Free Speed Freak by Fleur Beale Page B

mad at me?’ he asked.
    Jeez, more words from the kid than I’d heard him speak in his life. ‘No. I’m plenty mad at your mum though.’
    ‘Can I still help?’
    ‘Absolutely.’
    I gave him the check sheet. ‘Call out each thing on here. If I say
okay
, you cross it out. And don’t miss a single thing or I could be up shit creek without a paddle.’
    He struggled with some of the words, but we got it done and I made out a list for Dad. All we had to get was more two-stroke oil and a chain.
    ‘Thanks, mate,’ I said. ‘Your reward for helping is to be assistant chef.’
    ‘I can peel potatoes.’
    ‘You’re the man. Spud duty for you.’
    By the time Dad and Erica arrived home, the two ofus were setting the table. Felix threw me the cutlery and I put it in place.
    Felix looked at his mother. ‘I helped.’
    She came over all emotional, gave him a hug and a kiss. Dad gave me a very sneaky thumbs-up.

    WE DIDN’T TALK about the Felix incident until we were on the ferry bright and disgustingly early the next morning.
    ‘What happened?’ Dad asked.
    I told him everything, including the spaz from his girlfriend. I was still mad at her.
    ‘You did well, Archie.’ He patted my shoulder. ‘She’s thrilled with how much Felix has come out of his shell. It’s mainly due to you, and she knows it.’
    ‘She’s got a damn strange way of being thrilled.’
    ‘Go easy on her, son. She’s had to patch up enough accident victims to know what can happen.’
    I shook my head. ‘It’s still a mystery how you two ever got together.’ I didn’t mean that exactly. I knew how they’d met — Dad had to collect somebody for his work from the airport. The plane was two hours late, he had a coffee, Erica asked to share his table because all the others were full. They talked. The time flew. And now she was living in my house.
    ‘Some things are just meant to happen,’ said Dad, getting all dreamy eyed.
    I pulled out my phone and started a text chat with Kyla.
    We got to Christchurch late afternoon. Dad parkedthe trailer and I went to have a look over the track before it closed for the day. I walked past trailers I recognised — Craig’s for starters. Silver’s was there too, beside Sel. Next to him was somebody I didn’t recognise, then Jack and Tama. Kyla’s was across from ours. Good, she was here already.
    A couple of karts were out on the track, practising. I watched them, taking note of the cornering. The driver in 38 needed to keep his head still — it waved all over the place.
    I’d be out there tomorrow. It was too late now to get in any decent practice.
    Kyla and her family were in the motel unit next to ours. It took about half an hour before the two of us could get away.
    ‘Back home by eight,’ Dad shouted after us.
    ‘Nine,’ I said to Kyla.
    She tucked her hand in mine and we left the rellies behind. We jumped on a bus and hit the town. It was hard to remember how it had been before the quakes, everything had changed so much. We wandered around, not worrying about where we were going. I put my arm around Kyla. It felt good to be walking with my girl.
    We got hungry. ‘Good healthy food. Or pizza?’
    But neither of us wanted to compromise our fitness. ‘Let’s do both,’ she said.
    What a girl! We had salads, followed by woodfired pizza.
    When I got back to the motel — at nine — Dad said, ‘Good time?’
    ‘Yep.’
    I didn’t tell him how we’d walked by the river. I didn’ttell him how we’d kissed. There are some things a father doesn’t need to know.
    ‘Craig popped in for a chat. He wanted to know where you were.’
    ‘What did you tell him?’
    ‘That you were out at the track. You’ve never seen a guy vanish so quick.’

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
    NEXT MORNING, WE were all at the track as soon as it opened. Craig just happened to mention that he had a new engine. ‘It’s fast. Dad bought it off Phil Karaka.’ Phil Karaka used to be the fastest guy in our class, but he needed a