Page 138 of The Legend
“You areso morally wrong it’s disturbing at times.”
“I neverclaimed to be morally correct. I’m just saying that given the chance to peek, Iwould check out his...” shethought for a moment, her eyebrows scrunched together, “what do you call it?Track layout?”
Laughterbroke out around everyone. Spencer looked at Alley. “Can we get a maid likeRosa?”
Jamesonlifted his beer again. “She speaks Spanish too...” and then he chuckled and looked over at Rosa, “or is it Portuguesenow?”
“Gillpollas,” Rosa muttered taking Jameson’s beer.
“Oh’p, it’s apparently back to Spanish.” Jameson laughedtaking his beer back.
It’d beenso long since I heard him laugh and be in such good spirits I forgot what itfelt like.
Times likethis with all of us together were great. The worst part about a death in thefamily was after the family and relatives have left and their lives moved onbut you’re not. You’re stuck. Rooted in the life you knew. The life you wantedand the life you made until it was changed for you.
The bestthing about the Riley family was that no matter what, they were there for youalong the way. The death was still very real to us but we took comfort inknowing everyone felt the same way.
The testsession rolled around on Wednesday and we made the drive to Charlotte to meetwith Patrick, the Vice President of NASCAR and Russ Campbell, the new Directorof Competition.
Randy, Jameson’s uncle, met us there. Him and Jameson exchanged a handshake andthen went to discussing the test and all the exams they wanted to perform.
They tookhim behind closed doors for a while, said it was a private meeting and then hadRandy and I wait in the hallway for him. We didn’t talk much. It was mostlybecause I wasn’t really in the talkative mood. I hadn’t had nearly enoughcoffee, I hadn’t had sex since before Jameson’s accident, and I was scared ofJameson getting back inside the car. I had never been scared and now I was.That kept my mind preoccupied to the point that conversing with Jameson’soverbearing sadistic Uncle wasn’t in my plan.
After themedical exams, they went down to the track and watched Jameson take abouttwenty laps, had him do a pit stop and then he had to get out of the car withinthe time limits they provided.
They wentback up to the office again, Jameson appeared relaxed and then he came out someten minutes later. He said nothing but grabbed me by the hand and took me backdown on the track to get his gear bag before we left.
Only wedidn’t leave right away. Instead he stood there leaning forward against thecounter, his head resting against the upper cabinets.
“What thefuck do they knowanyway!” Jameson shouted hurling hishelmet across the hauler. “Come on, let’s go.”
I waiteduntil we were back in his truck before I asked. “You didn’t pass?”
“No.” Hesaid flatly. “I failed the balance portion.”
The entireway back to the house he never said a word. He knew the balance would be anissue. Jameson had an injury to the Temporal lobe of his brain, that’s wherethe fracture and the swelling were mostly at. But no one knew for sure whatother areas took a hit. It could have very well been that the cerebellumportion of his brain had been injured as well. Either way, he was havingproblems with balance which is why he had the cane for so long. It had beenfourteen weeks since the accident exactly.
Andtruthfully, I blamed him failing the test on the number fourteen.
Theyscheduled another test for the following week and said, if he passed, he couldrace in the Coca-Cola 600 race at the end of the month.
After heheard that news, he threw himself into his recovery. He knew that if he wouldever get back inside a race car professionally he needed seat time. Just likeour summer when he set out to win that Triple Crown title, he got as much seattime as he could and did everything the doctors said to do.
25.Sipea Tire – Sway
Sipea Tire – Aprocess of using a razor blade to cut a tires thread causing the rubber tobreak off. Grooving or cutting a tire means to use a tool to add additionalgrooves to a tire for the purpose of adjusting its handling.
After theaccident it took some time for Jameson to be released for sexual activity. Eventhen, it took some time for him to be into it. That first time when our bodiesfinally came together, after his failed exam with NASCAR, I wondered if I haddone something wrong. It felt like motions to satisfy an urge and nothing likethe connection we had.
Iunderstood that he wasn’t feeling like himself yet but I’m not gonna lie, itbothered me.
Had theMama Wizard lost her touch?
Alley cameover not long after Jameson left for the sprint car shop that morning after wegot back from Charlotte to meet Tommy and Willie before they took off toEldora.
Alley seemedto notice my distraction immediately. “What’s wrong with you lately? Iunderstand why Jameson is moody, he’s always moody but you’re not. Are youokay?”
“Just somethings on my mind today,” That was my attempt to divert the conversationelsewhere but it didn’t work. Never did with Alley or Emma.
