One For The Road

9: Class

Katie Moore: robot fighter.

I spent practically all of my life inside a car, and to consider myself anything besides a racecar driver took away the one thing I knew about myself. This wasn't only a learning experience in terms of an entirely new skill set, but also what I had inside me.

At the end of the day, who the hell was I? Apparently not a racer.

Sacrilege was a cool ass robot with the single job of bringing chaos and destruction to the enemy, and maybe I could find my lane there.

I stepped into the rest of the house, and the walls of the first room from the door were covered in clocks, both mounted and on the floor. They ticked in unison, and the pendulums on the three grandfather clocks swung together as well.

Maybe the nerds were afraid of running late. That was the only partially logical explanation.

Griffin had one clock in his house, a grandfather clock that he earned as a trophy from a victory at Martinsville, a short track. I never won one, but he always let me dust his for him.

The next room was the kitchen, but there wasn't a wall to separate it from the clock room. I peeked inside, and Annie stood at the counters. They weren't like pretty and shiny Griffin's or mine, but they were just surfaces to cook on, and I sure as hell didn't have an open concept floor plan.

"I'm so sorry. I was going to make some baklava, but we were super busy and understaffed at work the past couple of days," Annie said. She hadn't even looked over her shoulder, but she had probably memorized the sound of Drake and Josiah's footsteps at that point.

My heart sped up at the sound of her calm, smooth voice. "Don't worry about it." God, could she get any more adorable? "Where do you work?"

"Libby's Hobby Shop. It's a small craft store downtown. It must be the yarn sale we're having, because we're getting a ton of business right now." She thought for a moment. "I have no idea what to make for dinner."

"We can get pizza. It's on me," I said. "So is the mural in the garage your work in progress?"

Annie nodded. "I'm not really sure I'll ever finish it though. I started it three years ago, and since then, we've gotten so much busier around here. There's always some tournament to enter or some repairs Josiah and Drake have to make to the bot."

That wasn't too different from the racing life, and God knew I was made for it.

Someone clicked on the TV in the clock room, and I heard some familiar words.

"I'm sorry, but I earned my spot here. Are you just giving it away to another woman, so she can fill my role? Look, I know of everyone in this sport, and I don't know who this Mississippi Queen is."

Not my finest moment.

"So do you take that personally? Is this the beginning of a new rivalry?" a voice on the TV said.

"I do take it personally, but I'm here and she's not. Katie Moore's time is up, and it's time for the Mississippi Queen to show the world that women can win races. It was a Moore problem, not a female problem."

That voice had to belong to Elizabeth Tonkin, my replacement. It was just under sixteen hours before her first start in the ninety-five car for Roger Truscott Racing.

"Where's the bathroom?" I asked.

"Go through the living room, down the hall, and it's the first door on the right," Annie replied.

I checked the television that Josiah had turned on in the clock room as I strutted past. Elizabeth looked several years younger than me, and her bright smile, long blonde curls, and button nose gave her a southern belle vibe, and she was smart enough to wear the Mississippi Queen title like a badge of honor.