youâre still only thinking about yourself.â
âI know. Iâm sorry,â Chase begins to snivel. âI didnât know what I was doing. Please, Gordie, if you can help me out this one time, Iâll straighten out. Iâll go back to school. Mom and Dad will keep the house, and it will all be okay.â
It is a pitiful display. I am not swayed by his sniveling, and heâs done way too much damage for things to ever be the same. But if his debt is paid, at least Mom and Dad wonât have to deal with that on top of everything else. Itâs been more than annoying watching her cater to Chase, but in another way, itâs also been a bit of a relief. Sheâs been positive for a change. Iâve seen her lose it too many times over the past two years. But I donât have two grand. I have twelve hundred dollars in my bank account. I do still have a check from my grandparents in Ontario, money theyâd sent to me for my birthday. And I get paid by Ralph Barnes later in the week.
I canât believe Iâm even considering it. I pick him up by the neck of his T-shirt and drop him again. âIf I do this, youâd better stay straight or Iâll break your neck myself.â
âI will.â Chase immediately stops sniveling. Itâs amazing how quickly he turns the sobs off and on. âI promise. Youâll see. Iâll get a job. Iâll pay you back.â
I know Chase well enough to know that he is giving me his standard lines. But if I am doing this for anyone, itâs for me and Mom and Dad. âAll right, Iâll think about it.â I am not going to give him a definite yes. I want to make him grovel for a while.
Dad is letting me take the Honda S2000 to Bobbyâs house for a band practice. Bobby is the drummer in our band. He lives just below Cleveland Dam.
I have mixed feelings about driving the car. I canât wait to finally drive it, but Dad is only allowing it because heâs selling it to pay off some debts. He admitted he wanted to give me a chance before itâs gone. Jack and I set our guitars in the backseat and start in the direction of the Upper Levels Highway, headed toward Horseshoe Bay.
I am not used to how tight the gears are after driving Momâs old Toyota. It has great pick-up as we emerge onto the highway. I accelerate quickly, and we are soon flying past the Toyotaâs top speed. It has rained earlier in the day, so I am a little concerned about hydroplaning with a skiff of water still on the road. I hit 110 kmh and keep it steady.
âThis is so cool!â Jack exclaims.
I agree. We have the windows down, the stereo on, and the damp spring air is, for the moment, helping me forget about home. I hope Dad hangs on to the car long enough so that I can take Jade for a drive.
We have just passed the Mountain Highway turnoff when a black Passat roars past us. It changes lanes directly in front of us before the driver throws on his brakes. I immediately slam on my own brakesâI miss plowing into him by millimeters.
Jack snaps forward like a whip. âWhatâs that twit doing?â
The Passat continues slowly in front of us, forcing us almost to a crawl. A horn blares behind me. I glance at the reflection of the face of the woman in the car following me. She is fuming. In answer I pull into the left lane and roar ahead of the Passat. He follows, but he is soon tailgating me at 120 kilometers an hour. I canât believe what is happening.
âDid you do something?â Jack asks. He twists in his seat to get a glimpse of the nutjob following us. âWhy is that guy so pissed off?â
âI donât know. He just came out of nowhere.â Again I consult the rearview mirror. I switch lanes once again. He follows. I step on the accelerator, feeling the car become uneasy on the wet road. I am soon pushing 130 kmhânervously.
âThere are two guys in the car, about
Kit Tunstall, R.E. Saxton