Ricky & the Roadster (a short read)

<font color="green"> Hey, here is a short story I have just completed.
Have a read and I welcome your feedback.
Cheers,
Cruisin. </font>

Ricky and the people next door

Chapter 1

It seems to take ages for the weekend to come around, especially when you are nine and there are 5 days of school to get through.
Richard, or “Ricky” as he was known as by family and friends always looked forward to the weekend.
Ricky lived with his grandparents Bill and Dulcie, who absolutely doted on him and always tried to give him the best they could afford.
Being an only child meant that he didn’t have to share his toys but when visitors came, he would always grab them by the hand and lead them to his cache of motorized this and action figure that.
His most favourite toy was a remote controlled car, an E-type Jaguar roadster and it was truly magnificent. It made all the right noises and could go forward and reverse and left and right.
This Saturday was a little different, there were new people moving in next door.
The previous neighbours had left suddenly and this had led to gossip in the community but Ricky couldn’t care less about that. Its owner who had had enough of itinerant tenants sold the house and vowed and declared to never own rental properties again!
The only thing that had disappointed him with their departure was they had a neat old car, which made lots of noise, and he had never got to have a sit in it, let alone have a ride in it.
Neighbours often complained of it starting up and being left to idle in the driveway while it’s engine was warmed.
As far as Ricky could tell, it was some type of Ford because there were four letters on the bonnet that said
F O R D and it had a V8 as there were badges with a V that had an 8 above, each side of the front mudguards just in front of the doors.
After breakfast Ricky went down to the end of the driveway and leaned over the letterbox to gaze at the cars that went past. Counting cars that had tow bars, spotlights and other trinkets and ones that were different. The different cars would be classified in his mind and these were the ones that made an impression. That FORD V8 had made an impression!
Bill and Dulcie would often comment to each other “That boy is car mad! I don’t know where he gets it from!”
Nonetheless it did amuse him and Ricky seemed quite content with his lot, well almost.
This Saturday there was a flurry of activity at number 72 Cloverdale Street. There were cars with trailers and grownups everywhere but no sign of children. This did disappoint Ricky as he was hoping he might have been able to make a friend and even play with them, if they wanted to of course.
When the novelty of watching people bustling about waned, Ricky slowly walked back up the driveway, scuffing the toes of his shoes in the gravel.
This was really just another Saturday and now probably the worst because he was disappointed. Disappointed in the fact that there really was nothing exciting happening after all.
It was another Saturday where he had to improvise and pretend.
Years before, Bill had made an outside toy for Ricky and it was somewhat different than most. It was a large box and one that he could sit in completely when he was much smaller, but now he had to sit on the edge of it with knees bent.
At the other end there was a steering wheel from an old car attached at the centre with a big nail, a number plate at the bottom and the lids off of two tin cans just above to represent headlights.
Even though Ricky was growing up ever so much, he still did enjoy this special box.
He would play for what seemed hours, racing around corners and making all the screeching sounds that came with such action.
Weeks passed by into months and the “new neighbours” became part of the community and they seemed fairly ordinary. They were a married couple in their early thirties and were from a town far off, which had a name that Ricky couldn’t even pronounce.
The man used to leave for work early in the mornings but would be home when Ricky got home from school.
The lady spent a lot of time in the garden and seemed to be proud of her efforts.
This one particular Friday afternoon, Ricky arrived home from school and there was a lot of noise going on in the garage of the house next door.
Eagerly, Ricky peered between the fence palings and was able to make out some car parts, mudguards and wheels and perhaps an old engine.
Well, you could imagine the look on Ricky’s face when he saw all those car parts gathered and the sound of machinery working!
This Saturday was going to be special; Ricky was going to make sure of that!

Chapter 2

The bowl of Weetbix™ was finished in record time and the juice was gulped down.
“Ricky, what’s the rush?” exclaimed Dulcie.
“Gran, I want to go and see what that man is doing in his garage because I saw some car parts in there.”
“Well, you know the drill, have a wash, get dressed and then you can go take a look. But mind you, don’t get in the way and if he says it’s time you went home, you best be do that, OK!”
“Sure Gran, thanks” Ricky replied.
By the time he was ready, 9 am approx. Ricky could hear the garage door being raised.
This was gonna be so cool!
Ricky wandered down the driveway then up the driveway next-door, somewhat apprehensive but still keen to satisfy his curiosity.
“Hi” Ricky said, catching the man by surprise.
“Well hi there” was the reply, “you’re the boy from next door aren’t you?”
“Yes sir, I’m Ricky”
“Hey son, I’m not one for being formal, you can call me Dean.”
“What brings you over here?”
“Well, I happen to like cars and I saw some car parts in your garage.”
“I see, what type of cars do you like?”
“Oh, ones that are a little different I guess, you know the ones with V8’s and cool styling.”
“Really? That’s rather odd for a boy your age, most like those Jappa’s!”
“Nah, not me!”
“I have pictures and cards of Hot Rods and some magazines from the second hand shop down the road, I spend my pocket money on stuff like that.”
“What are all those parts for?” exclaimed Ricky.
“I’m building a ’29 Model A roadster, ’32 rails, souped flatty running twin 97’s, tricked toploader and a quick-change rear.”
“I have some old steel wheels and wide whitewall bias ply tyres for it.”
“I’m also hoping to grab an old leather covered seat from a vintage car when I go to the next swapmeet.”
Ricky knew he had found something cool to do on the weekends and life had just turned into Cruisin’ St. Coolsville City, Somewhereville.
72 Cloverdale Street would never be the same again. (How true this would be and even more so as events would be slowly unraveled)
All he had to do was not overstay his welcome and not get in the way. Also, he may even be able to give his opinion, if he was asked of course….
“Ricky, I’ll tell you what, if you like to pass me things when I ask and don’t keep constantly talkin’ you are welcome to hang out here, OK?”
“Sure Dean!” Ricky replied excitedly.
Ricky was in HOTROD Heaven and loving every minute of it.
As the weekends came and went and with summer looming, Ricky and Dean were, some would say, almost inseparable.
One or two of the older folk in the street often commented to Bill and Dulcie just how well Ricky and Dean got on with each other.
“They have a common interest and are both car mad seemingly.” Dulcie would say.
Something did puzzle Ricky though as his friendship with Dean strengthened.
Dean had a tattoo of what appeared to be a scantly clad lady on his right arm with the name Gina beneath it.
He thought this funny, as he was sure that Dean’s wife’s name was Carol.
There was many an occasion, whilst out in the garage Ricky wanted to ask Dean about that tattoo but felt somewhat awkward.
Only for the mere fact that it was a personal thing and he didn’t want to ruin the friendship with a dumb question about something that was probably none of his business, or was it?
The previous weekend, Dean had said to Ricky that the flatty would be fired up in the next couple of days and he would require his assistance.
Boy, summer was gonna be boss, riding in that rod with Dean, waving to his friends as they rumbled by and showing off all their hard work!
Leading up to that special date with Dean and the rod, something rather odd happened. There had been a phone call late Friday night, which woke Ricky.
Bill and Dulcie seemed rather upset and voices were raised over the frequent quiet whispers that were only slightly overheard by Ricky as he struggled to hear. He hadn’t heard enough of the conversation but seemed to get a vague idea that things weren’t good.
The next morning all was as normal and Dulcie greeted Ricky with a good morning kiss and a hug.
“Would you like peaches on your Weetbix™ Ricky?”
Ricky pondered for a moment, wondering why the little extra for this breakfast. It wasn’t his birthday or any thing special, just Saturday.
“Sure, that would be nice” came the reply.
After all, Dean had said that he also liked Weetbix™ with fruit and if Dean liked it, Ricky liked it!
After making his bed and tidying his room (a little) Ricky asked to go next door.
Pensively, Dulcie said “Maybe Dean is busy or not in”
“No, he said today was going to be the test run and he needed my help!” Ricky replied.
Ricky skipped over to number 72 but there was no noise coming from the garage and not a murmur from the house either for that matter.

Chapter 3

A car pulled into the driveway; Tom put the book down and momentarily gazed out the window, collecting his thoughts.
The back door opened and in walked Tom’s wife Mary and their 9 yr old son Steven, or Steve, as he liked to be known as.
“Steven! I thought I asked you to put this book away this morning, I don’t like books lying around, it makes the house look untidy!”
“I did mum, it was on my computer desk!”
“That’s my fault hun, I was looking for a pen and saw the book sitting on his desk.”
“The picture of the roadster on the cover caught my attention….”
“Hey Steve, have you finished reading that book, Ricky and the people next door, yet?”
“Nup, only read the first few chapters, why?”
“Well I would like to read it when you are finished, that’s all.”
On that note, Tom wandered out to the garage and paused as he looked at the organized chaos of car parts, tools and machinery.
Tom was a rather fortunate chap who had a decent sized garage that most would die for.
His main problem was he quite often lacked the motivation or organization skills to get the ball rolling but nonetheless always seemed to have good intentions and occasionally did get the job done, somehow.
Sitting in the corner of his garage was a rebuilt flatty with a three speed box behind it and along side was a set of deuce rails already boxed with a K-member, dropped I-beam, hairpin radius rods and 8 ¾” diff. fitted with transverse spring.
On the other side of the garage were a set of wheels and tyres he had scored from a recent swapmeet complete with caps and beauty rings.
In a draw, hidden from his wife were a set of bullets and nut covers that were going to find their way onto those wheels, oh so secretly as if they were always there (or would Mary notice?)
Steve waltzed into the garage and sat himself on the bar stool (with chrome legs and covered in red Zodiac vinyl).
“Hey Dad, what ya doing?”
“Well son, I figured I need to get my A into G and get this project rolling and on the road.”
“Cool, can I help?”
“Yup, I would like that.”
“What I would like you to do is flick through those old Hot Rod magazines and find pictures of roadsters.”
“Mark the pages with paper and then we can both take a look and decide the look we want to achieve.”
Steve grabbed a bunch of those mags and began his task.
Meanwhile, Tom began to tidy the garage and get things in order.
He glanced over at the roadster body, and that put a smile on his face.
Hiboy or lowboy, what would it be?
He did like both body styles and needed to make a decision.
It wasn’t a ’32, that was way too pricey but he felt the ’28 would look the part with the right treatment.
“Steve, how ya doin’ with finding those pictures?”
“I don’t know Dad, there are so many, and I am getting confused.”
“You know what Steve, I have an idea? “
“What’s that Dad?”
“Go grab your book, that one, Ricky and the people next door and bring it out here.”
“I think we may learn a little, dream a little and perhaps even get a little done if we play our cards right!”
In no time Steve was back, eagerly handing the book to his Dad.
“Lets start at the beginning, eh Steve, and get the feel for the story.”
“Sure Dad”
They sat down together and Tom set the scene, somewhere back in time, circa mid-sixties and started to read aloud.

Ricky and the people next door
Chapter One
“It seems to take ages for the weekend to come around, especially when you are nine and there are 5 days of school to get through.
Richard, or “Ricky” as he was known as by family and friends always looked forward to the weekend……”

The END. Or is it just the beginning?

 

Short??

 

[ QUOTE ]
Short??

[/ QUOTE ]

<font color="brown"> Ummm... sorry Zod.. Anyway, you don't have time to read all of this while you work... Take a longer lunch... hehe.
Cheers, C </font>

 

David,

Thats not bad!

Are you taking up journalisim now?

Greg

 

[ QUOTE ]
David,

Thats not bad!

Are you taking up journalisim now?

Greg

[/ QUOTE ]

<font color="green"> I would if I could make as much as Hugh Hefner...
But job satisfaction would need to be paramount and handling the merchandise would also be great! just a thought! </font>

 

uhhh... something strange happens either right after, or right before the peaches in the weetbix?

 

mmmm peaches......
sounds almost as much fun a driving a 390/3speed roadster round the hills of wellington last night.

 

[ QUOTE ]
mmmm peaches......
sounds almost as much fun a driving a 390/3speed roadster round the hills of wellington last night.

[/ QUOTE ]

<font color="purple"> OK, now spill the beans olds! What happened last nite, were there peaches involved and who was supplying them...?
Was there also high octane syrup?
Please extrapolate... </font>

 

[ QUOTE ]
uhhh... something strange happens either right after, or right before the peaches in the weetbix?

[/ QUOTE ]

<font color="#666666"> Quite right Burn... there is a real twist to the full length book. It has a different name and runs for 12 chapters... Perhaps you can guess who Gina and Dean are?
What do you think Dean's real name is? (He is only called Dean because he looks like James Dean)
What link is there to Dean and Ricky?
Who is Gina?
Who is Tom, Mary and Steve for that matter?
Where will it all end?
The story may continue.... </font>

 

That would be telling......
off to Magoo's now.

 

Who shot JR??

 

Olds, time to spill the beans at Kumeu

 

I like it. About the only critisim I can think of would be some structuring of the paragraphs, spacing them out along with the speeching going on. Looks a bit crammed together, but on paper all spaced out it would look nice. Pretty cool little story though, Crusin'... where is the rest?

 

[ QUOTE ]
I like it. About the only critisim I can think of would be some structuring of the paragraphs, spacing them out along with the speeching going on. Looks a bit crammed together, but on paper all spaced out it would look nice. Pretty cool little story though, Crusin'... where is the rest?

[/ QUOTE ]

<font color="red"> Dang, I posted it hurriedly.. now in 3 chapters.
Will get writin' again soon. Paragraphs?? English was not my strong subject at school... </font>

 

Cruisin you been holding back too long! I was reading this and about halfway through the story I realized I was totally immersed in it like a big day dream, couldnt even hear my family making the racket they make... I dig the stories like this, and 40stude's friday night reads are definetly missed too. So Right on man, keep it up. See ya in the chat! -J.

 

I'll read it whan I'm not so tired

 

you writing books now man? love your work! rock out!

~Melissa

 

<font color="purple"> THANX for the kind words
I will progress on the book when we get back from the big road trip in Feb. Hopefully with pix of the Musclecar Madness Show (Rods, Street Machines and Classics)
Plus some great South Island country shots too!
Depends on if I get to buy a digi camera prior otherwise it will be scanned images....
Cheers,
C
</font>

 

Wow David, that was a test for the old eyes but well worth the effort! Good stuff Cruisin!
Max