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through.
    The house is cool and quiet. I go straight to the couch and flop.
    When I wake up it’s noon.
    I go to the fridge, drink a half liter of juice and sit down at the kitchen table with the carton still in my hand. I need Kenny.

Chapter Twelve
    Sunday morning I show up at the Barniers’, on time. After inquiring about my health, Mr. Barnier smiles. “A surprise today, Miles. After today your hours of community service will be completed. We’ll be on our own time.”
    I follow him out to the garage where he unrolls the cover from the rod, like a sculptor unveiling his masterpiece. The paint glows.
    Ned lifts the hood. His sudden yellmakes me jump. He points, gasping. A mouse has made a nest on the intake manifold!
    It takes a moment for Ned to regain his voice. I smother a laugh.
    He turns and gives me my first order as his hot-rod mechanic. “Get that thing out of there!”
    I do and we proceed.
    â€œOkay, Miles, the first thing to remember is
Primum non nocere
. That’s Latin. It means
First, do no harm
. Always keep that in mind when you’re working on a rod. We’ll remove the hood and lay these mats over the fenders so we don’t scratch the paint. That’s a $1,500 paint job!”
    â€œWhere do we start?”
    â€œOur job today is simple. First, grab a pan and we’ll drain the coolant.” I follow his orders. “Stick that drain pan underneath the rad and open the petcock. Undo the cap so it drains quicker. Disconnect the upper hose.”
    Ned explains the engine parts, the modifications he made and the shape it’s in after sitting a year, since his stroke.
    I get totally involved. It’s a privilege to work with so many handcrafted parts made just for this engine. I pull the machine screws and remove the valve covers. Then we take out the distributor.
    â€œWe’ll pull the manifold with the carbs on,” Ned says. “Just disconnect the lines and linkage. This engine has less than 20,000 miles on it, but I think it has a leaking valve.”
    â€œHow would that happen?”
    â€œToday’s gas has no lead in it. The cast-iron valve seats won’t survive the un-leaded gas.”
    â€œHow do we fix that?”
    â€œThe best fix is to install Stellite seats they use in the propane conversions. They’re expensive, but they’ll last forever.”
    Next we drop the headers. We undo the bolts and they lay back.
    â€œNow we’ll remove the cylinder heads. You can do that. It’s a little heavy for me.”
    Before I know it, Mrs. Barnier is calling us in to lunch. We clean our hands and head into the kitchen.
    â€œThe Show and Shine is in two weeks,” Ned says. “The club expects to see about fifty cars there. It’s going to be in the parking lot of the Mallory Mall. The crowds love these cars. You’ll see a few thousand people turn up.”
    â€œDo they ever do damage to the cars, like twist off an aerial or scratch the paint?”
    â€œWe haven’t had any of that kind of trouble. I think people really respect these old cars and try to be careful, but we keep a close eye on our vehicles.”
    I’m on the crew! Just like being on the Duke’s Team.
    â€œMy dad’s car was a Chevy Nova,” I inform Ned. “The Team modified it into a hot racing stock car. It was painted bright purple with yellow lettering. It was called
The Purple People Eater
, after a song.”
    â€œMiles, I know you’re going to become a real hot-rodder,” Ned says. “Poor lad. It will keep you broke, and working day and night, your whole life!” But he smiles when he says it.
    By midafternoon the heads are off. We’ve got two weeks to get the car running.
    â€œI’m sure the guides are good,” he says. “We’ll have to replace the seals and we’ll check the push-rods and rockers. Did you talk to your shop teacher about grinding the