# Car 54

####
© 2005 / revised 2014
K Pelle

### Chapter 26:
Construction Ends - Resume Speed

So, we had won the first short race we had ever entered and we were feeling pretty darn good. The way George and Tom were hooting and hollering you would have thought that ten lap heat race was the be all and end all of their lives. To be honest, it felt good for me too, because I knew I had done well and I hadn't let everyone down. However, at the same time I felt a bit disappointed that I hadn't been out there longer. In other words, even though I felt wiped out right then, I felt even more like I wanted to go right back on the track to do it all over. Instead, all I could do at the moment was to lean back against the front fender of the car and grin at the guys as they bounced around like a pair of ten year old kids.

When Tom calmed down a little, he started shifting things around in the back of Wil's pickup truck and I frowned at him.

"Hey Tom, whatcha doing?" I asked.

"Well, packin' up, of course. Aren't we done for the night?"

"No, no, no, no," I snorted "That wasn't the race that we came for, that was only the first elimination heat of the evening. We need to get 54 ready to go out and have some more fun tonight. By winning that heat, all we did was qualify to race in the 'A' main. There are two more elimination heats before that though."

"See. They're getting the other cars ready to go now," I gestured to the next batch of cars pulling onto the track. "I guess Frank didn't explain this to you, but he did try to tell me how it works. Since this is a small track, they're limited to racing ten cars at a time. Tonight, they had twenty-six cars enter for the main race. So they had to split them up and run three qualifying heat races. The heat we were in had ten cars and right now there are ten more cars lining up on the track to race another heat. Tonight there'll be three heats and the top three cars of each heat will advance to the fifty lap main. However because of the odd number of cars here tonight, instead of automatically losing if one of those cars doesn't get into the top three during one of the first two heats, he has another chance to qualify. The fastest two cars who are eliminated in each of the first two heats gets dropped to the back of the third heat. For that last heat, the top four cars who finish get to start in the fifty-lap main, which is the feature race of the evening."

"Sounds complicated," Tom frowned. "But I was wondering if there's anything you need to have adjusted on the car before you go racing again? Otherwise, I guess all we need to do is top up the fuel, as well as check the oil and water, huh?"

"Wait a minute. Back up to what Chris was saying," George suddenly spoke up. "There isn't time for all that racing tonight. The sun is setting already, and we don't have any lights on the cars."

"Oh, I guess Frank didn't tell you guys about that," I grinned. "See those poles set back from the track? When I was talking to Frank before I pulled down here, he mentioned that this was the first ever evening race at this track because they've just installed lights. They just finished setting up those poles and hanging some big lights, so we're the guinea pigs. We get to be the first guys to ever run a race on this track after dark."

"Jeez, you've never driven this car at night," George protested.

"So what, neither have any of these other guys."

"But, they're used to the track."

"So what? I just whipped their butts in a heat race, didn't I?" I laughed. "Who cares if I win the main anyway? Just getting the best time in the hot laps and then winning the first heat should take the pressure off of us as far as Frank is concerned. I mean it shows him that you guys did a great job of getting the car ready and I did a decent job of driving. Just getting into the 'A' main is a bonus. As far as I'm concerned I'm going to go out there and try to win, but I'm not about to worry about it. We're just here to have fun tonight."

"So I asked you before, is there anything you want us to do to the car before the race?" Tom asked again.

"Not really. Just fuel her up, then we can check the oil and water. After that let's go watch the other heat races."

"You go watch now and we'll get the car ready," Tom said shortly. "You've got to race against those guys later, so you should watch them to see if they use some trick or other that you need to beware of or one that you can use during a race."

I was ready to argue, but George frowned and pointed toward the track as well. So I didn't argue, instead I wandered over to the truck and climbed up in the back to gain a bit of height. I hadn't been there more than a minute or two when I saw the driver that had been beside me in car number 02 heading my way. I greeted him with a grin.

"Hi there, Clarence isn't it?" I asked, holding out my right hand toward him.

"Yeah, and Jack told me your name is Chris," he smiled as he shook my hand.

"You got it."

"Is that Wayne Dumont's car you're driving?"

"I really don't know who started to build it. A friend of mine, Frank Dolens, bought it from someone for the trailer it was sitting on, then I got the car from him. My friends completely rebuilt it, then Frank offered to sponsor us if I'd race it."

"Well, I think it is Wayne's car. He was building it up last year, then he got in an accident. I heard that his father sold the car to a used car dealer."

"That's probably it then."

"It was pretty darn fast through the corners in that heat."

"Yep, part of that was because we've got a little practise track at home and we made the mistake of setting the car up for the tighter corners and softer track that we have there."

"I wouldn't say it was a mistake," he chuckled. "You made my car look darn slow out there."

"Oh, I don't think so."

He just smiled and gestured toward the track. "Ah, one more lap and then the next heat is under way."

"Yeah, my mechanics sent me up here to watch it for any threats," I looked over at the racers. "Would you like to stand up here and watch?"

"No, I'd better go back and check over my car too. I've seen all these guys race before," he started to turn away, then turned back and leaned close, speaking quietly. "When the 'A' main starts, watch out for number 19, painted dark blue, that's Gary Wagner. He's got a habit of bumping cars a bit if he can. He'll tail guys into a corner then tap their rear bumper or inside fender just at the wrong time. Sometimes they spin out and he can pass them. He uses the excuse that his brakes faded."

"Thanks for the heads up," I gave him an 'OK' sign with my right hand.

He just nodded, then walked away.

I turned to the track then and paid attention to the heat that was on at the moment. The lead car at the end of the heat was number 7 and sure enough, it was closely followed by the infamous number 19. There was a gap of few car lengths, then the next few cars in a jumble, two of them almost abreast and one less than a car length behind them. In the third heat the guy who had placed fourth in the first heat won it, followed by the guy who had been fifth in the second heat. The third and fourth places were cars who were on the track for the first time that night.

In order to give the guys who had just raced a chance to ready their cars for the 'A' main, there was a fifteen-lap 'bump to pass' race next. Tom and George were done with the car by then and were standing with me, watching it.

"Hey, I think I could do that," George laughed.

"The bumping maybe," Tom snorted. "I'm not so sure if you could managed the passing though."

"Just don't even think about trying it with car 54," I grinned. "Those cars look like they were rescued from the auto wrecker's yard and hauled here just for this."

"Yep and it looks like that's where most of them will end up, too," George responded.

Just then there was a spin half-way through 1-2 corner and two other cars piled into the one that had spun out before they could stop.

"Now, I think you could handle that part of this race," Tom hooted, slapping George on the back.

Of course that set them off even more, and the two of them were kidding back and forth as the wreck was being cleaned up so that the race could be restarted.

About then the guy who had his car parked next to us and was trying to get ready for the 'A' main started to swear about the jack he was using on his car. The three of us hopped down from our viewpoint in the back of the pickup and gave him a hand, using our jack to raise his car so he could change a wheel. That kept us busy until we were called to get our car warmed up to pull out onto the track, so I never did see who won the 'bump to pass' race.

There was a short break after the 'bump to pass' race while the water truck went out and wet the track down a bit. However, it wasn't long before I was being signalled to pull out onto the track. I was the second car out of the infield and onto the track. Clarence was ahead of me and while I knew I was eventually going to be at the front on the inside lane, I wasn't rushing to do that. Instead of pushing to the lead right at the moment, I hung just back of the lead car's rear bumper, sticking there like glue for a few laps. For one thing I wanted to know what it felt like to be close behind another car. Clarence did a few zigs and zags, and I followed him as close as I could. In other words, we played around a bit as the other eight cars in that race pulled out and lapped the track behind us.

I was hanging on 02's bumper just for fun, but I was also getting a handle on the speed we'd be driving during any laps under a caution flag. Another thing that I wanted to get used to was the sensation of running under the lights and the way the shadows played amongst the cars. After about four laps of driving in a close second position, I dropped down and pulled to the front inside position on 1-2 corner. I wasn't surprised at all that Clarence slowed slightly, then dropped behind me to return the favour of hanging tight to my bumper for a lap or two. I'm not sure if he was trying to intimidate me or to get used to things, but actually it settled me down, so I grinned and gave him a 'thumbs up' sign as we sped along the back straight.

Finally, as we came around the front of the track, the flagman was holding out both a yellow 'caution' flag and a white 'one more lap' flag, so I knew we were almost ready to start. During the next lap Clarence pulled out and up beside me. As soon as I saw the number 02 in my peripheral vision, I felt my whole body tense slightly and the adrenaline start to flow through my veins. It was strange, but in only a few seconds my world seemed to shrink to my near vicinity and all I really noticed was the track, the cars and the nearby objects.

Instead of one lap under the dual flags, we actually made two, but when I came out of 3-4 corner and I saw only the green flag hanging there, I was ready. When that green flag dropped, I gave Car 54's engine full throttle down the straight in front of the stands, then stood on the brakes for a second as I hit 1-2 corner. I was in a full four wheel slide in an instant and as I counter steered, I felt great. By shoulder checking as I came out onto the back straight, I could see car 02 was back a full car length. That meant I was clear, so I used the whole track, diving into corner 3-4 faster than I'd gone into it before. I used the brakes to slow a bit, but also to lock my tires into a skid, then hit the gas to improve my slide.

I was still in a full four wheel drift as I came out onto the front straight, but by breaking the slide with a blip of the gas pedal, I managed to pull the car into my line without hitting the outside wall. Then it seemed I was instantly lining the car into the next corner. I knew that anyone behind me didn't have much chance of passing me right then, even if they were fast enough to catch me. That's because I was using every inch of track available to me.

The first heat race had given me the confidence to open the car out and give her as much gas as she'd needed to go 'like a bat out of hell' and I was using that open track. The next few laps were just pure fun for me. I was on a track, in a race, but there was no one near me. I was able to play with that car, feeling out her potentials and growing accustomed to her little idiosyncrasies.

I'm not sure how many laps went by before I found myself coming up behind a car on 3-4 corner, but I was right on his rear bumper as we came out onto the front straight. I tucked up close, then on 1-2 corner I managed to hold a slightly tighter line and passed him as we raced into the back straight. That was the very first time I'd managed to make a pass using 1-2 corner, up until then all my passes had been on the other end of the oval. Oh man, that felt good.

From that point on I felt that track belonged to car 54. She had just the right acceleration and lots of power for the straights, but as well as that she held on in the corners like a cat on a shag carpet. All I had to do was to keep her out of bumps or accidents and I was certain she could win the race. That night, that car owned the track. We passed cars in both corners and on both straights. All of my passes were clean. I never touched another car as I was passing and I wasn't about to let anyone bump me either.

I did touch another car's bumper once, but that was intentional. Well into the race I saw that I was coming up behind the dark blue, number 19, the car that Clarence had warned me about. I caught up to him on 1-2 corner, followed him down the back straight, then eased off just enough to follow through 3-4 corner. As we were going down the front straight, I slipped up close and just touched the right front corner of my front bumper to his left rear corner, backing off slightly almost at the same instant. I wasn't about to bump him harder. I just wanted him to know I was there. After following him at a few feet distance through 1-2 and down the back straight, I tucked down and passed him on the inside of 3-4. By letting car 54 have her head as we exited the corner, she blasted out into the straight slightly ahead of him and dove into the next corner. Once more she made like a cat as she dug in and scratched her way around 1-2 corner, then streaked down the back straight.

During the race I had passed every car on the track, but number 02. Clarence was fast and he was crafty. Somehow he managed to fill that track with his car so that for the last four or five laps I was right on his tail end. I simply wasn't able to pass him. As far as race standing was concerned, he was behind me, but on the same lap, so it really didn't bother me that I didn't pass him. In fact I was learning a lot from him while I rode in his dust, all about keeping a faster car behind by using a car's width and drift to the best advantage.

Clarence definitely deserved second place in that race. As soon as I was back in the infield after the checkered flag lap of the race, I went looking for him to shake his hand, dragging along Tom and George who were acting like kids again. When found him, he was leaning against his car, drinking a can of coke and talking to a tall thin drink of water with bright red hair. I walked up to Clarence and held out my right hand.

"That, sir, was one great ending to a race," I grinned, shaking his hand with a tight grip. "Thank you for the lessons."

"Lessons, what flippin' lessons?" he stared at me in astonishment. "You must have wings on that bloody car. You were flying low out there."

"Ah, blame that on these two," I gestured at Tom and George. "One extremely fine pair of mechanics. The closest guy is Tom, and the second guy over there is George."

"Well, it wasn't just the car that drove that race," The tall guy spoke up. "Clarence just told me that he warned you a little bit about me, but you damn near spooked me out there when you tapped my bumper."

"Aha, so I get to meet the infamous Gary Wagner," I grinned, holding out my hand to him as well. "Clarence told me that was how you said howdy to folks, so I thought I'd try to be friendly and speak the same language."

"Smart ass," Gary shook his head and grinned at me. "I wasn't sure what the hell to expect next, so when you wanted by, I just let you go."

"Aww heck, I thought I'd earned that pass," I tried to frown, but was having trouble hiding a grin. "Now that I find out you just gave up, I want to do it for real next time."

"Oh, you earned it and if that damn car hadn't already passed inspection, I'd accuse you of cheating," he laughed. "Fuck, you drive like a pro. Where the hell did you learn to drive like that?"

"I think he learned how to win races while he was riding horses," Tom laughed. "But, as far as driving is concerned, he's always been a natural. He learned to drive on a farm tractor and an old Model A Ford, but he can get any horse or car to do things no one else even wants to try."

"Aw heck, his little sister is just as good on a horse, maybe even better," George said loyally.

"You're just saying that because she's got you completely whipped, George," Tom teased as he winked at me. "She could be good, but she likes things to be fun, not competitive."

"Well, whatever she is, I'm just glad she wasn't out there today too," Clarence laughed at the two of them. "I had enough trouble staying in the race with one member of the family."

"Oh hell, here come the fans. It's time to get back to our cars or we'll have kids all over them," Gary growled. "Last week I had to chase one off the damn hood. I've still got big bloody dents all over it from his fat feet."

"Jeez, are the fans that bad?" George asked Clarence as Gary hurried away.

"Worse," Clarence sighed. "With that new paint job you'd better get back to your car too. Otherwise you might find that some little monster has scratched his name in the paint on your hood, or something just as stupid."

None of us wanted to see that, so the three of us said 'So long,' then rushed back to the car. Since we really had both our car and Wil's truck to protect, we were lucky that the first people to reach us were Wil and Frank.

As it was, Tom had to warn a kid with a ballpoint pen that if he touched the car with it, he wouldn't be able to sit down for a week. I calmed the kid down by offering to sign an autograph, but I think his old man was still pissed with Tom. I really wasn't worried about the situation, but Frank defused things even more by taking the old man aside and explaining that he was quite willing to ask the cops to come down and stand by the car. Then he told the guy quite loudly that since the cops were partial sponsors of the car and were there at the track, the old man might be wise to warn the kid about the legal penalty for slapping graffiti on private property.

I was surprised that Frank was so loud about it, but at the same time, I knew it was intentional on his part. Almost instantly the pressure around us seemed to lessen as if everyone took one step back from the car. Then the rest of our group of family and friends joined us and the pressure really eased off. For the next half hour or so we were all busy answering questions and trying to sound like we knew more than we really did. After that other people had started to load their cars out, so Frank and Wil guided me through the crowd as I drove car 54 out of the infield and up to the trailer.

By the time we got the car on the trailer, the adrenaline had burned out of my body and I was simply beat. All I really wanted to do was sleep, but I thought I was still going to have to drive home. Thankfully Dad and Mom were along, so when Dad offered to drive I jumped at the idea. Carissa and I clambered into the back seat of my car and Dad drove back to the farm.

I don't remember the conversations that happened on the drive home. In fact all I can remember of the trip was that it seemed to take a long time. I do remember that when we got back to the farm, Carissa insisted on driving back to the cabin.

Surprisingly, the closer we got to the cabin, the more wide awake I felt. Actually, by the time we pulled into the yard, Carissa and I were having an animated discussion about the race. We were comparing the differences between her perspective of what went on while she was sitting in the stands, to mine, while I was driving the car. For her, the most exciting time was when I was racing the last few laps with Clarence. For me, it was when I had caught up to Gary and tapped his bumper with mine. Honestly though, I was just happy that she had enjoyed herself.

I was wide awake by the time we got back to the cabin and Carissa was wound up again. Truthfully, when we got out of the car, she wanted to head for bed, to 'reward' me for winning the race, but I insisted on walking out to see that the animals were all okay. So, after greeting the dogs, we wandered out and checked to see that things were in good shape. Then we went back to the house and had a quick snack because by then I was starving. After that I wandered outside to take care of bodily essentials, then I had a quick wash before I joined Carissa in the bedroom.

While I had been getting ready for bed, she'd been busy as well. The bedroom was lit by candle light and she was already under the covers when I walked in. Carissa met my surprised glance with a very promising smile. I realized what was going on, so I reached back behind me to shut the door, just in case Beth came home that night.

"I think you gave car 54 a helluva work out tonight, so I thought I'd return the favour," she purred, as she flipped the covers to one side of the bed, then slipped to her knees in front of me.

I never even had a chance to comment as she flipped open my belt, slid my zipper down, then yanked my jeans and shorts around my ankles. All I could do was gasp as her left hand caressed me, then her tongue flipped out and teased gently. Meanwhile her right hand was undoing the buttons of my shirt, starting at the bottom. It might have taken her twenty seconds before she had me as hard as a rock. Then suddenly she was standing up to peel my shirt from my shoulders and throwing it aside, just as quickly, she was spinning me and pushing me backward. Of course since my jeans were still around my legs, I lost my balance and fell back, but she'd steered me so that the bed was behind me as I fell. It seemed only an instant before she'd stripped the jeans and shorts from around my ankles, then she was directing me to move so she had room to manoeuver. Inside of a minute of walking into the bedroom, I was straddled and Carissa was grinning down at me, looking as if she was starving and I was Thanksgiving dinner.

Once we were in bed and in the position she wanted, I think she relived the time at the track from start to finish as she set out to prove to me that she felt I was a hero of some sort. I had never before seen her anywhere near as turned on as she was that night. She was hot, she was wet, and she was excited. Since she had started out in control, I let her do what she wanted and I'm certain it was a wise decision. The combination of all the factors produced a result that I don't think I will ever forget.

Once she had straddled me, she leaned forward and began to talk quietly about the heat races. However, as she bent forward and held both of my hands down on the bed near my shoulders, she rocked back and forth, just slightly. Her taut nipples grazed my chest, while at the same time her moist heat slid teasingly up and down my hard length. All during her description of what she had noticed during each heat race, she kept moving against me until I was ready to explode. Each time that seemed imminent, she'd change the subject to something else she had noticed about the track or the stands, easing her movements until I had calmed slightly.

As she began talking about the 'bump to pass' race, she sat upright, then raised her hips above mine, her fingers invitingly introducing my throbbing length to the moist gap in her warm flesh. While she described the action on the track, she slowly and gradually worked my length inside her. Toward the end of that race, she was sitting upright, her body perfectly still, speaking quietly as she described the action. At the same time though, her internal muscles were clasping and releasing my hard flesh in time with her description of events. Her actions were just enough to keep me hard and attentive, but not enough to increase my tensions anywhere near the point of release.

Then she started describing the 'A' main and her body began to slide and bounce above me as she would describe something she felt was exciting. I could soon tell that to her, the sight of my racing around the track at high speed wasn't a big turn on, but watching me passing someone had caused her extreme excitement. Eight different times she explained her view of my driving as she described the scene she saw as I passed a car and eight different times she had me extremely turned on. Then she began to describe the time I'd had my fun with Gary. Somehow she managed to make her body translate the tension she had felt as I stalked him, then managed to get him into position. At that point she paused, her body completely still as she used her internal muscles to express the shock of that kiss between the two car bumpers. The instant she described how I had slid under and passed him, she was back to her old rhythm, once more inducing me to an even higher state of excitement.

However at that time her description and body motion were absolutely calm in comparison to the way she described and acted during the final laps of the race when I had diced with Clarence. At that point her excitement was a tangible thing and it built as her description continued until I was certain she was labouring to speak because she was in the throes of an orgasm. In fact, after describing the first corner that I followed him through, she paused for an instant. Then, her voice slightly higher, she described the second corner and paused once more. During the description of our actions through each corner, her body would move quicker and wilder while her voice became louder and higher.

Finally she was talking about the last lap and the final checkered flag. As she spoke about that flag dropping, she simply went wild while her voice shrieked. At almost the same instant, it felt like my body exploded. By that time, both of us were so excited that I couldn't possibly describe our actions or even the way my body felt. All I can say is that it was one of the most memorable moments of my life.

We simply collapsed, both of us completely worn out, but neither of us extremely sleepy. That was astounding because we'd had quite a long eventful day. Instead of falling asleep, I held her firmly as she lay on top of me, caressing her gently until our heart beats and breathing returned to something near normal.

"You're quite a story teller," I finally whispered.

"Mmm, thank you," she giggled softly. "I hope you enjoyed it."

"Oh, you'd better believe I enjoyed it," I chuckled. "It's always nice to get a different perspective on something like that."

"Well, I don't think it would be an idea to start tonight, but maybe tomorrow night you can describe the races from your perspective?" she giggled even louder.

"Well, that depends on if Beth is back here or not," I laughed softly. "I wouldn't want to keep her awake with the noise we might make."

"Unh, I'm not sure how else to tell you this, but I'm sure I heard her and the twins come in not long after we did," Carissa sat up and grinned at me. "That would have been about when I was on my hands and knees. So, they might have heard a few things."

"Oh shit!" I stared at her. "Do you really think so?"

"Unh huh," she giggled. "Does that embarrass you?"

"You know darn well it does, you little bitch," I had to grin as I swatted her bare bottom lightly.

"Ow!" she squawked loudly, then giggled again. "Now I can tell her that you beat me too."

"I suppose you want me to do penance for that little pat do you?"

"Nah, not tonight," she sighed softly. "I'm too tired to move. I just want to stay right here where I am, thank you."

"What about the covers?"

"Well they were thrown off to the side and I don't think I kicked them off the bed. Could you see if you can reach them? I really, really don't want to move."

"But I'm laying in a wet spot," I protested.

"It's your turn," she snorted, then kissed my chest lightly. "Could you try to get the covers without moving too much, pretty please?"

It took a bit of doing, but I did manage to pull the covers over us, then she pulled herself upward and kissed me again, only this time it was on the lips. After shifting her hips and lower body to the side so she wasn't lying right on top of me, she simply relaxed completely and soon fell asleep.

I wasn't far behind her, but was awakened not long afterward by the sound of the dogs barking loudly then a strange squealing sound. After that, there was the sound of mens' voices and the dogs seemed to go frantic. By the time I'd gotten out of bed, Carissa was awake as well since I had to shift her weight off of my chest.

"Whas-rong?" she slurred, sounding half asleep.

"The dogs are raising a ruckus, so I'm going to see what's going on," I said as I found my jeans by the glow of the little nightlight on the wall.

As I moved into the main room of the cabin, I heard Beth in the back room, calming the two McAdam twins. "Hear that? Chris is going to find out what's going on with the dogs. Whatever it is, we'll be just fine."

I checked the yard by looking through the windows, but didn't see anything, so I knew I had to go outside. Beth and Carissa were standing near the door with me and the twins were watching from further back, so I decided to clue them in on what I wanted to happen.

"Just stay inside for now," I said then, meaning it for everyone. "I'm going to grab the shotgun and go out the door. Give me twenty or thirty seconds to get off the porch, then someone can turn on the yard lights, both the main light and the one on the barn, but don't turn on the porch light."

"Okay, Chris. I'll do that," Beth answered.

"If I need anything else, I'll holler," I added as I reached above the door and took down the twelve gauge shotgun, pumping it once as I made sure it was loaded.

There was only a sliver of moonlight, when I stepped onto the porch, but it was enough to see my way down the front steps and around the corner of the house. I'd barely paused in the shadow of the cabin when the yard lights came on.

Only seconds later I was laughing as I headed back inside the cabin. Carissa and Beth met me just inside the door and frowned at my laughter.

"What's so damn funny?" Carissa asked.

"Well, 'Rotten' Ray and 'Slimy' Sid just found out that our animals are tougher than we are," I managed to chortle through my laughter. "I'm not sure how or why, but they're up on the roof of the hog shed. The dogs are raising a ruckus on three sides of the building. The sow is in her pen on the fourth side, chewing on something that they must have lost, and she's snorting and barking, almost like another dog. It looks like those two idiots are scared to drop off the roof for fear of getting eaten."

"You've got to be kidding," Beth squawked, trying to hold back her own laughter.

I just shook my head as I reached for the phone.

"What are you going to do with the two of them?" Carissa demanded.

"Not one damn thing," I grinned. "I'm going to leave them right where they are, while I call the cops. I figure they might get here in an hour or so and by then Ray and Sid might have learned to be quite cooperative."

Beth had gone zipping back into her room as I'd been talking, but in only a minute she was back out in the kitchen completely dressed.

"Can I go give them a rough time?" she asked with a smirk on her face.

"Unh uh. Just leave them completely alone. I'm not even going to tell them that I'm calling the cops," I frowned at her. "Now, I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but I don't trust that pair any further than I can throw them. For all I know, they might be armed to the teeth, so I'm going to sit here in the house and wait for the cops to come. They know how to handle crooks and I don't."

I could see her realize that what I said made some sense, but at the same time I knew that she was going to try to make sure those two guys future lives were miserable in some way or another. The fact that the two of them had chosen to try to sneak around our ranch, probably planning to harm us in some way, was almost too much for her to take. She was one of those people who got even for any damage done to her, but I could see she'd go along with my decision this time, at least for the time being. I could also see her toting up an imaginary ledger in her mind about what the two of them owed her, planning to collect it out of their hides sometime down the road. While she was mulling things over, then moving to the stove to make coffee, I dialled the phone to call the cops.

Now if I had thought the sight of Ray and Sid perched on a roof and surrounded by angry animals was funny, the RCMP officer who took my call thought it was hilarious. He asked me to stay on the line, then I could hear him laughing as he dispatched a car to come pick up a pair of 'dangerous trespassers' who were trapped by a rancher's dogs and pigs. After that he came back on the line and asked me if I knew anything about how they had gotten to the ranch or if I had any idea what they were up to. When I suggested that I could go ask them, he told me to just leave well enough alone and have some patience, advising me that the patrol car would be in our yard before the hour was up. He was still chuckling as he hung up the phone.

I'd had time to look out the door and check that the dog's prisoners were still perched on the roof twice, as well as time to make and drink a cup of coffee, before the cops got there. I called off the dogs and gave each of them a few treats, while the cops got Ray and Sid down onto solid ground. Ray had a small scratch on his left leg that he said was a bite from the pig. Although it didn't look like a bite to me, I could believe one of her tusks had scratched him, especially since the sow was still worrying a good sized hunk of denim pant leg. That wound meant the cops had to rush him to the hospital to have it checked out.

The fact that I had to go to bed not knowing what that pair of goons had planned to do annoyed me, but it also worried me quite a bit. I was extremely dissatisfied about it and even though it was after three in the morning, I had a very hard time getting back to sleep. I finally managed by trying to decide what I wanted to give the dogs as a reward the next day. In fact, I fell asleep dreaming about feeding the dogs T-bone steaks, and even giving that the grouchy old sow a couple of sirloin tips.

I never even got to sleep in the next morning. Okay, maybe I slept in a little bit. I awoke about seven and did some of the chores while Beth and the twins did the others. Then, I was inside the cabin, eating breakfast when a police cruiser pulled into the yard just after eight in the morning. As soon as I saw them drive in, I had to grin to myself. Just the idea that our dogs had held those two goons up on the roof of the hog shed for most of an hour while we'd waited for the RCMP to arrive last night, tickled me.

My grin widened even more as I saw who was in the police car. It was my old acquaintance, Constables Davis and he had a young Constable with him that I hadn't met before.

"Good morning, Chris," Davis grinned at me. "What else did you manage to do yesterday besides winning a couple of races and trapping a couple of crooks?"

"Good morning, Constable," I grinned back. "Have you got time for a cup of coffee? Then I'll introduce you to the bunch that actually caught those idiots for you."

"Well, actually we have another officer coming with a trained dog and we were wondering if you could possibly pen your dogs for a while. From the description that we got of your dogs, that might be a darn good thing."

"Who did you get the description from, 'Rotten' Ray, or his buddy, 'Slimy' Sid?" I laughed aloud then pointed to Beth who was out near the barn playing with the Collie and her pup. "There are two of our hounds with Beth and the other one is probably sleeping. He's so old that he only gets moving late at night when he patrols the place."

"You're kidding me, right? Sid Parker said he thought they were Rottweilers."

"Oh well, he must have been looking at the sow that actually chased them up onto the roof. After all, it was dark last night. Of course once they were up there, the dogs wouldn't let them down."

"Do you think that's what happened?"

"Yah, once I got to thinking about it, I figure Ray and Sid were sneaking around, probably planning to do some damage, then the dogs started to chase them. To get away from the dogs, they must have jumped over the fence into the hog pen. The old sow probably got rudely awakened and she's got a litter that she's darn protective about. She probably went after the two of them. The only way they could get away from the dogs and the pig was up on the roof, then they were stuck up there until your guys got here to rescue them," I chuckled.

"Well, you've probably got it right. They claim they took a wrong turn and got stuck, so they were coming to you for help. The only problem is that we can't seem to find a car along the road, stuck or otherwise."

"Huh. That's weird. Did they tell you where it was?"

"Yeah, they said it was on the new section of road and they hit a very deep mud puddle."

"Well, there is a completely new road that runs along to top of the cliff," I frowned. "The Hydro people ran it in to service their line to Jason Dumfries's ranch. Would they have driven along that?"

"Why in the world would they have gone up there?"

"Who knows what that pair would do? If it leads to trouble, they can find the trail," I shrugged. "If you want to check it out, take my Jeep, that shouldn't get stuck unless you drop it into a creek or something."

Just then we heard the police radio and Davis asked me to put the dogs away because the dog handler was on his way. I called Beth to have her take the two younger dogs into the barn, then I called Duke and took him out there myself. I hated locking them in the barn, but it was probably safer for them and the police dog if they were kept apart. The dogs weren't going to be locked up for that long though, so I didn't feel all that bad about it.

Only a few moments after the cop and his dog got out of the car, they found a gas can that I'd never seen before, an alarm clock with a micro switch taped to the winding key and a heavily taped box with wires running out of one end. The cops figured that was an ignition device of some sort. When I said I'd never seen the stuff before, they assumed that Ray and Sid had dropped it running from the dogs. At the instant they showed me those things, I had a hard time holding my temper. To me, those three items added up to mean that Sid and Ray had planned to torch something, probably one of the buildings.

Constable Davis seemed to agree with me, probably suspecting the same thing, but being a cop, he couldn't admit it out loud. Once they had those items, they were satisfied that they had something to go on. In fact they sounded quite certain they'd find finger prints on them. After they'd locked their evidence in the trunk of one of their cars, they used the dog to backtrack the two goons' path and found the car. It was hidden behind a patch of willow scrub on the far side of the creek. It wasn't stuck in the mud, but it was hidden and on top of that it was obviously stolen. In fact, it still had a small section of one of Frank Dolens' 'For Sale' signs stuck to one window.

All I could do was shake my head in wonder at the sheer stupidity of those two dorks. I knew they were probably still trying to get back at me for the mess over those darn pictures, but what they were doing made no sense to me. They had tried to get even several times, but each time they had done something, things had escalated, yet every time it had hurt them more than me.

This time, I felt that they had gone way too far. This time, I was more than annoyed, I was angry.

### Chapter 27