Woody, Mary Jane, Steve, and Worm went down to San Diego in the Dodge,
starting early on Friday morning. In San Diego they met Randy and all
had dinner together. Mary Jane said afterward that Randy was the most
fascinating man she had ever met. Certainly he was an excellent talker,
full of wit and optimism. Perhaps in deference to Mary Jane, he didn't
limit the conversation to racing and racing cars but spoke as readily
of the different countries of Europe, with an anecdote to adorn each of
them, as a man would speak of his own home town.
He talked of sailing on Lake Geneva, in Switzerland, and of the
mistrals, or sudden winds, coming out of the mountains, which made the
sport dangerous; of the Casino at Monaco and the Tivoli gardens in
Copenhagen. All in all he enchanted everybody, so that Mary Jane wanted
to know all about him and both Steve and Woody made him number one on
their hero list.
Woody noticed when dinner was over that Randy was a little awkward in
getting out of his chair. He thought nothing of it at the time, but the
detail had not escaped Mary Jane.
When they returned to their motel and Randy had left them, Mary Jane
turned to Worm and asked, "Has Randy got something the matter with his
legs?"
"Ye're a noticing young body," said Worm. "His legs are all right, but
he's only got five toes."
"Five toes?" said Mary Jane, horrified now that she'd said anything at
all.
"Aye," said Worm. "He lost his right foot about fifteen years ago. But
it doesn't trouble his driving, and he walks without a limp. I've no
doot it took him a lot of practice. There was some talk of barring him
from racing, but he proved he's as good a driver as men wi' two feet of
their own. He has a cupboard full of trophies won all over Europe. But
this is the first time he's racing in America."
"You mean he's racing an unknown car on a course he's never seen before
and with only one foot?" cried Woody.
"Hoot, mon," said Worm, "I mind the time he climbed the Matterhorn in
the avalanche season wi' the same one foot. It comes to me that yon
Randy wouldna enjoyed himself half as much if he had both his feet.
He's a mon that likes a challenge."
6
Woody, Mary Jane, and Steve were out at the track early the following
morning after a hurried breakfast. Worm and Randy went out in the Black
Tiger together, and Woody took Worm's Dodge. They would not see each
other until the day's racing was over because Woody and Randy would be
in the pit area while they would have to stay behind the low fence of
wood slats, called a snow fence, which separated the track from the
spectators.
Woody bought a program and found a map of the track on it.
"Boy," he said, "take a gander at that."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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