THE CAR
I have to thank my editor Wildsweetone for all her help, especially her assistance with punctuation and grammar, not to forget her Eagle eyes spot the silly mistakes that both I and the spell-check have missed.
If you just want to read about sex, either look elsewhere or skip the first fifteen hundred words. If you want a good story I hope you enjoy this one.
Laura thought her world had come to an end when Josh packed his bags and moved out to live with his new secretary, who was nearly thirty years his junior.
When Josh returned to collect his property Laura was in a vindictive mood. She allowed him to collect his clothes, she had resisted the temptation to hack them into ribbons. She even let him have his collection of vinyl records of sixties and seventies Rock, and his prized Bang and Olfsen hi-fi system. She felt physically sick as she watched as he carried them out to his Jeep.
She, the other woman, was sitting at the wheel.
It was when Josh turned to go into the garage that she launched her bombshell. “The garage is locked.”
“Can I have the keys – please?"
“No Josh. What is in the garage is staying. I'm keeping the car.”
“Dammit Laura that's my car. I built it with my own hands.”
“We built this marriage and you took it apart. You've got your records, you've got your hi-fi, and you’ve got all your other possessions. You've got your whore – see if she'll make you coffee all night when you're up to your elbows in grease while you build another car.”
Josh raged and stormed before he eventually left. When the Jeep turned out of sight Laura opened the garage. The little car sat in the center of the garage where it had been built. Laura walked around the car, its aluminum side panels glinted invitingly in the sunlight. The long hood, the fat open wheels, and the rollover bar over the cockpit, which did not even come up to her waist, all combined to give an impression of speed, fun and power. Laura had fallen in love with the car from the minute Josh showed her the pictures in the catalogue.
Building the car had taken all one winter, during which every spare moment of their lives had revolved around the garage. It had been fall when a collection of components had arrived in shipping crates and in the spring a little European sports car had emerged. Her fingers had bled when she had sewn the roof and the seats – the car was as much her creation as his and she was not relinquishing it.
Hiking up her skirt she stepped over the side and slid down in the driver's seat. She sat for a few moments acclimatizing herself, in ten years she had not driven the car more than five or six times – the driver’s seat had been Josh’s seat by right. She began to put the five-point seat harness on, she recalled why she had always worn pants when she rode in this car. She lifted her butt and tugged up her skirt and pulled up the crotch belt.
When she thumbed the starter button the engine coughed then caught, it began to die away, she recalled it had a manual choke. The side muffler emitted a steady meaty beat that boomed around the garage. She dipped the clutch put the manual shifter into first gear, raised the engine revs. The little car fishtailed, its rear wheels spinning when she let out the clutch.
She scarcely lifted her foot off the gas pedal, when with the tires squealing a tortured protest, like a rocket the car shot out of the driveway onto the road. Laura roared along the Sunday quiet suburban streets, fortunately there were no cops around. By the time she had reached the freeway her anger had dissipated to some extent. As she slowed the car to the speed limit she castigated herself.
Laura what the hell has got into you – you’re a fifty-five year old woman and you’re driving like a teenager.
Even though she had slowed down the little car still felt good. The harness straps rubbed her breasts and her nipples had hardened in response. The wind blew through her hair and she felt free. She glanced at the gauge, the gas tank was three-quarters full. She did a quick calculation there was at least six gallons in the ten gallon tank, and at twenty-five to the gallon that was a hundred and fifty miles.
She had to brake hard when a truck pulled out in front of her. The belt between her legs halted her slide forward. She felt herself become wet as the webbing ground into her crotch.
This damn car is sexing me up!
She thought, angry that an inanimate object could arouse her desire. Yet even as she was thinking, her hand was caressing the smooth phallic knob of the gearshift.
She had been driving for nearly an hour when she decided that it was time to return home. She was going to turn off at the next interchange, but then the black drop-head 911 roared past her. Without a second’s hesitation she floored the gas pedal, the little car leapt forward responsively. As she came up along side the Porsche the driver looked across and sped up. They were running side-by-side, the cars seemed to be evenly matched and neither driver was willing to give way. Laura took a quick glance at the speedometer, one hundred and thirty-five miles an hour; she didn’t think Josh had ever driven the car this fast.
As soon as night follows day, and with the certainty that water flows downhill, so speeding on the freeway for prolonged periods has a certain consequence. Sirens wailed, lights flashed, the driver of the Porsche and Laura pulled over and stopped.
Once the tickets had been issued the cops clustered around the car. The hood was raised and they all gazed with awe at the little Pinto based Ford Cosworth motor.
“Mam did ya say this little mill is only two liters?” Asked a gum-chewing cop for the third time.
When eventually they were allowed to go on their way, it was the driver of the Porsche who suggested they go for a coffee, he had nodded his head in the direction of a roadside MacDonald’s.
When they were seated at a table the young Porsche driver smiled at her, “That’s sure some machine and cost a heck of a lot less than my Porsche. Did you really build it yourself?”
“Josh did. I supplied coffee, sympathy and stitched the upholstery.”
“Josh?”
“My husband, ex-husband.” She frowned
what was Josh?