A Rat's Chance Ch. 4

Chapter 4: Blue Ribbon Time

The morning of the Meadowbrook Concours event started cool and damp, but by ten o'clock the sun had burned off the fog and the high summer sky opened wide. It is perhaps one of the top three such events in the world bringing together two hundred or more of the finest classic and special interest cars in the world. You can imagine my surprise just in receiving the invitation for my yellow 54 Caddy. Then to be able to drive my car out onto the show field and park beside some of the finest in the country brought a greater excitement. The sun brightened the show field, turning the brilliant chrome and spotless paint jobs into spectacular sparkling displays of rolling sculpture. I had arrived early and spent the first half hour toweling of the road dust and making the chrome shine. Standing back to admire my work, an occasional friend or complete stranger would wander by with a compliment.

"Looking good, sir," came a sweet voice with a touch of foreign accent.

I turned about to see a familiar pair of steely blue eyes smiling my way.

"Hey, glad to see you make it!" I said stepping over closer to Allie. Behind her, I could see Jack and Kate coming along. "So what do you think?"

"I can't believe this!" she remarked excitedly. "I know you told me it was a great show, but I can't believe how gorgeous these cars are!"

"They don't call 'em rolling sculpture for nothing," I commented. "Did you see that red and silver Duesenberg over there?" with a gesture over to a circle of truly classic cars. "That is a jewel!"

"What's something like that worth?" Kate asked.

"I heard that one similar to it sold a couple months back for around a million point two," I replied.

"Whoa! That's too much!" Kate laughed. "I want to meet the owner."

"Don't get too close," Jack chimed in. "Unless you're naked!"

We all laughed and, after I put my polishing stuff away, we began to wander around the circles of cars. Jack and I both demonstrated our knowledge of the cars and owners to the girls by pointing out special features or greeting the owners whom we knew. As we walked along, Allie began to draw closer and closer to me, soon slipping her arm inside mine. She was wearing a white backless little sundress cut from some light material that hugged her supple body tightly. She wore a broad-brimmed sunhat that matched nicely. It felt so good to be with her, to be seen with her, to feel her cling to me as we walked around the circles of classics. As we paused in the shade near a special display of historical cars, I turned her around and looked down into her sparkling blue eyes.

"I'm glad you came today," I said dreamily. "I'm very glad you came."

She smiled warmly and let her hand slip around my waist and pulled herself close.

"So am I," she said sweetly and simply.

By the time we had reviewed most of the show cars and wandered back to where my Caddy was parked, the judges had finished up their work and were placing the blue ribbons on the windshields of class winning cars. To my surprise one had been placed on mine.

"Congratulations, Greg!" Jack said with a pat on my back.

"Oh, baby!" squealed Allie. "Is that good?"

"Yeah, very," I said, still quite surprised. I knew my car was nice, but there were a lot of other very nice cars in the same class. "They give awards out to only a couple in each class, but this is a real surprise."

She gave me a hug and jumped up to give me a light little kiss on the lips. She stayed there holding me for a moment or two, our eyes exchanging a long lingering look. I probably would have remained there with her, but a few old car buddies were stopping by to congratulate me and chit chat. Before I knew it, Jack and the girls had wandered away. After a while, the crowd began to wander off as well and I decided to get a bite to eat before driving through the awards line to receive my trophy. Coincidently, I found Jack and the girls up at the concession tent and we joined up for lunch. When I heard the PA announcer call out my circle for awards, I had to hustle back and get my car lined up.

"You want to ride along?" I asked them.

"Oh, sure!" Allie said quickly.

"Why don't you guys go ahead," Jack said. "I think we're going to find a shady spot and neck for a while."

Kate frowned playfully and nudged him in the ribs.

While we waited in line, Allie kept looking over at me and smiling.

"This is pretty exciting for you isn't it?" she said.

"It's great! I've put a lot of work in on this baby over the years, and this is one of the best compliments a guy can get."

"What if I said, you deserved it because you're such a great guy?"

"I guess I'd have no choice but to believe you," I laughed.

"Then what would you say if I told you I was fond of you?" she asked.

I looked over at her again. Even though her eyes were shaded by her broad-brimmed sunhat, they still sparkled brightly. The hem of her dress had risen half way up her thighs. I began to picture taking her for a long drive on the way home, stopping at an empty roadside park someplace and stealing a kiss or two.

"You know how old I am?" I asked.

"And you know how young I am," she replied. "So what?"

"That's what I keep telling myself," I said. "I know my heart doesn't care about that. At this point my heart doesn't care about much besides being with you."

"I know because I feel the same way about you."

"It's been so long since I've felt open enough to commit to someone," I confessed.

"Do you think you know me well enough to talk about 'commitment'?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, there may some things that you don't know about me."

"All I know is that when I drop you off or see you leave that I wish it didn't have to be."

"What if I told you that I was married?" she said with a tone of hesitancy in her voice.

"You aren't are you?"

"Well, yes. As a matter of fact I am," she said looking down and away from me.

"My God!" I said dumbfounded. "When? I mean, all this time?"

"I know I should have told you before, but there just never seemed to be the right moment."

"Oh, Christ, Allie!"

"This doesn't change anything between us, does it?" she said. "I mean, I hope it doesn't."

"How could it not?" I replied. "You know how I am about these things. Jesus!" I said, the realization just beginning to sink in. "So who's the lucky man? Do I know him?"

"You might," she replied, looking back at me with her big blue eyes flashing. "You ever hear of Chad Clifton?"

"Yeah, the football player? That's your husband? Oh Christ! Are you crazy? I play golf with him at a charity golf function every spring. Jesus, if he caught us together, he could kill me!"

"He could kill us both, but he wouldn't. He's a really nice guy. A good loving husband."

"If he's so charming, then why do you need me?"

"Chad was my first. I met him in college during homecoming week one year. He kept calling and calling and asking me out and I finally couldn't turn him down any longer. It was a whirlwind and the next thing I know we're walking up the aisle and I'm a married woman."

"But why me?" I asked. "Why me?"

She looked at me, then down to her lap, off to the side, and all around us. Then slowly her eyes rose back to me. She could have told me anything and I would have believed it, given the way she looked at me.

"You are so different from him. He's a good guy and all, but there is such a different feeling I get when you look at me, like you respect me and cherish me. He was my first, and I never really knew any other man. But when we met, you and me, it was like for the first time I looked at a man who looked back at me and looked inside me not just what's on the outside."

"You said he was your first?"

"And my only," she said looking back down into her lap. "Somehow the longer we're married I keep thinking that I missed out on something by getting married so young. When I talk with Kate about making love and she tells me about being with Jack, I feel kind of jealous. Chad is a good man, but he just sort of jumps on and off me, you know, and I know just by looking at you that it would be so much different with you."

We had worked our way through the line and they now waved me up to the awards stand. The emcee introduced the presenter, one of the leading stylists at General Motors and announced the car and me. But I was hardly aware of any of them at the awards stand. All I could think of was how much I loved this beautiful little woman seated beside me and how remote my chances now seemed with her. They handed me the little statuette and asked a few questions about the car and my history with it. I'm sure that my responses sounded pretty vague and cursory. But we both smiled politely and motored off waving to the applause of the crowd.

"I'm sorry, Greg," she said sorrowfully as we parked the Caddy in the winner's circle. "I guess I should have told you right off."

"Well, yeah," I remarked coldly. "That would have helped."

"So you have a problem with my, uh, my situation?" she asked.

"Allie. Dear sweet, Allie," I said. "You're a married woman. I have a thing about that. A big thing. Right or wrong, you belong with him. My marriage ended in divorce because of infidelity. I'm not going to ruin someone else's for the same thing."

"But he doesn't have to know."

"He'll find out. Husbands always do. I did before. He will now."

"I'm sorry, Greg, so very sorry" she said, facing me with her pretty faced filled with an earnest pleading look. "I suppose this means we can't see each other."

I looked at her, feeling the love that had grown for her over the past weeks begin to slip away with each passing moment. She tried to smile, but had to turn away. The brilliant sun wouldn't hide the tears starting to run down her cheeks.

"I guess I better go find the others," she said, clutching her purse and quickly slipping out of the car.

She gave me a little finger wave before turning and walking off and melding into the crowd. I kept my eyes on her lovely backside for as long as I could see her. The sun filtered through her sundress revealing the shadow of her curves in greater relief. The fellow parked next to me came over to see my award. I took a deep breath and climbed out of the car. Within a few minutes things were back to normal. There were gorgeous old cars to look at, old friends to catch up with, and lovely summer afternoon to enjoy.

It wasn't until I drove off the show field late in the afternoon that I became aware of this feeling of doom settling in on me along with a certain heaviness in my heart that was weighing me down. Well, that's the story of my life, I thought to myself. You get close enough to get a glimpse of heaven but then you find out the elevator ends a couple of floors short of the top. My hand fell down to the brass lion and marble statuette. Best In Class indeed! On what should be the best day of my summer, why should I feel like such crap. "Stupid question, Greg," I said out loud to myself, as I pulled up to a stoplight. The people in the little Toyota next to me waved frantically, but I ignored them, not to be rude, but just because I wanted to be left alone.

"Hey, mister!" the driver called over as his window rolled down.

I tried to ignore them but he persisted by shouting, "What year is that?"

"Fifty-four!" I answered back, finally.

"Nice car!" he said flashing a thumb's up sign.

I waved to acknowledge the compliment, but was thankful when the light changed and I was able to pull away back into my own world and hide for a while longer.