Date: Sat, 01 Jun 2002 09:39:25 -0400 From: Stan Unknown Subject: Chapter 29 of Beating The Odds Chapter Twenty Nine Josh ran back to Ryan and said, "Ok, follow me back to the McDonalds where we were supposed to meet everyone. It shouldn't be long before a police car drives through, looking for us. It's important that we're there when they show up." "Huh?" Ryan exclaimed. "Just do what I say. And make sure you don't speed getting there. We have to end this now," Josh said, as he shut his deck lid and cranked his car. Ryan didn't have a clue what Josh meant, but everything that Josh had said had worked so far, so he ran to his car and backed out, following Josh. Josh took a direct path back to the highway this time and Ryan finally knew where he was. ***************** "This is Detective Martin. Has either of the vehicles been spotted?" "No word so far. But we'll find them," Sergeant French answered. "10-4. Over and out," Detective Martin answered, as he hung back the microphone. `We'll find them, all right. And then they're both going to spend the night in jail,' he thought to himself. ****************** It took them about fifteen minutes to get back to the McDonalds. They parked away from each other on purpose and got out of their cars. The others quickly ran up to greet them. "God, I thought you both were going to be caught," Jimmy said, as he came up and hugged Josh. "Or killed. I can't believe you turned down that dirt road." "I'm fine, baby. But I need you to do something for all of us. Go buy everyone a value meal of some kind. I don't care what. And hurry. Here's some money. Somebody go with him to help carry the food. Now go!" Josh said, as he pushed Jimmy towards the front of the McDonalds. "What's going on," Jim asked. "Don't worry about it. I've got it all covered," Josh answered. Everyone just looked at him strangely, but nobody pushed him. They all knew that when Josh sets his mind on something, nobody was going to change it. Jimmy, Neal and Brian soon returned with several bags of food and two trays of drinks. They all sat down at the three nearest tables and started to eat. They had almost finished eating when a police car drove slowly through and stopped behind Ryan's Mustang. They all watched the policeman grab his radio and speak excitedly into it. Then he got out, blocking Ryan from being able to leave. He spotted Josh's black Trans Am and slowly walked over to it. He walked completely around it then almost ran back to his police car. He grabbed the microphone and talked quickly into it. He looked all over the parking lot, spotted the boys staring back at him, but didn't make a move to come over to where they were sitting. "Oh shit! He just called for back up. We're dead," Ryan said softly. "I told you not to drag race. Dad's going to kill you when he finds out," Bruce answered. "Both of you are going to be lucky if you don't spend the night in jail," Jim said. "Oh, Yea of Little Faith. I told you I had it under control, and I do. Just let me do the talking, Ok?" Josh answered. Everyone looked skeptically at each other, wondering what kind of miracle Josh had up his sleeve. No one questioned him, but they all thought both boys were in serious trouble. ***************** It wasn't long before they heard the sirens in the distance. The sound got closer and closer. Then everyone saw two police cars with their lights flashing pull rapidly into the McDonalds. One pulled up behind Josh's Trans Am, blocking it from leaving, and the other pulled up next to where the boys were still sitting at the three tables. The second car had a huge dent in the passenger side back door and rear quarter panel. Four policemen jumped out and the lead two walked directly up to the boys. "Are any of you the drivers of the black Trans Am and yellow Mustang parked here?" Detective Martin asked menacingly. "Yes sir, officer. That's my Trans Am. The Mustang belongs to Ryan over there. What's the problem?" Josh asked calmly. Everyone else looked like they were ready to run for cover. Especially Ryan, whose face had gone a little pale. "You're both under arrest for drag racing," Detective Martin said loudly. "What? No way! You've got the wrong people, officer. We went to the football game and then came here for dinner. You must have us confused with some other kids," Josh answered, standing up. "We're not the ones who're confused. You two must be if you thought you could get away from us," Detective Martin's partner shouted. "Turn around and put your wrists together," he continued as he got out his hand cuffs. "Before we sue the city for false arrest, can you at least tell us what you are talking about?" Josh asked calmly. "You know what we're talking about. You caused me to wreck my car trying to keep up with you on that dirt road you took," he said, looking so mad that he might burst a blood vessel at any moment. "Oh, I see. But there's one thing I don't understand. Why do you think it was us? Look at your car. It's got dirt and mud all over it. Both of our cars are clean. And you know how black shows every little bit of dirt on it. I have to constantly wash and wax it. In fact, my friend Ryan over there is going to help me wash and wax it this weekend, aren't you Ryan?" Josh asked. Ryan just reddened and dumbly shook his head yes. Detective Martin yelled over at Sergeant French. "Is the Trans Am clean?" "Sure is, Detective. But they could have washed it," he answered. "Yeah, that's it. You both must have gone directly to a car wash after you got away from us," Detective Martin's partner said. "But officer, wouldn't underneath the car also be muddy? It rained last night and earlier today, you know," Josh answered. "Look at all the mud that's caked behind your wheels. I'm sure that there's lots of mud under your car, too, especially in the wheel wells. Take a look under ours. We haven't been driving on a dirt road. Honest!" Detective Martin stared Josh in the eye for a couple of seconds, then slowly looked at each boy in the group. He seemed startled to see Jim sitting at the last table, trying to sheepishly look away. But he didn't say anything. He also noticed Brian staring back at him and nodded at him. Brian nodded back in acknowledgement. "Check out under their cars," Detective Martin ordered. The first policeman on the scene got in push up position and looked under Ryan's car. So did Detective French with Josh's Trans Am. Both walked all the way around each car, looking for any mud, but both boys had done a good job of eliminating any traces of where they had been previously that night. "They're clean, Detective," Sergeant French said, walking up to him. "But that doesn't mean that they didn't wash under the cars too. They had enough time to do that." He looked at each of the boys quickly, anger evident in his eyes. "And I know Jim was at the race. I spoke to him there." "Jim, is that true?" Detective Martin asked. "Jim, why don't you tell us the truth." Jim looked startled for a moment, but then slowly got to his feet. "I was at the race, sir, I'll admit to that. But the two cars were from the other school. Chattahoochee High is a rich school and they have plenty of cars like these. I'm sure you know that. I heard about the race at the football game. I didn't even see Josh and Ryan there, so Brian and I went to watch it by ourselves." "And you just happened to meet here afterwards?" Detective Martin asked. "Well, we always come here after the football game. I was just telling everyone else about it when Mike drove up. Officer Williams, I mean. I was kidding Josh and Ryan that he was going to think they were the one's drag racing, not the boys from Chattahoochee High," Jim continued. "Detective Martin, you know they're the ones. They had to have washed both the outside and under the cars before coming here," Sergeant French said angrily. "Let's run them in and talk to them individually. I'm sure we'll find out the truth then" Josh looked quickly over at Ryan and saw the fear in his eyes. "Uh, if we really did that, can I ask a question?" Josh answered. "Sure, smart guy. What is it?" Sergeant French said loudly. "If we did go to a car wash, we could wash the outside pretty easily. But wouldn't we have to crawl underneath the car to wash under it?" Josh asked politely. "Yeah. What about it?" Sergeant French answered. "Wouldn't our clothes get really wet and dirty if we did that?" Josh asked. "Yeah. But, you could have changed them," Sergeant French answered after thinking about it for a few seconds. "So we each had a fresh set of clothes in the car, we wash the car, get under it to wash out all the mud from under it, somehow get dry, get dressed, then come here, where police patrol all the time. Does that make sense to you?" Josh asked. "I think he has you on that one, Sergeant," Jim added. "You keep out of this! I don't care who your father is. Both of you are guilty and you know it," Sergeant French screamed. "Calm down, Sergeant French. If the boys did do what you say, their wet clothes should still be in their cars, right? Boys, do you mind if we search you cars?" Detective Martin asked, with a small smile on his face. "No, be my guest," Josh said, as he got out his keys and walked over to his car. "I'll be glad to open it for you if it will end all of this. You're wasting your time with us. We didn't do anything. Ryan, can you open yours for the officers? Trunk too," Josh said, as he walked off towards his car. Ryan got up, but looked mostly at the ground as he opened up his front door and hit the release for his trunk. He wasn't nearly as confident as Josh, but he thought they now had a good chance of getting away with it. He was still scared, though. And very glad Josh had talked him out of taking his wet clothes with him. The policemen did a very thorough job of searching both cars. None of the boys did drugs, and the policemen would have found anything like that in their search. They weren't just looking for clothes. They were looking for anything that they could use against the boys. But they came up empty. Sergeant French finally walked up to Detective Martin with a dejected look on his face. "Nothing." "Well, we certainly don't have enough evidence to run them in. Everyone get back in your cars and drive around to see if you see another black Trans Am or yellow Mustang," Detective Martin said. "But Detective," Sergeant Martin started. "No buts. We have to let these two go," Detective Martin said, cutting him off. Sergeant Martin stared at him for a few seconds, then turned his gaze on the boys, especially Josh. "This isn't over, you know," he said, then turned around and stomped back to his patrol car. Detective Martin turned to the boys with a grin on his face. "Can I ask you boys a favor?" "Sure. Anything," Josh answered, also grinning. "Drag racing is very dangerous, especially on narrow roads like where tonight's race took place. Do you know how many teenagers get killed in traffic accidents around here? Way too many. If you or any of your friends ever want to drag race, drive over to Dallas. They have a nice drag strip over there and it's only about 20 miles from here. Commerce also has a much better one that's about 50 miles north of here. Just make sure you or any of your friends don't do this on public streets again, OK?" Detective Martin asked. "Sure. That's a great idea. Maybe we can make up signs and post them at school," Josh answered, smiling broadly now. "I can promise you this. None of us will ever drag race on the streets again," Bruce said, talking for the first time since the police showed up. "Again?" Detective Martin asked. "Well, I mean ever," Bruce answered, blushing a little bit. Detective Martin turned to Jim. "And why am I not surprised to see you here?" he asked. "And you," he said, motioning towards Brian. "What? We didn't do anything," Jim said defensively. "Uh, Detective, can I ask you a favor?" Josh said. "Do you think you really deserve one?" Detective Martin asked, smiling at Josh. "Not really. But I want to ask anyway. We just told you that we will spread the news that drag racing should only be done at a licensed drag strip. As a favor to you, you understand. So I just thought..." Josh began. "Ok, what is it?" Detective Martin laughed. "Well, there really isn't any reason to mention Jim in this to his Dad, is there? I mean, since we are innocent and all," Josh answered. "Yeah, and we will help you out in our school, I promise," Jim said, as he got to his feet. "We can tell everyone about how stupid the kids from Chattahoochee High were and how much trouble they almost got in." Detective Martin just roared with laughter. "I guess that can be arranged. As long as we all understand each other. No more drag racing anywhere around here. If any of you are ever caught, I don't know how much I could do to help you. Do you understand?" Everyone quickly agreed and Detective Martin looked them over one more time, laughed to himself, then walked over to his patrol car and got in. It quickly drove away. All of the boys were ecstatic. They all crowded around Josh, demanding how he had come up with a plan that quickly. "It was easy, really," he started. "I always keep a couple of really soft towels in the back for when I wash my car. If I don't towel it dry, the water spots look worse than if I didn't wash it to start with. Jimmy's parents and brother are spending the weekend at their house at the lake, so I had clothes for two days. Not that I plan to be in them very long," Josh said, as Jimmy blushed and everyone else roared with laughter. "You both were naked together?" Jimmy asked, as his jealousy rose to the surface. "Geez Jimmy, we were just changing out of our wet clothes. It wasn't a touchy feely type of thing. Ryan is kind of cute, though," Josh said, as he dodged Jimmy's fist. "By the way, I would like my clothes back. I'll make you a deal, Ryan. You don't have to wash and wax my Trans Am if you go back and get our clothes and return them to me, along with my clothes you are wearing," Josh said. "What do you mean? I WON!!! I passed you at the end," Ryan exclaimed. "You passed me after the quarter mile mark," Josh answered. "No way! It was way before," Ryan said. "Ok, who saw who won?" "It was too close to tell," Jim said. "I think it was a tie," Brian agreed. "NO WAY!! I know I won," Ryan fumed. "Well, we can always go back right now and do it again," Josh kidded. "Yeah, let's do that. I know I can blow you away this time," Ryan said excitedly. Everyone else thought they were both crazy for even talking about doing that after what had just happened. Bruce started it. He picked up several rolled up hamburger wrappers and threw one at Ryan, then one at Josh. Quickly, the others followed suit and it was eight against two. Everyone was laughing uncontrollably as they battled. Finally Ryan said, "Ok, I'll go back and get our clothes. I'll even wash them and give them back to you. But I want another race. At a real drag strip. Agreed?" he asked Josh. "Agreed," Josh said, as he held out his hand. Ryan shook it. They looked into each other's eyes. Then Josh pulled him to him. They each gave the other a big hug, knowing how close they had become after what they had both gone through tonight. There was nothing sexual at all in the hug. Just two good friends. "I may keep these boxers though," Ryan giggled. "Just something to remember tonight by." "You give those back too," Rob said, feigning anger and threatening to hit Ryan. "Ok. Ok. I'd better go if I have to drive back and get our clothes. Later guys," Ryan said. And so the group finally went home. Everyone was safe. No one had gotten hurt. Everyone was feeling really lucky. Especially Josh and Ryan. But that was about to change for one of them. To Be Continued E-mail responses to the stories, story suggestions or other 'constructive' comments or advice may be sent to: stan992001@hotmail.com. All e-mails will be answered. You can also visit the young gay guys support group I created after my "Matt and Mike" story at www.groups.yahoo.com/group/gbct or our web site at www.gayteensunite.org. There is a forum section there where you can enter comments about this story for everyone to see.