“I really need to get home.” Laurie had a bit of panic in her voice.
The day had been wonderful, but Paddy knew it was time to draw it to an end. The girls were dutifully dropped off.
“Did you notice that pool table Bill had?”
“Hard not to,” Paddy replied.
“I bet that fridge was full of beer too.” Donny was formulating another one of his endless ideas.
Paddy had a bad feeling but headed back to Bill’s nonetheless. “You suppose he’ll still be up?”
Not only was he up but also met them in the laneway. “What in Heaven’s name is wrong with your car? It sounds like a Sherman tank? I could hear you coming from miles off.”
Paddy had to confess that Mighty Merc had been sounding even mightier than usual as the evening wore on. Bill scurried underneath and exited soon after to announce: “Your muffler has become disconnected from the exhaust pipe. Looks fairly secure otherwise. Want a beer?”
“Well perhaps one beer and one game of pool. Then we have to go.”
Many games of pool and much beer later, Paddy glanced out the window and could see a slight glow in the east. Good grief! It was almost dawn. They bid farewell and hit the road.
“We might as well take the Speedway. At this time of day, there’ll be nobody on it.”
The Speedway was Highway 401, which at that time, and in that particular location, was still only two lanes wide with level crossings guarded by stop signs. All went well until they turned off at their side road and were greeted by – an OPP cruiser.
At that point, Paddy made the somewhat insane decision to sneak by the policeman – with his Sherman tank. If that failed, he was going to make a run for it. He announced the same to Donny and watched the latter’s eyes grow very large.
Paddy powered down and tried to coast by the Black & White. Mighty Merc chose that moment to backfire. KABOOM! The police lights came on. Paddy matted the gas pedal. The sound was deafening. “Hang on!”
They hit the four corners on two wheels and screamed into the village. Fortunately the policeman had been facing the opposite direction, but he was still hot on their heels with lights flashing and siren blaring. Paddy screeched to a stop in his lane. Two doors flew open. Donny ran home as fast as he could. Paddy flew into his house, threw off his clothes, jumped into bed and pulled the covers over his head. He immediately passed out.
He awoke the next morning, make that afternoon, from vivid dreams of being incarcerated in a small cell and being interrogated and tortured and . . . Fortunately he seemed to be in his bedroom. Best get up and greet the day.
As he settled down at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee, his mother queried sternly: “Did you have a police car follow you home last night?”
“Whyever do you ask?”
“You were very loud and awoke me. I looked out the window and saw a policeman pull in the lane shortly after you. He got out of his car, walked around yours then left.”
“Humph! Isn’t that peculiar?”
His mother gave him ‘the look’ but said no more. Fortunately they were indeed kinder, gentler times.
Charlie went out to visit Mighty Merc and gently caressed the magnificent machine. He couldn’t help but be proud of how successful his first day of car ownership had been. Now what should he do today?
