Super Car Go Car!!!
“Do not allow him to work with power tools, solder anything, disassemble a TV set or anything that could electrocute him, make alterations to the house, plug any modified projects into a socket, or do anything like that. Well I think that’s it Glenda. Is there anything else we can do for you before we leave?”
“So, Stephen would you like to go see a movie or play a game or maybe go swimming?” Glenda had a bright smile on her face.
Stephen stepped to the side and stared directly into neighbors’ garbage collection, whose excessive consumerism and wastefulness yielded the best collection of spare parts a boy like Stephen could hope for. In today’s pile of old parts, boxes, and appliances, Stephen saw a pink Power Wheels car, which looked fine save for splattered paint.
“Why don’t we do that later? I’ve got some stuff I want to do and you probably have a boyfriend or some TV show or something. You look like a Veronica’s Closet type babysitter.”
While Glenda was watching television, Stephen draped in a black suit and mask snuck across the street. The sun was still high enough to make everything pink and he was wearing a bright head lamp.
He put on a pair of fingerless gloves and began pushing the pink Power Wheels up the driveway into his garage/workshop. It was heavy and Stephen began to feel his black mask moisten with sweat.
Glenda jumped, spilled popcorn all over herself and the couch. “You scared me, Stephen. Why are you dressed like a tiny ninja?”
“Because ninjas are awesome.”
“Yes. I guess they are.”
“Did you know that ninjas sometimes become like superheroes? But they need some kind of car like a ninja mobile or something to pull that off.”
Is that so. Well is there something that I can do for you?”
“I desperately need you to take me to Home Depot.”
“That sounds expensive. You’re ten and have no money.”
“Oh that won’t be a problem.” Stephen proudly held four twenty-dollar bills.
“Stephen, where did you get $80 dollars?”
“Miss Reynolds, the old lady next door, said she’d pay me to fix her fax machine. It was real easy too, because she didn’t even have it plugged in.”
“You shouldn’t take money from the elderly like that.”
“No it’s okay because she’s taken like twenty of my boomerangs. That must be at least $100 dollars. Plus, I overheard her saying that she hates black people, which makes her a racist. Anyway, if you take me, I’ll give you a cut of what she paid me.”
Stephen was checking items off of a list. Piles of planks and plexiglass littered the cart.
“OOOOHHH…I want this one…Glenda, pick it up for me and put it in the cart.”
“No Stephen. I don’t think that your parents would approve of car batteries.”
“It’s so unfair ten year olds aren’t allowed to have anything if there’s just a tiny chance of an explosion but mean grownups can own as many guns as they want.”
A balding man with a greasy ponytail stared leeringly at Glenda and Stephen saw his chance.
“If that guy can have a gun then I should be able to have a tank.”
“Hey Uncle Ron, how are you?” Stephen spoke into a W.W.II-era naval microphone that he had modified to work with an old phone.
“Stephen. You been runnin. You’re breathin real hard.”
“Look, I need a favor. Could you please bring me some power tools and watch me so that I can do this project.”
“I’m sorry Stephen…there’s this girl that…”
“Uncle Ron, you know that show with all those girls wearing bathing suits?”
“You mean Baywatch.”
“Yeah, that one you and I watched it that one time.”
Stephen had never seen Baywatch; he simply knew that his uncle had an undying devotion to it.
“Well, my babysitter looks just like that one lady on that show that you really, really like and keep pictures of in your bathroom…and she seems really bored and lonely right now. Plus, I think that she’s really sad because I think that she just broke up with her boyfriend.”
Stephen’s Uncle Ron wasted no time driving to the house. His hair was slicked back and he was wearing clean clothes, which he only did on special occasions.
“What the…they look nothin alike!” Uncle Ron held an electric drill as he waved his arms in the air.
“Of course they do! They’re both blonde.”
“S’pose that’s how an eight year old would see it.” He smoked with his right hand.
“I’m ten.”
“Not much difference til puberty. Be careful with that buzz saw.” He took a sip of beer.
Uncle Ron began yawning.
“Well small fry looks like it’s about time for me to hit the hay.”
“That’s too bad.”
“Oh, it is.”
“Yeah, because Glenda said that she was totally into you but is watching something about not being able to sleep in Seattle or something. You should watch it with her!” Uncle Ron finished the rest of his beer. “Well, I guess I’ll need to go and watch that movie. Sorry kiddo, no touchin the heavy machinery while I’m gone.”
Stephen had a good two hours, more likely only half an hour to an hour. This estimate of time was based on how quickly Uncle Ron had lasted with pervious babysitters. He managed to complete most of the wooden frame and easily attached the aluminum shell. Now he had to rewire the motors with an old car battery he had found in someone’s garbage.
Stephen stared in awe at his completed vehicle. A little larger than a go-cart, it needed to be tested and probably rewired, but it was definitely able to drive. He did not have much time. He imagined Glenda coming out and yelling at him. For Stephen, it was now or never.
The car’s motors, lifted from a tiny toy car, were slower than Stephen had expected. Stephen increased the flow of electricity to the motors. The car began to pick up speed and then the motors began smoking. Wires began melting. The current was disrupted and the smoking vehicle, which smelled of, burnt plastic stopped after moving forward only a few feet.