Chapter 4

            It was late at night. I felt tapping on my head, when I opened my eyes, I saw Skimps.

“What?” I mumbled turning over, away from him.

“Ren, wake up.”

“I am awake, how else do you think I’d be talking to you?”

“Get up, let’s go.” He persisted.

“You haven’t considered actually sleeping at night, have you?”

“Common we gotta go.”

“Go where? What time is it?”

“Time to go.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me out of my bed. I fell hard on the floor and the blankets fell on top of me.

“Hey Skimps, will ya just let me get a little more sleep? It must be 1 in the morning.” I complained from under the blankets.

“Fine,” I waited for him to give an explanation, “I can just go to the drag without you.” He said smoothly.

“A race?”

“Yup.”

“Well heck!” I jumped up and put my shoes on, “Let’s go!” I was still wearing my grease stained clothes from when I went to sleep.

“Don’t you need more sleep?” he said smugly.

“Don’t you need a couple more pounds?” he slugged my arm.

“It’s down at The Ribbon.” Skimps said.

            The Ribbon was almost the main part of town. A stretch of road was straight for a few miles. There was big business for anyone who had a restaurant down there, it’s where most of the kids hung around. It’s also where most of the drag races were.

            I grabbed my leather jacket and something from the fridge on the way out. Pop’s car was in the driveway, he must have gotten home when I was sleeping.

“Where’d you hear about the drag race?” I asked.

“I was at AJ’S and these socs come walkin’ in, like they were big shots, you know.” I did know, “And they start asking about Randy’s car, he just got spruced up.” Randy was probably the main greaser, if you had to pick one. He was in on all the rumbles and speed races. He had a record at the police station a mile long, “Next thing you know, they’re in a drag race.”

“How’s the other car?”

“It’s a blue convertible.”

“What were they doing at AJ’S, they know that’s our turf.”

“Lookin’ for trouble, or they’re just plain stupid.” Skimps said.

“My vote is on them being stupid.” We both laughed.

“Any bets?” I asked.

“Yeah, I don’t got any though.”

“Randy will win, he always has.”

“Yeah, but you should have seen the other car, real tough.”

“Still, they probably haven’t been in too many drags, like Randy.” I said.

            It was pretty cold out, I was glad I brought my jacket. The dim street lamps lit the cracked sidewalk we walked on. Only a few of the other houses still had their lights on this late. Chain linked fences outlined the space of each house, some held hungry dogs that lunged at us as we walked by. Trash was in the gutter and blowing around in the slight wind. This was what a greaser neighborhood looked like. I took a look around and wondered for an instant where Jenni lived, then shook the thought out of my head. She had probably forgotten about me.

            Skimps and I cut across the open field and hopped another chain linked fence. The Ribbon was a pretty good distance away, but we both knew the short cuts. Skimps and I had lived in Norfolk our entire lives, we’ve never gone out of the state or seen what the outside world looked like. I didn’t even know if there was an outside world at this point. It just seemed like it was greaser, soc, then death to me.

“When does it start?” I asked.

“1:30, that’s after the cops have done their rounds on The Ribbon.”

“Smart.” I said.

“You gotta be, when it comes to the cops.”

“MmmHmm, yeah, and why don’t you take that lovely advice?”

“Why should I?”

“So you don’t have to keep running from the home.”

“I live my life extravagantly.” He said sarcastically.

“You live on a couch.”

            He only cocked his eyebrow and gave a sideways smile, “Yes, but a very comfortable couch.”

“Don’t you ever get sick of it?”

“Sick of what?”

“Living like we’re scum.”

“Scum doesn’t live on couches last time I checked.” He joked.

            There was no use trying to talk to him seriously, he hid behind his jokes. I guess it was his way of getting rid of the thought of always being scum.

            The bright lights from The Ribbon glowed as we neared it. I saw two cars parked at the edge of The Ribbon, one was the blue convertible. The other was Randy’s car, I’m not sure what it was, because it was just a bunch of old car parts put together. Only Randy could drive that car, he built it from scratch and it was the only thing he loved.

“Look at the soc car.” Skimps said.

“Yeah, but Randy could still beat him easy.”

            There was a small crowd of greasers and socs at the side lines. As Skimps and I neared I recognized the soc, Tom. He sat in his car talking to a couple of girls like he had nothing better to do. Randy sat on hood of his car smoking while the others looked over the cars. There was always a wait before the drag started, last minute bets were put in, people looking over the cars.

“Hey look it’s the drop out!” Tom called from his car as Skimps and I walked in-between the cars, bold move, seeing as how there were 15 other greasers there.

“Nice car, wonder what it would look like if it was keyed up a bit.” Skimps said leaning on the window of the convertible.

“Is that a threat?”

“Boy, you are a smart one.” Skimps said smugly, a few of the kids laughed.

“Why I oughta-“

“Hey Ren, he’s gonna threaten me!” Skimps joked.

“You got yourself an angry one.” I said.

“Better throw him back.” Skimps said, the others started laughing.

“Listen you pink nosed freak, I don’t have to take crap from you.”

“No you don’t.” Skimps said solemnly looking down.

“But you do anyways!” I said and his head shot up and we both started laughing. We could put on a pretty good act around the socs. Our laughing was drowned out the sudden blare of the convertible’s engine.

“What are you waiting for Grease?” he said to Randy, “We gonna race or not?”

            Randy flicked away his cig and hopped off the hood and got into his car. Soon both the cars were humming loudly. Skimps and I got to the sidelines and we all silently watched the flag girl walk to the end of the stretch where she could see who would win or not. Once she was a pretty good distance away she raised the flag, and all that could be heard was the blare of the engines. We waited.

            She waved the flag and both cars took off. We all started shouting as we watched the cars race to the finish. Suddenly we heard cop cars from behind us. Randy saw them before Tom did, and took a quick turn into AJ’S parking lot and turned around racing back towards us. Tom turned his car into a parking lot and tried getting into the shop but it was closed and one of the cop cars got to him. The Car that was in Randy’s way moved and raced after him as Randy sped past us.

“BEAT IT!” Someone shouted from the crowd. We all scattered like a pack of mice, no one in their right mind let the cops get them without at least a good chase.

            Skimps and I ran into a parking lot and behind the store, a few followed us. It was dark behind the store, but we waited silently. I could see the red and blue glow from the cop cars gleam against the brick wall. We couldn’t go the other way because we were blocked off by a wall too tall to jump. So Skimps and I waited with the three other kids who followed us.

            Then we saw a black silhouette walking towards us, we were dead. I looked around the alley for something we could use to climb over the wall, there was nothing. Then I got an idea.

“Skimps, I’ll give you a boost over the wall.”

“Wait, they’ll get you.” He protested, as he put a foot into my cupped hands and hoisted himself up the wall, I pushed his foot up so he could get a better grip.

“It’s okay I’ll be out by tomorrow.” The cop came closer, Skimps hopped down.

“It is tomorrow.” He said from the other side.

“Hey kid help me up.” One of them asked. I helped him up over the wall just before the cop got to us.

“Alright, common. Your parents will come and get you from the station.” The cop said to us.

            The three of us started walking, there was another cop with the first so there was no point in trying to run. They had also got a couple of the others. They put the three of us in a car and started driving down to the station. It wasn’t my first time being picked up, I knew the system.

            Greasers stick up for their buddies, it’s just what they do, even if it means getting picked up by the cops, it’s called loyalty.

“Well, well, well, a drag race.” The chief said as he walked past the cells with the people from the race that had been picked up.

“No, it was a picnic.” I said sarcastically.

“You’re a mouthy one, where’s your buddy?” The chief didn’t know me personally, but he knew Skimps and I were buddies.

“At the boy’s home, where you sent him last time.”

“Right.” He said not believing me, “I’ve notified your parents and if they don’t come, we’ll let you out in the morning.”

“It is morning.” I said.

“You know what I mean.” He said.

            Randy wasn’t in the stuffed cell, which meant that he got away. There must have been 10 of us stuffed in there like a can of sardines. Tom sat on the bed talking like he owned the place and other BS that came to his mind. It was going to be a long night.

Author's Note

Tell me what you think!

Reviews

[BBP]

Disregard last comment, it has completely taken me to a whole other story. No comparisons to be made any longer. Great writing!

[matpat]

Thank you!

[barleygirl]

Your dialogue is well done, easy to follow, & sounding exactly like the type of people in your story. I feel this story is now becoming more compelling, drawing the reader to continue, all along. It's quite a skill to be able to carry an entire chapter thru mostly dialogue, with little glimpses of expository thru-out. Good job!

Near the beginning, "1 in the morning" . . . "one" should be spelled out . . . likewise in the last paragraph, 10 should be spelled out "ten" . . . just little tweaks.

[matpat]

Thank you so much!