A Mare in the night of change

Thaddeus’ car came to a screeching sideways halt, to taunt the M3 as it chased him down the mountain. Twenty lengths behind now, thanks to the courtesy stop. If you thought that smoke only came from fire or your girls burnt birthday cake, you were wrong. When two 19x10 inch rear wheels, with an offset as wide as your mouth on the worlds fastest roller coaster, hear “breaker-breaker 19” from the differential, now you know smoke, and what it’s like to drive in the fog with your high beams on. For the screech is as loud and obscene as a rock concert would be in a phone booth. Down they travel at speeds topping 100 mph, with guard rails feeling the hurricane wind as they press around corners, trees ready to blow over, rocks ready to implode with pressures comparable to that of a black hole. “On rails” is what could be said about the handling of these beautifully engineered machines, with roars only the “King of the Jungle” would be proud of.
Til finally, “POP” the driver side front Direzza says, with Thaddeus echoing the sound “POP…….Noooo, this can’t be happening, not right now!”
Now if you have ever tried to control a moving machine at over 100mph with a flat, you’re in for a great disaster. Out of control it spins, with no hope of ever getting it back. Smash! Bang! Crunch! Rip! Squeak! Waah!………………………..

(“Squeak”, “waah” what makes those noises?) (Something only a mother could understand.) For this is the mostly what Gwen, Thaddeus’s mother remembers about her son; when he was born, for now she mourns. The one who loved to “Chase the Touge” so to speak, and was killed doing it. At the funeral they stand, Jerome, Stephan, Shelly, Maxwell, and Aladdin, the crew, his “crew”. All with their own remembrances of “Thad,” this is what they all called him. How he used to take them out at night to all the “hot spots” where other clubs, and Crews hung out showing off their prized possessions. Or when they worked on their own rides, or sped off from many “illegal race” productions, the late night cruises on the “I,” one of the local highways that was just a relaxation drive to calm all their nerves.
Jerome, Thad’s right hand man, said to the crew, “well now we know that he is safe and so are the other people on the roads,” to which they all gave a sickly mournful chuckle, “huh huh.”
He was right, just not the right timing, which was normal for Jerome, like the time Shelly, wrecked one of the Evo’s they were working on. She was going to tell Thaddeus just as soon as they got it back up and running and to the shop, but Jerome jumped the gun, he meant well, and Thaddeus was furious. But he got over it, that’s what you do when you have your own shop; you just fix things if and when they’re broken………………

Screams blot out the morning sun, as Thaddeus awakens to cold sweat and an adrenaline fed heart. For the dream that he just had was a life taker and he isn’t going out that easy. As calmness overtakes him in time, he gets up to do the morning musts; shower, brush, deodorize, etc. When he was about to start breakfast, the cell rings, with Maxwell’s voice on the line.
“What up son, did I wake you?”
“ No, just bout to sit down for some oatmeal, what up?”
“Man…. I don’t know how to tell you this because I know how you are, but let me explain..….”
“What’s going on?” Thaddeus was concerned.
“Bro, Al (short for Aladdin) and I were downtown, looking at some honey’s and all of a sudden, my heart dropped into my stomach, as there was this dude, holding what felt like a gun to the side of my skull, shouting things like ‘step out of the car’ and ‘it’s mine now’ can you believe that? He took the Evo, the one Shelly wrecked a while ago……… but I am coming up with a plan on how we can get it back, be sure of that. I.., didn’t want to call you all late last night, and wake you so I decided to wait, until now. Man please don’t be mad and put me on detailing duty again!”

“Whaaat!! Man……, look I’ll meet up with you at the shop, gotta go!!”

Then Thaddeus hung up the phone, in an instant he was back in the bewildered frenzy where he awoke.

Vroom, starts the Supra and that familiar purr of the “2JZ” engine which is his true love, for Thaddeus feels like he is one with his car, especially when they are on the road together. He calls her “Tre-on” because she can chirp the tires through “tre-on” or third “on” through sixth gear. Being inside “Tre” gets him back in the mood he likes to be in.
Driving to the shop, Thaddeus is hit with this epiphany, which sort of troubles him because of the character that he has developed over the years. This all started with his Father and older Brother messing with him when he was younger because he was small and seemed to be dumb. If only they could see him now. Sadly, they suddenly died on a road trip when Jacob, his brother was heading off to college. Their father driving, when all of a sudden the brakes went out down a steep graded pass, when all control of the vehicle was lost. Bang! Head on into traffic coming in the other direction on the highway, “they died instantly” the coroner said.

In all that Thaddeus had been put through, during their time on earth nothing hurt worse than this, he slowly developed a short temper, and all the fights with Jacob showed him that he needed to protect himself from anyone or anything. The epiphany again; is the way that I am living now and the feeling I had during that dream really how I want to live the rest of my life? The question crossed his mind. The ride to work was half an hour, so he had time to think about it.

Pulling up to his shop, which is called “Thad rad rides” he cuts the low purring of the car off, gets out opens the door to the shop, and what do you know just the person he wants to talk to, Maxwell.
“Look man I had time to think about the whole car getting jacked thing, and don’t worry about it, we can always get a new one, but we can’t always get a new Maxwell.”
By now Maxwell was floored because he remembers one time as a joke he and Stephan were putting wheels back on an MR2 and they put them on backwards, meaning that the tread of the tires went the wrong direction. Thad flipped out, made em change the tires the right direction, and reprimanded them to car detailing duty for the next month, not allowed to work on one single ride in the shop. So you could understand his surprise, matter of fact the whole crew was looking at him weird. In unison they all said “what’s up man, where’s Thaddeus?”
So he just shrugged it off, and slowly began to tell them about his dream, and how they were all gathered at his funeral and reminiscing about all their past experiences. Then Thaddeus said something that was to be the beginning of a long process of change in them all.
“When I was dead in my dream, I died for no good reason, a race, come on, you all know as well as I do that it’s no way to go out. Yes it may be the fulfillment of all our passions, working on something, getting it right then putting it to the road test, yah we live for that. But, do we want to die for it too? Of course not, think about it, if you or I go out, it mine as well be for something noble and good like taking a bullet in order to have a friend live. Or maybe saving your mother from a burning house while it collapses on you.”

You could have heard a blow-off valve on a turbo charged bicycle, during the next few moments.
“Wow Thad, something’s got a hold of you what’s really going on?” said Shelly.

“Nothing” he said. “I just told you what had happened and now I want to live life to the fullest, and hold nothing back not only with cars, but in my relationships as well and all other areas of my life. Is this so hard to believe?”

“It is!” shouted Al. “Because you’re not being you, over some little dream!”

Al remembered when they had a pool party a couple years ago, and he splashed Thad in the eyes with water. And all hell broke loose, “you idiot, you got water in my eyes now I can’t see cus my contact fell out!” These enraged words flew from Thad’s mouth, as if he was a bull at a rodeo, trying to get the cowboy off his back. For then it would be a good reason to get mad, Al thought. Meanwhile out of the pool Thad jumped and was running toward Al who had gotten out of the pool to catch some sun and let the breeze cool him from the heat of tension. Out of nowhere, tackled, and rolling to the ground they went, with Thad getting a good headlock on Aladdin while screaming obscene salty non-cordial words at him. As their friends pulled Thad off and settled him down, saying, “it’s alright, he’s your friend!” Aladdin, shaken but not too angry just left the party early, which put an awkward damper on the rest of the afternoon.

“Yah, Thad, this is very odd,” Exclaimed Jerome. “We understand what you are saying, but I guess we don’t know how to take it from you! We all love you and know you’re a great guy, the best driver in town; no one has a passion for cars like you. I mean we don’t think you’re a hypocrite or nothing, just thinking of the guy who orders a well well done steak, then gets mad when it comes out and it’s burnt. Where’s the logic in that, but that’s who we know you as.”
Jerome knew Thaddeus the best. They met at MIT their freshman year, were roommates when sophomore year came around and have been close ever since. They built a highly modified CRX together in college, which brought them closer by their love for speed; this machine would do a quarter mile in 10 seconds flat. It was pretty impressive to say the least, for a couple twenty year olds at the time. They even dated two different sets of twins just so they could always be together, especially on dates. They both figured he’s gonna tell me what happened on the date anyway, might as well be there to see it first hand, for they were always on the same page with things.

Thaddeus finally got the picture; he had been “himself” for so long that this sudden change of heart was like a fish out of water experience for all of them. An interruption came at that moment, when a customer drove up with a loud roar from the exhaust of his RX7.
The man got out of the car came into the shop, and asked, “do you guys tune ECU’s?”

Aladdin responded “sure, all the time.” For he was the computer tuning expert.

“Great” the man said with enthusiasm “I’ll leave it here, and how long will that be?”

“Give me a couple hours.” Retorted Al.
So after the new job the team was still a little shaken up and really didn’t know what to think or where to go from here.

So later that night they all met up at the “point” which is situated on Main and Buckley a large lot where car clubs show off their rides. Civics, RSX’s, Preludes, S2000’s, Silvia’s, Supra’s, BMW’s, SLR’s, you name it, the car was there. Now and again you might catch someone running his mouth about how fast his car is and then there’s a showdown, and somebody goes home mad but not too often. There is a lot of respect, when clubs meet up on nights like this so generally no fights, or head talkers.

As Thad’s crew was just minding their own business “The General” came up and started chatting with them about some new projects. The General was the leader of “The Crickets” a huge car club with more than 30 members. He drove an olive green SLR Mclaren with hog yellow graphics, and 20” wheels that ran a quarter mile in eight and a half seconds. He was of the melancholy sort and was a bit quiet, but brilliant. He once threw together a rear wheel drive RSX, with a RB26 engine, in less than three months, so he is well respected because of his ingenuity. Shelly and Stephan left early, because of prior commitments. They were engaged to be married in March, so they weren’t bummed when they went their way.

Just then a Gold aero descent painted EVO pulled up, with chrome Volk wheels.
In an instant Maxwell shouted,
“that’s our car!”
He ran over to the guy who jumped out of the car with three ladies. Smack!! Across his face, he felt the thunder from the punch Max threw. Pummeled to the ground he went, as a large crowd formed to see the entertainment for the night. Shouts came from the excited crowd,
“Hit him!”
“Fight!”
“Get up!”
all of the commotion was stalled for a moment when Max asked,
“where did you get this car?”

The man answered “I just bought it, and what was that for?!”

And so the onslaught of questions started on where he got the car, and whom he got it from and so on.
“Well the mystery is solved, we know who stole it now” said Jerome “lets go get em”

Thaddeus said “no!”

“No” “what do you mean, no?” They asked in bewilderment.

“I said no because this isn’t how we are going to act any more, we are grown men and he will obviously get what is coming to him, just not from us.”

Thad told Jim, the owner of their EVO to keep it, for he had purchased it and that it’s no longer their dealings. The fellas were steaming now because they wanted to pound on the person who had stole and sold their car.

It was a quiet ride home for all of them, as Thaddeus dropped Al and Max off at their house. Jerome and he were in the car alone, when all of a sudden Jerome blew up on him.
“Look man, this change in you is all sorts of crazy, when we were roommates at school you would always be down for retaliation especially when it had to do with something that was done to you. What the heck bro, I don’t know how to react to this now, I’m at a loss for words, I mean this is dumb it’s very clear that we were jacked and we know who did it, but you just want to lay down and act like nothing happened. I’m out man, just drop me off at home, the fellas and I will take care of it!”
Thaddeus just let him be and took him home.

It was a long night for him after this crazy day of nightmares, thoughts of his Father and Brother, and the change of heart he now proclaimed, even the thievery of one of their cars. He tried to sleep it off, tossing and turning all night but no rest could be found. So he hopped into Tre his only way of real peace in this world, and drove. Where he was going he didn’t know but just wanted to get there as soon as possible, he first hit the “I” and that just brought up thoughts of the crew and he didn’t want those, because they had turned against him or so he was feeling. He drove up the pass where his Father and Brother had died, but that didn’t seem to help because now he was thinking of them and didn’t want it in his head. What do you do when all you know is what you have always done? He said a prayer that night in hopes that it would change things, but he pondered to himself, what’s the use, I have no one.

Asleep in his car he finally fell, in an abandoned parking lot of a once rubber factory. Tap Tap on the window is what he awoke to, as a police officer stood outside of the car.
“You all right son?” he asked.
Thaddeus looked lost, where am I he wondered?
“Yah…, yes sir I think I am.”

“Well you need to get a move on boy, this is no motel.”

“Ok”
He answered with a “shut up” sort of tone. He fired it up and screeched his way out of there. Thaddeus went home to get ready for the day, and received a phone call when he was done. It was Jerome calling; he hesitated to answer but finally did
“Hello”
“Hey Thad its me, look man what I said last night was wrong, and I’m sorry, you’re my best friend and you’ve always done right by me so there is no good reason to get all huffy and puffy over a car. ‘He will get what is coming to him’ as you said. Come over to the shop we have a surprise for you, see you soon, late.”

They hung up, and Thad couldn’t help but think what had gotten into him. He jumped into his Silvia, now this car was cherry he won it off some guy in a street drift competition a year ago, but hardly ever drove it, wanted to keep it nice.

When he arrived at the shop, he couldn’t get “the surprise” out of his head, what could it be? Walking in he could see everyone running around trying to hide something, but what? He finally asked,
“What are you guys doing, what’s going on?”
Shelly finally let the words fly “here”
she handed him what looked like some papers.
“What’s this?” he questioned.
Jerome butted in “it’s the deed to some property we bought for you, outside of town. The one you have been saving up for, so you could build that race track you’ve been dreaming about!”
Thad Stammered a bit and couldn’t find any words that would relay the “absolute gratitude” message he had in his heart, all that came out was
“th.. thanks, wow.. what can I say, wow!”

They began planning for the track immediately, and slowly but surley they all caught on to this “fish out of water living”, and embraced change!