Hot Summer Nights (8 page)

“T
hat fucker!” Wayne
mumbled as Kevin cut him off going into turn two.

The two had been beating and banging for the better part of the 100-lap race. He knew without a doubt that both of their cars wore dents and scrapes like badges of honor. He coughed as the carbon monoxide seeped into his system. Being pissed off always made him breathe harder, and whenever Kevin Grimes was involved, being pissed off was usually the order of the day. Making a snap decision, he broke his car out of line and went directly for Kevin’s bumper, knocking him out of the way. Grinning like the Cheshire cat, he quickly moved his car ahead of the other man’s.

“Stop screwin’ around out there, Wayne,” Lee came over the radio, reprimanding his younger brother.

“What? I can’t hear ya,” Wayne said, slowing down purposely and flipping off Kevin through the window of his car.

“Yes you can, Wayne. Back the fuck off!”

Lee stood atop his perch and watched with baited breath as the two cars barreled around the track. Both drivers were known for their quick tempers and not so good decisions. With them, disaster was just an accident waiting to happen.

*

“What are they
doing? They are going to kill each other!” Clementine mumbled as she stood next to her father in the stands.

She watched in numb horror as Kevin cut up onto the track, effectively cutting off any chance Wayne had to get by. As he did, bumpers and quarter panels touched, sending both cars into a spin. Wayne fought desperately for control and overcorrected, sending both cars tumbling upside down onto the pavement and into the infield.

“Oh fuck!” Lee yelled, jumping down and making a run for the two smoking heaps of sheet metal.

He saw his mother and father running with him along with Clementine and her father.

Wayne extricated himself from the battered car and looked around for Kevin. It was the dream come to life. He could feel the heat, could smell the smoke. Almost immediately he knew what was going to come next. No matter what their differences were, he didn’t want to see anything bad happen to Kevin.

“Get him out! That damn thing is gonna blow up!” Lee yelled, running towards the car. “He’s caught in there!”

Everything happened in slow motion as Wayne fought to help. He could see through the shattered windshield that Kevin was knocked out cold. He was caught in his safety harness, and if the car did catch on fire he was a goner.

“What are you doing, Wayne?” Clementine screamed as he went in through the passenger side window.

“Somebody’s gotta help him. If we don’t, he’s going to die in there. I don’t want that on my hands!”

David grabbed her shoulders as she lunged after him, pulling her back from the car. Gasoline leaked from the back and one spark could ignite a fire that would blow all of them to Charlotte. “Get back and let them do what they need to!”

Wayne shimmied in, removing Kevin’s harness. “Be careful movin’ him,” Lee called out. “His back could be hurt.”

Wayne nodded even though nobody could see him. He was beginning to get claustrophobic. He couldn’t breathe inside the car. The smell of motor oil and gasoline was enough to make him gag. It scared him to see Kevin like this. No matter that they had never been good friends. He would never wish any kind of pain on another person. Ever.

“I’m being as careful as I can, but I can only do so much,” Wayne called back out as he dragged Kevin out of the wreckage. As soon as he got him out and a safe distance from the wrecked car, it exploded, causing everybody to scream.

Lee kneeled over Kevin as Wayne did the same on the other side. “Kevin can you hear me?” Lee asked. He couldn’t tell if the younger man was breathing or not.

“Are his parents here?” Wayne asked, looking around at the people that had gathered.

Clementine stepped forward. “They didn’t show up. I guess somebody on his crew will go get them. Is he going to be okay?”

Wayne didn’t know; he couldn’t tell if Kevin was breathing, and he noticed that Kevin had not made any kind of move whatsoever. However, he didn’t want to move him either. He didn’t want to do any more damage than they had already had to inflict. “I dunno, Clem. I just dunno.”

As he spoke they heard the blaring of sirens. The paramedics arrived and pushed back everyone that had gathered. They had to work on the young man. Wayne paled as he saw them lift Kevin onto a stretcher and into an ambulance. He felt like what Justin Grimes must have felt like the day he almost killed Billy.

“Are you okay?” His father’s heavy hand came down on his arm. Wayne looked at it, a blank stare covering his face. If Billy didn’t know better, he would say his son was in shock and incredibly angry at what had just happened. Wayne took off at a walk and tried to keep going even when Billy’s hand reached out to pull him back to stand with the rest of the family.

“Let me go. Just let me walk it off, alright? I don’t wanna deal with anyone right now.” He shook his father’s heavy hand off his back and stalked off, tying the fire suit around his waist.

*

Wayne cursed loudly,
still feeling the anger and fearfulness coursing through his veins. What he really wanted was to jump into a car, any car, and just drive until he felt himself calm down. Either that or pound in Kevin’s face for scaring the shit out of him, until he felt the anger leave his body.

“You okay?” He heard a soft voice ask as it approached.

“Clem, I thought I told everybody to leave me alone. Newsflash, honey, that included you,” he spat, pulling a cigarette out of his pocket as he continued walking.

“You don’t need to be alone right now, Wayne. You’ll just go off and do somethin’ stupid.”

She watched with wide eyes as he lit the Marlboro Light and inhaled deeply. She’d never seen this side of him, sure not a lot of people had. The violence she could feel emanating from him scared her. It was obvious that he was angry with himself, but she felt like there was a part of him that was angry at Kevin.

“I’ll be fine, Clem. I’m sorry I’m bein’ such an asshole to you, but I really just need to be alone right now,” he tried again, blowing smoke away from her face.

As they walked further from the track, the only thing she could make out was the dark orange circle of the burning tobacco hanging from his mouth.

“I just want you to know that you aren’t alone, Wayne. What happened out there wasn’t your fault. I know you didn’t mean for anything to happen, but we got to get to the hospital. We got to make sure that Kevin is okay. They were talking about him being really hurt, and I know that no matter what, you want to know what’s going on with him.”

“Yeah, but it also cost me and your daddy a busted up race car.” He flicked the cigarette into the ground and stepped on it, harder than he needed to.

“This is about more than a busted up race car. You and I both know that. You’re feeling responsible. You’re not responsible for that. The two of you were testing each other. You both knew what could happen. Now let’s go and make sure he’s okay. I’ll even go with you.” She offered him a soft smile that he barely made out and grabbed his hand, squeezing it before she walked away.

He watched her until he could no longer make out her body in the darkness. Turning around, he realized that the anger was no longer manifesting in his body. The only thing going through his mind was making sure that Kevin was okay. He had to know that he hadn’t hurt him badly. Until he knew for sure, he wouldn’t be able to drive another lap.

“Clem, wait up!” he called, running to catch up with her.

*

An hour later
the two of them arrived at the hospital. It was filled with people waiting to hear what was going on with Kevin. Both people who had professed to hate him and others who had professed to love him gathered, all waiting to see what the doctor would say. No matter what, all of them needed to know that one of their own was not hurt. Kevin may have been an outcast, but none of them wanted anything bad to happen to him. His parents had shown up, but as of yet, no one had heard anything. Clementine and Wayne sat huddled together in the corner. Both stood up, however, as they saw a doctor come in.

“All of you here for Kevin Grimes?” he asked, sticking his stethoscope around his neck.

There was a collective “yes” from the crowd. “I’m afraid that I have some really bad news. Kevin for the most part is stable. He is however in need of a blood transfusion. He’s lost a lot of blood. If anyone has the O Type, we encourage you to give.”

“Is that all he needs, Doc?” someone asked from the back of the group.

“I’m going to be quiet honest with you people. He not only needs that. He needs a lot of prayer. You didn’t let me finish. Kevin also has a severe spinal cord injury. At this point, we think he’s lost the use of his legs.”

As the doctor left, the room was blanketed in a silence that no one dared to penetrate.

‡

“I
’m afraid Kevin
has lost the use of his legs.” Those words echoed in Wayne’s head over and over again as he sat there. His whole life he had watched what limited mobility in one leg had done to his father. His father had always thought he was less of a man. How would Kevin feel when he woke up and the doctor told him he’d never again be able to drive a race car? To top it off, Wayne felt ultimately responsible. Wayne had known to stay off him during the race, he had known better than to mess with him the way they had on the track. That was something a rookie did, but not someone who had the experience they had. Looking around the room, he saw that most of the townsfolk sat in shock. Getting up, he walked out of the hospital. As he got out into the muggy night, he walked towards Lee’s truck and had a seat on the tailgate.

“I figured you’d be out here.”

Wayne looked up, seeing Clementine walking towards him. “I don’t think I’m gonna be much company.”

“That wasn’t your fault, Wayne. Things happen in life that we can’t prevent. God has a plan for everybody; this must be His plan for Kevin. None of us can mess with that,” she tried to comfort him, taking a seat next to him.

“I was the one in the car that was racing with him. Fuck, Clem, I had a feeling all damn day long. I woke up from a nightmare this morning—I knew I shouldn’t have raced.”