Читать книгу Vignettes - Life's Tales Book One - William Baker - Страница 4

The year is 1938. I am twelve, but almost thirteen. Bert, my step-brother, and his buddy Gus are both sixteen and “big guys on the campus”. After all, Bert is driving a 1934 5-passenger window Ford Coupe and Gus is always seen riding a motorcycle or some other form of transportation made from junk yard parts. Gus’s latest assembly is a 1913 Model T ford chassis and engine with a bucket body, orange crates for seats and no floor boards. Gus has announced, “She is ready for a test drive on the Alameda mud flats”.

With that announcement Bert and I jump onto the vacant orange crate and hold onto the body as Gus jams the pedals of the unlicensed demon and sends us roaring down 50th Avenue to Foothill Boulevard then on to High Street, across the High Street Bridge and onto the island of Alameda and then to the mud flats.

There, the mud begins to fly from the non-fendered wheels as first Gus then Bert take turns jamming the pedals and getting an instant reverse by pressing the reverse pedal when going forward and then doing the same thing with the low gear pedal when going backward to give a second instant change of direction. By turning in timing with the change of direction the “T” spins one way then the other. Mud is flying and I’m hanging on tight ever fearful of falling off of the orange crate and underneath the “T”. We spun, spin, lurch, spin and lurch some more. Suddenly, a loud bang tells of something gone wrong and the “T” comes to a stop in the deep mud.

Gus races the engine, slams the pedals in and out. We aren’t going anywhere! A quick evaluation by Gus gives us the answer,,,,, the axle is broken. Gus jumps out of the body, into the mud and raises the rear drive wheel while slamming it back into the axle housing.

Back on the orange crate, Gus eases out the drive pedal and ever so slowly we move to the nearby dry surface where with each revolution the drive wheel is moving out of the axle housing. After a short discussion, Bert and I jump out and take our positions. With the “T” creeping along and the drive wheel turning and coming out of the axle housing every twenty feet or so we are slowly moving up High Street. When our forward motion stops Bert lifts the drive wheel off the pavement and I push it back into the axle housing. At this rate it is going to be a long way home!!

Then Gus stops the “T” and calls for a huddle. Gus has an idea.

We are stopped alongside a lumber yard and a stack of 4 x 4’s. Gus directs Bert and I to get one of the 4 x 4’s. We give it a thought and possibly a word about “stealing”, but quickly conclude this to be an emergency and a 4 x 4 is retrieved. Then with Gus’s directions, the 4 x 4 goes under the rear axle and on the back of the body,. This takes the weight off the drive wheel but allows it to touch the pavement. With that arrangement, Bert and I trot alongside and as the wheel spindles from the drive shaft we push it back in and make our way home..

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