english topic: either peer pressure or 3 questions
James Motulski
November 09, 2004
Based on a true story.
“Someone give me a cell phone,” Jimmy said. A crowd was starting to form, and he didn’t like to keep his customers waiting. Nick was leaning on the front fender of his Prelude, “Hey I’m here, the time I said I would be, now where is your boy, is he too cool to run his stuff, or just afraid?” The crowd cheered, they loved taunting, but there was no one there to give a come back, and the hype quickly died down again. Jimmy motioned over to Ray who was in his GTI to distract the crowd; Ray was a showoff, so it worked out perfectly.
“Hel-lo,” Rathel answered. “Dammit man where the hell are you,” Jimmy gave him no special treatment, friendship or not. “I can’t make it tonight, my girl is coming over, and you know how she feels about racing,” he said, seeming distracted. “Is that Grand Theft Auto San Andreas in the background,” Jimmy asked. He didn’t wait for answer and hung up the phone.
Nick had a 1988 3rd generation Honda Prelude, a nice sleeper. Jimmy just had to find someone who would be willing to race him, which shouldn‘t be that hard. Right then, through the crowd and smoke from Rays reverse doughnuts, he saw Dan. Dan The Man he called him. He was surprised to see him here. He didn’t usually come this far south to race. They use to work together and no one knew him here except Jimmy. He ran over to Dan, “Dan I need you to run it tonight,” Jimmy pleaded with him. “I can’t do it man, no way,” Dan replied. “So that’s it you just spend all that money on your car just to drive it to work everyday,” Jimmy wasn’t holding back, he was getting desperate.
By then some of the crowd began to draw there attention from Ray and onto Nick walking over to Jimmy and Ray. Nick was laughing when he said, “oh what you want me to race that?” The crowd liked it, so Jimmy liked it. Jimmy decided to stir it up a bit, “alright Dan you got the balls to race him or not?” The whole crowd was looking at him, and after a pause he said, “yea, I’ll run it.” And the crowd blew up.
Dan jumped in his car and fired her up. The engine was still warm from the trip there so he revved her up a bit. Then an award noise came from his car, “did I just hear R2D2,” Jimmy turned and said. Dan was smiling, “yea just got it in from Japan, it’s and R2D2 blow off valve, sounds good don’t it?” Jimmy smile back. But surprisingly Nick was smiling too. No one knew at the time but Nick had just installed a 100 shot direct port wet nitrous system in his car. They both pulled up to the line. Jimmy was just starting to calm down after all the upsets and walked to the middle of the line. He raised his hands and they were off. It was a half mile straight away, so it should be and interesting race. About ¼ of the way down the road Nick decides to kick in the nitrous.
It was the best feeling he ever had, he was thrown back into his seat and started to gain speed rapidly. Dan saw it all happen, and was surprised; he didn’t even want to race today. Right then Nicks car locked up and sideswiped Dans car then bounced back and hit the wall. Dan kept driving, he drove all the way home and into his garage.
Nick had replaced mostly everything in his engine, but more importantly his transmission. Just a month ago he installed, a SPEC stage five clutch, lightened flywheel, and even a Quaife Torque Biasing Performance Differential. The differential pin, which was installed correctly, was the weakest link in this case. Most people recommend welding the pin in to prevent it from flying out and shearing the casing of the transmission.
Nick was dead and Dan was scared. The only one who knew who Dan was, was Jimmy, but he wasn’t saying a word. But after some investigations, Nicks friends who were there that night ID Dans car, which lead them to him. They arrested him and brought him in for questioning.
I walked over to the Lieutenant and asked him what the latest case was. He explained the situation to me. I looked through the window and saw him sitting there. I looked back up at Lieutenant and asked him if I could have a word with him. Me and Lieutenant go way back, he looked back and said, “fine but be quick, and just remember he knows his rights, doesn’t have to say anything without his lawyer here.” He handed me his files and opened the door for me.
“H-hi,” I stuttered, I mean it was a greeting. He was blunt, “you got three questions.” It was cut and dry, no gray area to worry about, I half smiled, I liked it like that. I pulled out a chair from the table he was sitting at and sat across from him. There was that awkward silence in the room, but as usual, he played it off cool. I put the folder down and laid it open on the table. There was no time limit, but I didn‘t want to be in here when his lawyer gets here.
“What were you up to last Friday night,” like I said cut and dry that is how I liked it. I knew I only had three questions and I was not going to waste them beating around the bush. Only his mouth moved, “I was at home watching a movie,” he said.
He leaned back further in his chair, signifying he was comfortable, and I didn‘t like that. I pulled out a police report from the night of the incident, and he motioned for the pitcher of water and a glass. “If you were at home watching a movie, then why do I have witnesses from the night of the scene identifying the other driver as you?” He looked up at me while still pouring his glass of water. I could tell he was shocked at the question, but he played it off cool as always, like he was expecting the question. “I don’t know, I told you guys before, my car was broken that night, and there was no way I could have been there.”
“Then why is there a garage receipt for you car being serviced for body damage to the side of you car?” He really did not have an answer, he knew it, I knew, and he knew I knew it. “That’s from when my sister hit it with her car, we didn’t file a report for insurance reasons,” he said. He got me again, what could I say, I was so mad at the moment.
I stood up and almost knocked the chair over. I slammed my fist down on the table, “I just want to know what the hell happened out there?” He looked up, with tears in his eyes, but by then it was too late, had used my three wishes and my gene went back into his lamp; I respected the rules of the game. I fixed my tie, grabbed the papers, and headed for the door.
Dan sold his car after it all, and the case was dismissed due to a lack of evidence. It’s funny how peer pressure got him to race, but it couldn’t get him to confess
November 09, 2004
Based on a true story.
“Someone give me a cell phone,” Jimmy said. A crowd was starting to form, and he didn’t like to keep his customers waiting. Nick was leaning on the front fender of his Prelude, “Hey I’m here, the time I said I would be, now where is your boy, is he too cool to run his stuff, or just afraid?” The crowd cheered, they loved taunting, but there was no one there to give a come back, and the hype quickly died down again. Jimmy motioned over to Ray who was in his GTI to distract the crowd; Ray was a showoff, so it worked out perfectly.
“Hel-lo,” Rathel answered. “Dammit man where the hell are you,” Jimmy gave him no special treatment, friendship or not. “I can’t make it tonight, my girl is coming over, and you know how she feels about racing,” he said, seeming distracted. “Is that Grand Theft Auto San Andreas in the background,” Jimmy asked. He didn’t wait for answer and hung up the phone.
Nick had a 1988 3rd generation Honda Prelude, a nice sleeper. Jimmy just had to find someone who would be willing to race him, which shouldn‘t be that hard. Right then, through the crowd and smoke from Rays reverse doughnuts, he saw Dan. Dan The Man he called him. He was surprised to see him here. He didn’t usually come this far south to race. They use to work together and no one knew him here except Jimmy. He ran over to Dan, “Dan I need you to run it tonight,” Jimmy pleaded with him. “I can’t do it man, no way,” Dan replied. “So that’s it you just spend all that money on your car just to drive it to work everyday,” Jimmy wasn’t holding back, he was getting desperate.
By then some of the crowd began to draw there attention from Ray and onto Nick walking over to Jimmy and Ray. Nick was laughing when he said, “oh what you want me to race that?” The crowd liked it, so Jimmy liked it. Jimmy decided to stir it up a bit, “alright Dan you got the balls to race him or not?” The whole crowd was looking at him, and after a pause he said, “yea, I’ll run it.” And the crowd blew up.
Dan jumped in his car and fired her up. The engine was still warm from the trip there so he revved her up a bit. Then an award noise came from his car, “did I just hear R2D2,” Jimmy turned and said. Dan was smiling, “yea just got it in from Japan, it’s and R2D2 blow off valve, sounds good don’t it?” Jimmy smile back. But surprisingly Nick was smiling too. No one knew at the time but Nick had just installed a 100 shot direct port wet nitrous system in his car. They both pulled up to the line. Jimmy was just starting to calm down after all the upsets and walked to the middle of the line. He raised his hands and they were off. It was a half mile straight away, so it should be and interesting race. About ¼ of the way down the road Nick decides to kick in the nitrous.
It was the best feeling he ever had, he was thrown back into his seat and started to gain speed rapidly. Dan saw it all happen, and was surprised; he didn’t even want to race today. Right then Nicks car locked up and sideswiped Dans car then bounced back and hit the wall. Dan kept driving, he drove all the way home and into his garage.
Nick had replaced mostly everything in his engine, but more importantly his transmission. Just a month ago he installed, a SPEC stage five clutch, lightened flywheel, and even a Quaife Torque Biasing Performance Differential. The differential pin, which was installed correctly, was the weakest link in this case. Most people recommend welding the pin in to prevent it from flying out and shearing the casing of the transmission.
Nick was dead and Dan was scared. The only one who knew who Dan was, was Jimmy, but he wasn’t saying a word. But after some investigations, Nicks friends who were there that night ID Dans car, which lead them to him. They arrested him and brought him in for questioning.
I walked over to the Lieutenant and asked him what the latest case was. He explained the situation to me. I looked through the window and saw him sitting there. I looked back up at Lieutenant and asked him if I could have a word with him. Me and Lieutenant go way back, he looked back and said, “fine but be quick, and just remember he knows his rights, doesn’t have to say anything without his lawyer here.” He handed me his files and opened the door for me.
“H-hi,” I stuttered, I mean it was a greeting. He was blunt, “you got three questions.” It was cut and dry, no gray area to worry about, I half smiled, I liked it like that. I pulled out a chair from the table he was sitting at and sat across from him. There was that awkward silence in the room, but as usual, he played it off cool. I put the folder down and laid it open on the table. There was no time limit, but I didn‘t want to be in here when his lawyer gets here.
“What were you up to last Friday night,” like I said cut and dry that is how I liked it. I knew I only had three questions and I was not going to waste them beating around the bush. Only his mouth moved, “I was at home watching a movie,” he said.
He leaned back further in his chair, signifying he was comfortable, and I didn‘t like that. I pulled out a police report from the night of the incident, and he motioned for the pitcher of water and a glass. “If you were at home watching a movie, then why do I have witnesses from the night of the scene identifying the other driver as you?” He looked up at me while still pouring his glass of water. I could tell he was shocked at the question, but he played it off cool as always, like he was expecting the question. “I don’t know, I told you guys before, my car was broken that night, and there was no way I could have been there.”
“Then why is there a garage receipt for you car being serviced for body damage to the side of you car?” He really did not have an answer, he knew it, I knew, and he knew I knew it. “That’s from when my sister hit it with her car, we didn’t file a report for insurance reasons,” he said. He got me again, what could I say, I was so mad at the moment.
I stood up and almost knocked the chair over. I slammed my fist down on the table, “I just want to know what the hell happened out there?” He looked up, with tears in his eyes, but by then it was too late, had used my three wishes and my gene went back into his lamp; I respected the rules of the game. I fixed my tie, grabbed the papers, and headed for the door.
Dan sold his car after it all, and the case was dismissed due to a lack of evidence. It’s funny how peer pressure got him to race, but it couldn’t get him to confess