now we are taking a pop quiz on what I just read. I was trying to recap in my mind on anything at all what those chapters were about. But drawing a complete blank. Ms Gillette raised up the large Texas map that had been pulled down in front of the chalk board. There were 10 questions with multiple choice answers. Well, at least I have a 25% chance of getting the answers right. Oh wait, something looks familiar as I started reading the ten questions. I remember this story. It was my choice for a book report from a list in Mrs Brooks class last year. B, C,C,A,D,A,D,C,B,A. Wow, that was a close call.
The last thing I need is to bring a bad report card home next week. Dad made it very clear. If my grades remained good, I might get to start racing this summer. He didnt specify how good was good and didnt say definitely I was actually going to race. But if he even brought it up then usually was fairly certain. He had already made up his mind, and it was up to me to keep my end of the deal regardless. Ok, OK, stay focused, and get thru class. Only about three months away until summer. Could I really get thru all of this boring stuff in school when all my mind does is drift off thinking what its going to be like actually racing. That thrill of speed running down the straights and how fast the kart zips thru the tight turns. Man I cant wait. The bell rang and class was over
Wow that was quick. Oh crap, what was the homework assignment. I wasnt paying attention when the teacher gave it out. I gathered up my books and headed out of the classroom. Leslie Boone looked over at me and asked me where my mind was all morning as we left class. She also asked who help with dressing me today. Looking down I see my shirt is crooked from being one button off. Yea, about that...I interrupted her curious concern and asked her if she would go over the homework assignment. She said my head must really be off somewhere else today, but helped me out anyway. I thanked her and headed off to meet Steve at our normal lunch table.
Leslie sure has been a lot more sociable since I fixed her locket before Christmas. Even tho all these years we have known each other, she seemed to snub her nose up at me a lot more in the last couple of them. Even when I just said hello, didnt always get a reply back. But when the clasp of her locket broke, I thought she was going to start crying. Standing out in the hall when a girl is crying in front of you, well everyone wants to know what YOU did to make her do that. No brownie points made there. I asked her if she would mind me taking a look at it. I reached out and she put it in my hand. The whole time trying to explain to me it had belonged to her grandmother and she would just die if it is ruined.
Looking real close, I saw what the problem was. Then carefully pinched the little ring at one end of the chain together in my teeth. She started to grab it away while swinging her other hand against my face thinking I was just making fun of her for some reason. A really trusting girl there. I blocked her swing then handed back the locket. I told her to chill out, its fixed now. Not in my most cordial tone either. She carefully tugged at the end where the problem was and quickly changed her demeanor. She apologized as a smile broke across her face. I will take that smile as a thank you, now sounding a little bit cocky. Then headed to the lunchroom.
My meal consisted of the weekly mystery meat, mixed veggies and mashed potatoes, that tasted more like paper mache' with the consistency of that yellow clay down in the creek bed. The usual pack of friends were there. Jim Scrivner, Jon Purdue, and Francis Fuzzell were all sitting around the table. Hey even Terry Franklin was socializing with us today. I considered Steve my best friend, since he is the only one that shared similar interests in building things and trying to fix any old lawnmower engines we could get our hands on. Not to mention he only lived one street over.
While I had an obsession to working on small engines, he actually went to the trouble of using some of the old mowers to make money with. He always gave me a small percentage of the proceeds, saying I was the reason he could mow the lawns. I keep the mowers running that we would drag home from someones trash pile and he in return cuts me in. I did on occasion sell some of the mowers that we got up and running.
This should have been a win win scenario for me. But it seemed like the money was gone soon after the mower sold. Then I didnt have either the money or mower. It got harder for me to sell any of these during the school year. I would need things to go racing with. So I thought maybe wait until the coming summer. It would give me a better chance of having a small chunk of change when I really needed it.
Some of this story may have be written in first, second or third person. I didnt have a clue about writing. So bare with me if it is hard to follow. It would be way too time consuming attempting a complete rewrite. Then may take away from the original intent of the story. I will try to clean up things as time allows.
Chapter 2
It was late into the night and I had gone thru all three of these magazines cover to cover until noticing the sun coming up. Crap, I better get to sleep quick. No sooner had my eyes closed in comes mom. Hey Terry, rise and shine, you have 15 minutes till breakfast.I let ot a heavy sigh. Oh no, this isnt going to be good at all..... as my eyes slipped back into oblivion.
What seemed like only a second was almost 30 minutes later. Get up NOW!, mom yelled this time in a very agitated shrill. YOU better be on your way to school in 5 minutes or else! I sure knew what that tone in her voice meant. Man, I should not have stayed up so long drooling over the mags. But it was so hard to put them down. Jumping up out of bed I nearly blacked out from lack of blood circulating in my head just then. Woh, gasping for a quick breath while trying to catch myself on foot of the bed. I sure hate it when this happens.
Throwing on some let over clothes laying around, I then rushed outside heading to school. Just as I was leaving out the door, moms fading voice reminded me in no uncertain terms to come home immediately after school and no lollygagging on the way. I sure know what that means. There were going to be some extra chores when I get home as a reminder for the mornings mishap.
No sooner I reached the school grounds a bell rang. Was that the first bell or last? Hopeful of the first. I picked up the pace, just rounded the corner and inside of classroom when another bell went off. Phew, that was close, saying under my breath. Its so nice for you to join us, Ms Gillette broke out. How about taking a seat so we can get started this morning. Or would you like a little more time? No m'am, I replied, while turning a bright shade of red as the class watched intently, with some snickers bouncing around in back of the classroom. OK, class open your book to page 286 and read the first two chapters. You have 30 minutes.
As I started to read, my mind kept drifting off to some of the articles in those mags. I kept asking myself and wondering why reading this book in class was so difficult and just could not stay focused. Then thinking how much I really hated reading. But then suddenly realized how much reading that I had done during the night. I just couldnt put those mags down even after reading them several times cover to cover. But today in class, it was the hardest thing to keep focused on todays assignment. It would be so cool if school books could ever have anything interesting to read. My mind kept drifting on anything but those chapters. What seemed like just minutes when the teacher broke my thoughts.
OK class, close your books then get out pen and paper. Oh great, now we are taking a pop quiz on what I just read. I was trying to recap in my mind on anything at all what those chapters were about. But drawing a complete blank. Ms Gillette raised up the large Texas map that had been pulled down in front of the chalk board. There were 10 questions with multiple choice answers. Well, at least I have a 25% chance of getting the answers right. Oh wait, something looks familiar as I started reading the ten questions. I remember this story. It was my choice for a book report from a list in Mrs Brooks class last year. B, C,C,A,D,A,D,C,B,A. Wow, that was a close call.
The last thing I need is to bring a bad report card home next week. Dad made it very clear. If my grades remained good, I might get to start racing this summer. He didnt specify how good was good and didnt say definitely I was actually going to race. But if he even brought it up then usually was fairly certain. He had already made up his mind, and it was up to me to keep my end of the deal regardless. Ok, OK, stay focused, and get thru class. Only about three months away until summer. Could I really get thru all of this boring stuff in school when all my mind does is drift off thinking what its going to be like actually racing. That thrill of speed running down the straights and how fast the kart zips thru the tight turns. Man I cant wait. The bell rang and class was over
Wow that was quick. Oh crap, what was the homework assignment. I wasnt paying attention when the teacher gave it out. I gathered up my books and headed out of the classroom. Leslie Boone looked over at me and asked me where my mind was all morning as we left class. She also asked who help with dressing me today. Looking down I see my shirt is crooked from being one button off. Yea, about that...I interrupted her curious concern and asked her if she would go over the homework assignment. She said my head must really be off somewhere else today, but helped me out anyway. I thanked her and headed off to meet Steve at our normal lunch table.
Leslie sure has been a lot more sociable since I fixed her locket before Christmas. Even tho all these years we have known each other, she seemed to snub her nose up at me a lot more in the last couple of them. Even when I just said hello, didnt always get a reply back. But when the clasp of her locket broke, I thought she was going to start crying. Standing out in the hall when a girl is crying in front of you, well everyone wants to know what YOU did to make her do that. No brownie points made there. I asked her if she would mind me taking a look at it. I reached out and she put it in my hand. The whole time trying to explain to me it had belonged to her grandmother and she would just die if it is ruined.
Looking real close, I saw what the problem was. Then carefully pinched the little ring at one end of the chain together in my teeth. She started to grab it away while swinging her other hand against my face thinking I was just making fun of her for some reason. A really trusting girl there. I blocked her swing then handed back the locket. I told her to chill out, its fixed now. Not in my most cordial tone either. She carefully tugged at the end where the problem was and quickly changed her demeanor. She apologized as a smile broke across her face. I will take that smile as a thank you, now sounding a little bit cocky. Then headed to the lunchroom.
My meal consisted of the weekly mystery meat, mixed veggies and mashed potatoes, that tasted more like paper mache' with the consistency of that yellow clay down in the creek bed. The usual pack of friends were there. Jim Scrivner, Jon Purdue, and Francis Fuzzell were all sitting around the table. Hey even Terry Franklin was socializing with us today. I considered Steve my best friend, since he is the only one that shared similar interests in building things and trying to fix any old lawnmower engines we could get our hands on. Not to mention he only lived one street over.
While I had an obsession to working on small engines, he actually went to the trouble of using some of the old mowers to make money with. He always gave me a small percentage of the proceeds, saying I was the reason he could mow the lawns. I keep the mowers running that we would drag home from someones trash pile and he in return cuts me in. I did on occasion sell some of the mowers that we got up and running.
This should have been a win win scenario for me. But it seemed like the money was gone soon after the mower sold. Then I didnt have either the money or mower. It got harder for me to sell any of these during the school year. I would need things to go racing with. So I thought maybe wait until the coming summer. It would give me a better chance of having a small chunk of change when I really needed it.