Will and Telzey didn’t have a lot of contact at school, although they shared the same lunch hour. Lunch the next day was pizza and corn; it wasn’t particularly good pizza but it was something to eat. Telzey had sat down at a table and was partway through her pizza when Will came over to join her. “You want to go mess around out back again after school?” he asked without any preliminaries.

“Of course I would!”

“Good,” he smiled. “Dad and I talked it over last night. He doesn’t mind the two of us messing around out there as long as we’re careful. We’ve got something new for you to try tonight.”

“I’m ready,” she told him. “I talked to Grandma and Grandpa about riding the ATV out there, and they seem to think it’s all right so long as I wear a helmet and I’m with you.”

“My dad talked to them while we were out back,” Will said. “He told me that they said they thought it was good that you had something to do besides look at the TV set and worry about your folks. I sure wouldn’t want to have that worry and I guess I want to help you get your mind off it.”

“Thanks, Will,” she smiled. “That’s sweet of you, and I appreciate it. It’s good to have another friend here.”

They only had a few minutes to talk about this and that before it was time to head off to class. Agreeing to meet on the cross-town bus after school, they headed off to their separate classes. On the way Will happened to catch up with Kayla. He got her attention and said, “Kayla, thank you.”

“For what?”

“For leaning on me to ask Telzey to go out with me on the ATV. We had a great time, and we’re going out riding again tonight. She’s a nice kid, you know.”

“Yeah, she is,” Kayla agreed. “She’s got a lot on her mind, but I thought the two of you could have a good time together.”

“You were right, and that’s why I’m thanking you,” Will smiled. “I owe you one sometime, Kayla.”

As Telzey and Will walked home from the bus stop that afternoon, he explained that he liked to have a snack or a sandwich after school, and she agreed that she did, too. After a little bit of discussion, Telzey went to change her coat and drop off her backpack, then went over to the Austin house, where Will had some lunch meat and chips out. They had a quick sandwich and a few chips before Telzey asked, “So what’s this deal you want to show me?”

Will looked just a bit uncomfortable. “Well, Dad said that he was a little concerned about you driving the QuadRunner fast by yourself until you had some more experience with going fast. The way he put it, I had to agree with him.”

“Does that mean I can’t drive the ATV?” she asked with evident disappointment.

“No, it just means that you can’t drive it real fast, at least not yet. But I had to go through the same thing, so he and I decided to do it the same way we did it for me. After supper last night, Dad and I went out to the shop and got something that I think you’ll enjoy. Let’s pick this stuff up and head out to the garage.”

A couple minutes later they were out in the garage, where Telzey and Will were looking at a strange looking go-kart – strange because it came equipped with a full roll cage, and heavy bumpers, especially on the front. “It’s called a yard kart,” Will explained. “It had a real putt-putt of an engine when we first got it, but we replaced that with something more powerful. If it’s driven well, it’ll run with the ATV on the track out back, although it handles differently, and you have to take the line a little differently. The neat thing is that it’s just got a brake, throttle, and steering wheel so you don’t have to worry about shifting, and that cage is strong enough that you can roll it without hurting anything. I’ve done it a few times.”

Telzey looked down at the kart, which had obviously seen some use. It had a racing seat, and a five-point harness, just like a full-sized race car. “Yeah, I can see that it’s got to be pretty safe,” she said.

“We can take it out on the trails,” he said. “But one thing is that we have to be careful in the soft stuff with it. It doesn’t go like the ATV in mud or like that, and it rides a lot rougher. But on the track, it’s just as good as the ATV, if not better. Would you like to try it?”

“That’s a really, really dumb question,” Telzey laughed. “Of course I’d like to try it!”

It took them a couple minutes to roll the kart and the ATV out of the garage. Telzey pulled her helmet on and got in the seat of the kart. Will showed her how to hook up the five-point harness, and made sure it was pulled snug. The kart didn’t have a self-starter – it was a rope-pull arrangement that took Will several tries to get running. Will got on the ATV and led her out to the track. He was right, it was a lot rougher riding than the ATV, although sitting lower it already seemed like it was faster. He pulled off to the side and got off. “Go ahead and take it around,” he told her. “Take it easy until you get the feel of it.”

With a huge grin, she stomped on the throttle and turned onto the track. This thing really moved! She didn’t get far before she had to come down hard on the brake and work her way through the corner. The thing seemed a lot more stable than the ATV, and she pushed it pretty hard. Everything went well for a few laps, then she went into a corner a little too fast and came down a little too hard on the brakes with the wheel cocked over. All of a sudden, the world was spinning – the kart went around a couple times before it came to a stop, still upright and idling.

Just a little mad at herself, she glanced over at Will, who grinned and made a circular round-the-track motion with one hand, indicating that she should try it again. Since the engine was still idling, she stomped on the throttle, spreading dead grass and leaves about as she headed back out onto the little track. She made a couple more laps before she saw Will standing beside the track, waving at her to stop. “Do you see what you did wrong?” he asked.

“Yeah, I came down on the brakes too hard with the wheel cocked over. I’m trying not to do that.”

“That was a good thing,” he said. “You saw that it’s not easy to roll that over, it’ll spin on you instead. Now that you’ve learned that, you need to learn how to drive a dirt corner.” He gave a brief explanation of how to drive a dirt track – a touch of the brake with the wheel cocked was used to get the car to sliding, but the throttle was the key to the thing. As long as the rear wheels were spinning, they could be used to adjust the rate of the corner turn while keeping the car flat.

It took some practice, and she didn’t pick it up all at once, but after several stops for Will to coach her, she started to get the hang of it. She could see that she was getting around the track faster than she had been just driving it through the corner. After several dozen laps, she noticed Will firing up the ATV and pulling onto the track just in front of her, getting up to speed. She could see him power sliding the ATV through the corner ahead of her, and she found herself doing her best to keep up with him, to gain on him. It soon became clear that the ATV was more powerful – it would run away from her coming out of a corner and going down the straight, but she was faster through the corner, probably from sitting lower. They ran a number of laps like that, and it was hard to say if she was catching up with Will or if he was letting her do it, but she was definitely getting closer to him.

She was concentrating more on getting through the corner cleanly and catching Will than she was on anything else, and it wasn’t until he slowed up in front of her that she looked up and saw Will’s father standing beside the track with a big smile on his face. Will pulled up to a stop next to him, and she stopped right behind.

Will’s father walked over to where she had the kart sitting, and Will got off the ATV to join him. “Will wasn’t kidding, Telzey, you’re getting the hang of it,” Mr. Austin told her. “It looks to me like you’re going to have to learn how to pass on a dirt track.”

“I was starting to think about what I’d have to do,” Telzey admitted. “I figured I’d have to try him on the outside since he wasn’t leaving me much room on the inside.”

“Oh, yes, you’re learning,” he smiled. “And he’s right, you have the touch, for as little experience as you have. Are you having fun?”

“Mr. Austin, I never knew I could have as much fun!” she smiled enthusiastically.

“Well, that’s just fine,” he said. “You two can run a few more laps while I stand here and watch, then you’re going to have to head up to the house. I told your grandparents that you’re going to have dinner with us tonight.”

“Thanks, Mr. Austin. I’d like that!”

“Why don’t you head out ahead of Will, let him get close and then see if you can stay ahead of him?” Will’s father suggested. “I’ll bet you can.”

The next few minutes were interesting. The superior acceleration of the ATV meant that Will frequently got up close to even with Telzey as they headed down the straights, but as soon as she got into the corner she pulled ahead of him. Will tried to get past her on both the inside and the outside, but he just couldn’t quite manage to make the pass. Finally, she saw Mr. Austin standing beside the track, waving his arms and pointing toward the house. With real disappointment, she slowed down and headed up the trail at a moderate pace.

*   *   *

Ray Austin took his time heading back up to the house, knowing that it would take the kids a while to get the kart and the ATV put away. He had little doubt that it would get done – Will was responsible about things like that and he knew it. He thought that in some ways Will was more of a grownup than his four years older brother, Chuck, who had a tendency to get lazy and let things slide.

There were a lot of ways in which the brothers differed. Chuck was much more outgoing and happy-go-lucky – a more typical teenager who could easily make a pain in the rear out of himself. Will tended to be shy and a bit of a loner, so it was especially nice to see him starting to make friends with Telzey. It was probably just a case of kids having fun hanging out together at this point, but Ray’s wife Ginger already seemed to see signs of it turning into boyfriend/girlfriend. Ray thought that was a bit premature, especially considering that the girl probably wouldn’t be around more than a year or so. But still, it was nice to see Will come out of his shell a little.

He’d had more of a talk with Telzey’s grandparents than he’d let on to Will. Laurie had told him straight out that Telzey was very preoccupied with her parents being in the Gulf, which wasn’t strange, given the circumstances. They’d agreed that some friends and some distractions would be good for her – and the distractions that the Austin family could provide seemed to be right down Telzey’s alley. After watching her wheel the kart around the improvised track the kids had built, he was even surer of it. Ray thought that he didn’t have to be much of a prophet to see one way that things would go, and he was pretty sure the Griffins wouldn’t be surprised at it. Cal and Laurie had been good neighbors, tolerant of some of the things that happened next door, so Ray was willing to help the girl out as a favor returned as much as it was for Will’s and his own sake.

When Ray got up to the house, he was pleased to see that the kart and the ATV were pulled up alongside the garage. Will and Telzey had the hose out and were cleaning them up before putting them away, washing the mud off before it had a chance to set up – just the kind of thing that Chuck would have to be told to do. He headed into the garage and puttered with a few things, mostly to let the kids finish up so they wouldn’t have to feel rushed.

“Hey, Dad!” he heard Will yell. “We got time to gas these things up before dinner?”

“Might as well,” Ray chuckled. “Your mother isn’t out here screaming for you to get in for dinner, so there’s probably time.”

“Figured something like that,” his son replied, heading for a red gas can at the edge of the garage. He picked it up and gave it a shake. “Probably got enough to fill them up tonight,” he announced, “But we’re going to need more gas if we go out tomorrow.”

“Leave the can in the back of the truck and I’ll bring some home tomorrow,” Ray told his son. “I’m heading in so I can get washed up.”

“We’ll be along in a minute, just as soon as we get done with this,” Will promised.

As it worked out, the timing was about right – the kids were just getting done with washing up as Ginger took the casserole from the oven. “No Chuck again tonight?” he asked, glancing at the place settings on the table.

“Study date with Ashley,” Ginger smiled. “Again.”

“Studying schoolwork, or each other’s tonsils?” Ray smiled.

“Probably some of the former, although I’m sure the latter will be involved,” Ginger said. “But I shouldn’t complain. After all, we were young once, too.”

“Yeah, a long time ago,” Ray complained.

The four of them settled down around the table and got into dinner. Telzey seemed bright and bubbly, especially compared to the moroseness that Cal and Laurie had been concerned with, and Will was a lot more outgoing than usual, too. The discussion mostly centered around the kids ramming around with the kart and the ATV. It was clear that Telzey had thoroughly enjoyed herself and Will was happy to see her picking it up. After all, Will wasn’t into school sports at all, so that probably cut into his popularity around school in spite of his other activities. It was good to see that there was a girl taking an interest in the same activities.

On second thought, maybe Telzey didn’t know about that, Ray thought. She wasn’t a local girl, after all. Might as well cross that bridge now, he thought. “Will,” he spoke up, “you got any plans for Saturday?”

“Not yet, except maybe for the Busch race,” he replied. “Telzey, would you like to come over and watch it?”

“Yeah, sure,” the girl smiled. “You have to figure that Martin Truex is going to do pretty good.”

“That’ll be in the afternoon,” Ray smiled. “I was wondering if you might like to spend some time on your car. The season is only a month off, and you’re going to have to get that fender on if you want to get it repainted. You’ve got quite a few other items on the list, too.”

“Yeah, I really should be working on it before it gets to the last minute and I have to work on it at night,” Will replied thoughtfully. “Telzey, maybe you’d like to come out to the shop and help me work on my car Saturday. There’s a TV in the shop, we could catch the Busch race there.”

“Your car?” Telzey frowned. “You have a car? What, a quarter midget or something?”

“No,” he replied. “A stock car.”

“You have a stock car?” Telzey replied, her jaw dropping.

“It’s what they call a Pony Stock,” Will explained. “It’s an ’89 Plymouth Sundance with the 2.2 liter four cylinder. I banged up a fender pretty good toward the end of the season and we decided to put a new one on rather than try to roll the old one out.”

“You raced this car last season?” Telzey said incredulously. “I thought you had to be, oh, at least sixteen.”

“Depends on the track,” Ray explained. “At Bradford, you have to be sixteen to run cars bigger than a Pony Stock. Will’s brother Chuck runs a Street Stock. You only have to be thirteen to run a Pony Stock. Last year was the first year Will could run at Bradford, although he ran a few races over at Moonshine Valley when he was twelve.”

“You get to race . . . a stock car!” Telzey replied in pure awe. “Oh, wow! That must be so neat!”

“It is kinda fun,” Will replied smugly. “Of course, I grew up with it. It runs in the family.”

“Runs in the family . . .” Telzey said in confusion. She looked at Ray and said, “You too?”

“A modified with a 350 Chevy,” he smiled. “I don’t race it at Bradford, though.”

“Why not?” Telzey asked in disbelief that this conversation was taking place.

“Well, usually I’m too busy managing the track,” Ray grinned. “Besides there are some people that would get upset if the track manager were to get out and race with them. Since we race Saturdays at Bradford, if I feel like it on Friday nights I’ll haul up to M-50 or maybe a couple other places. Chuck usually goes to those, too, and Will went sometimes last year.”

“Yeah,” Will grinned. “And sometimes we head over to Moonshine Valley on Sunday afternoons.”

“It gets interesting around here when everybody races three days running,” Ginger smiled. “In fact, madhouse might be a better word.”

“Do you race too, Mrs. Austin?” Telzey asked, still unable to believe what she was hearing.

“Not much, once or twice a year if everything is right,” she replied. “Usually I’m too busy with everything else. Ray may be the track manager but I have to be the one that keeps everything going.”

“Track manager?” Telzey said in a daze, the words finally sinking in. “There’s a race track here? You guys own a race track here?”

“Well, yes and no,” Ray replied. “Actually my father owns it, but he’s pushing eighty, so he mostly sits back and lets us run it. It’s a three-eighths-mile paved oval, out a couple miles the other side of the General plant. My repair shop sits out on a corner of the property, and that’s where our income really comes from. We manage to break even with the track, it’s a labor of love.”

“So,” Will grinned, “you want to come out and help me work on my car Saturday?”

“Sure,” Telzey grinned in disbelief. “Do you think maybe I could drive your car sometime?”

“‘Baby, you can drive my car . . .’” Ray sang, then smiled and said, “Probably not Saturday, because it’ll still be in too many pieces, but I suspect that if you’re nice to Will he’ll let you drive it sooner or later. And both your grandparents and I will have to approve, too. Not that I expect any problem the way you were handling the kart this afternoon.”

*   *   *

Telzey’s head was in the clouds as she headed back to her grandparents’ house. This was still unbelievable! Not only were her next door neighbors serious, committed NASCAR fans, but they were short-track racers – with their own cars, and even their own short track! Though she’d had daydreams of wanting to drive a race car some time, she’d had no idea how she could get started at it anytime soon. Now . . . well, no promises had been made, but maybe this was going to turn into a chance for something. Maybe not right away, but . . .

Over the course of the evening, while asking questions about the track, Mr. Austin and Will had admitted that there was a lot of work that needed to be done out there on a regular basis, things like mowing grass and picking the place up, and she’d offered to help with it. Maybe that could be made to work out . . . after all, Will had been racing the year before. It was clear that her grandparents were going to have to approve, maybe even her parents, but there was a chance that it could be made to happen. She knew it was going to cost money, too. She had no idea where it was going to come from, but maybe she could find a way to work things out – which had been the reason behind her offer to help with the chores around the track.

And, she thought, even if she couldn’t race, just being a part of it would be exciting of itself. She knew from her own experience that it was exciting to sit in the stands at a race track, but it had to be more exciting, somehow, to be a part of the action, not just a spectator. Being on the inside, she thought, had to be more interesting than being on the outside.

What seemed even more unbelievable was that her grandparents had to be aware of what was going on! She knew that Mr. Austin had talked to them a couple of times, and they had to know that the Austins were a family of racers. They had to have some idea of where that could lead! She knew she was going to have to sound them out about the idea, but at the same time she realized there was no point in pushing the issue just yet. After all, this had to be a dream . . .

Her grandmother and grandfather were sitting in the living room as she walked in the door, quietly watching the television. Her grandmother looked up as Telzey came into the room and asked, “Did you have a good time?”

“Yeah, Gramma, I did. They’re really nice people. Thank you for letting me hang out with Will and have dinner with them.”

“We’ve known them for years,” her grandfather said. “And we know they’re good people. But, Telzey, have you seen any TV since you got home from school?”

“No, Will and I just had a sandwich and went out back with his go-kart and ATV, then we came back and had dinner. Is anything special happening?”

“Yes,” her grandfather said. “Telzey, it’s starting.”

Telzey didn’t have to ask what was starting. In an instant, the real world crashed back in on her as she turned her eyes toward the TV. There was a dusty line of Army vehicles driving single file through a cut in a berm in a sandy desert. The light was poor, and the sky looked dusty on the TV. The view wasn’t real sharp, and Telzey couldn’t make out the unit markings on the vehicles, but from all the Bradleys in the line of vehicles it had to be a mechanized infantry unit.

“Oh, my God,” she said in a small voice. Her mother probably wasn’t right there – but she probably wasn’t all that far away, either. The attack was coming out of Kuwait, and she knew that’s where her mother was. “Please, God . . .” she continued, but couldn’t make herself go any further with the tears that were in her eyes.

She looked up at her grandmother and grandfather, who were sitting there just as concerned as she was. “Telzey,” her grandmother said, “she’s your mother, but she’s our daughter, too.”

*   *   *

Telzey’s mind wasn’t on her schoolwork the next day, and no one could blame her very much. Even before she left for school she’d spent a little time watching CNN and Good Morning America. While they didn’t say a lot she got the impression that things in Iraq had started off pretty well – the initial wave had gotten through the berm with little difficulty, and there had been only the most minimal contact so far, while the leading units were covering ground fairly quickly. That was good news, but it made her worry that something bad might be lying out in front of them.

There wasn’t a thing she could do about it, either, besides worry and be morose. As far as she knew she was the only kid in the school with parents in the Gulf, and she had both of hers there. That put an unwanted spotlight on her.

At least at lunch both Will and Kayla sat down with her. They must have agreed to not say anything about the war, because whenever the subject threatened to come up from some of the other kids they changed the subject to something else. Will mentioned the upcoming NASCAR race a couple times, although it was clear to Telzey that Kayla barely knew what Will was talking about.

It wasn’t until lunch was almost over with before Will said, “Telzey, are we going out back again after school?”

“I, uh, I don’t know,” Telzey shook her head. “I mean, well, I’d like to but I feel like I have to support my mom and dad somehow, even if it’s only watching TV.”

“Telzey, you’re going to drive yourself nuts if you continue to think that,” Kayla told her. “You have every right to be nervous about them, but there isn’t anything you can do to help them out by watching TV. Telzey, it could be a whole lot worse.”

“I don’t know how,” Telzey replied, feeling sorry for herself.

“Telzey,” Kayla said softly, “one of the kids in Mom’s class lost his wife on September 11. He heard her last words on his cell phone as the tower went down while he was standing there watching. Now, I’ve talked with him and I’ve babysat his kids. I can tell you that it could be a whole lot worse, just from that.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Telzey replied after a moment. “I guess I shouldn’t watch too much TV, right?”

“I think he would say so,” Kayla grinned. “Actually, he had some friends stay with him and his kids, and the only thing they’d let anybody watch on TV were things like Spongebob Squarepants. He said that was probably the best thing for him.”

“I think she’s right,” Will added. “Let’s do it like we did yesterday. We don’t have to go out to the practice track, we can just explore the woods again. Maybe we can take both the kart and the QuadRunner. There’s a lot of trails and stuff out there you haven’t seen yet.”

“All right,” Telzey said slowly. “I guess that would be better than watching the same thing over and over again on CNN.”

Even with that sitting in front of her the day went slowly for Telzey. Like the day before, they stopped in Will’s kitchen for a snack before they went out to get on the machines. Telzey looked up at the TV on the kitchen counter and thought about turning it on for a moment to see if there was any late news, but after a bit left it off. “I don’t think I’d better go out to the track and race around today,” she told Will finally. “It takes concentration and I’m afraid my mind would wander too much.”

“You’ve probably got that right,” Will agreed. “You really have to stay focused on what you’re doing when you’re racing and it’s not good to have other things bugging you. You’ve got enough to think about as it is. Tell you what: let’s just take the QuadRunner, and I’ll let you drive. That’ll give you a little more practice with it.”

“OK, if you don’t mind holding on to me,” she smiled.

“Telzey,” he grinned, “I don’t know how to say this, but I kind of like holding on to you.”

“The last time I drove the QuadRunner I was really concentrating on what I was doing,” she smiled. “But a couple times I happened to think that I really liked the feeling of you holding on to me.”

“Sounds like a plan,” he laughed. “Finish your sandwich and let’s go see what’s in the woods.”

They rode here and there around the woods and the open field behind the house until it was nearly full dark. They got out on the track for a bit and Will coached her through a few hot laps, which were quite a bit different on the ATV than the kart. Her heart really wasn’t in it though, and soon they were just buzzing through the woods again, with his arms clasped around her waist, and with her enjoying the feeling of closeness.

The day was winding down when they finally brought the ATV back to the Austin house and washed the mud off of it. Before they headed inside, Telzey turned to him and said, “Will, thanks. I really appreciate it.”

“Oh, I don’t mind you driving the ATV. It was fun to help teach you.”

“I don’t mean that,” Telzey said. “I really needed a friend today. Thank you for being that friend.”