Race With a Heart
Chapter 57: Dreams for Future

Chapter 57: Dreams for Future

"I’m sorry for being late!" Martin called from the threshold, panting as he ran all the way from the stop. "I don’t know how it happened that I overslept ..."

Even as he was finishing these words, Sid and Dave were right next to him.

"Are you all right?"

"Are you OK?"

"How are you?"

They asked one by one, making Martin embarrassed.

"I’m okay. There is nothing wrong with me..." he assured them, flushed, but then he felt a sudden pain in his abdomen and gasped involuntarily.

"What do you mean nothing?" Dave said indignantly. "You should be in the hospital now! Have you been to the doctor? What he said?"

Martin was already all red with embarrassment. The pain he felt was not the result of the two punches in the stomach, but of the night marathon with Steve. Entirely engrossed in passion and delight, Martin did not foresee the consequences he knew so well. The bolder Steve was, the more battered Martin was the next day, but the mechanic absolutely did not regret it, because it was worth it. It was definitely worth it.

Now, however, quite unexpectedly, Martin had to somehow explain himself to his younger colleagues in order to calm them down and he had to lie.

Fortunately, Teddy saved him.

Leave him alone, "he ordered. "A man has his pride. If he says he’s okay, nothing has happened to him. Understood? "

"Yes, sir!!" they both answered in unison.

"Now go back to cleaning," Teddy told them. "And you, come with me."

The car repair shop was almost cleaned by now, and there was virtually no sign of yesterday’s robbery. It was different in the office where the cash register was clearly damaged and could not be repaired.

"Sorry about that, boss" Martin really felt guilty. This poor workshop could not afford to buy a new cash register.

"Don’t worry about it and sit down. You could play a tough guy in front of the boys, but you don’t have to in front of me. You should see a doctor. Those brawlers could hurt you something. "

Martin felt weak at the thought of having a medical examination today. Not that the doctor would also examine him there, but the doctors are probably not idiots and they will figure out the real source of the pain, and the young mechanic did not want that to happen.

"They didn’t beat to hurt me. Rather, they wanted to scare me, " he said.

"I can’t force you, but ..."

"Boss, give it up now. To get me to the hospital, I’d have to be unconscious. " Martin announced briskly.

"Okay," the old man resigned, although his eyes showed concern. "I wanted to see you not only because of that."

Teddy’s face was so serious that Martin felt uneasy.

"Are you going to fire me?" he asked resignedly.

"Fire you?" the surprised white-haired man asked. "Why would I do this?"

"Well ... all these losses ..."

The old man shook his head.

"Martin, you are a good boy. Too good for its own good. If I fire the only real mechanic in this workshop, who will earn to maintain this place? "

It was right. Martin was informed from day one that his younger colleagues knew nothing but the basics.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?"

"I don’t know if this is a good time for you, especially after what happened yesterday, but I wanted to ask you to take care of the workshop for a week or two. You see, the doctor insists that I undergo some surgery ... "

In his mind, Martin immediately saw old Teddy suffering from illness, lonely, without family, for whom the only family were those two boys in a car repair shop. They were both young and inexperienced and still attended school. They needed care themselves, so how could an old man leave a workshop in their care? That’s why Teddy struggled with the pain, waiting for the right moment to find someone who would let him leave the place and the boys he cared for with a little more calm heart.

"I won’t let you down, boss," he promised. "You can safely go to surgery. I promise the workshop will not collapse while it is under my care. "

The old man smiled kindly and put his hand on Martin’s shoulder.

"You’re a good boy," he repeated. "Today I will make an appointment with the doctor and you will start learning about the workshop. This operation is not a big deal, but at my age, you understand. I will feel calmer knowing that someone is taking care of the workshop and the boys. "

"You look strong so it will surely be all right," Martin assured him, sincerely believing his words. "But as for running the garage, I won’t be able to start my lessons until I have this car repaired. I promised my client to do it as soon as possible and already lost half of the day."

"Do it this way. Our clients’ trust is half the battle for us. "

Martin smiled a courageous smile, but felt a little insecure himself. Worry for old Teddy rose in his heart. It is true that at this age, even the slightest procedure was associated with risks.

But if an operation was needed, it was what it was, and Martin would do whatever it takes to make the old man go for it with a calm heart.

That, however, was for the future and Martin had to concentrate on current tasks such as car repair.

As he slipped under the car chassis, he saw the boys crouching down next to him.

"Shouldn’t you be at school now?" he asked them.

"They don’t teach anything at school," said Sid. Very shy at first, now he found more and more courage to talk to Martin. Maybe the boy was only shy with newly met people?

Martin sighed. He was not the best material to encourage anyone to go to school because he would drop out of it whenever he had the chance, but he understood the importance of good education. Saying ’you have to go to school because you will need it someday’ was pointless as he would either ignore it or laugh at it.

Suddenly Martin remembered something.

"And your test ?!"

"I dropped out of school right after I take it."

Well, at least the boy participated in the test. There was a chance he would pass to the next grade.

Martin may not have been the most diligent student, but he actually always knew what he wanted, and he didn’t need school to do that. Did these boys know what they want in life?

"Do you have any dreams?" he asked them.

"I want to be a mechanic," Sid replied immediately, but Dave was silent. Either he didn’t have a dream, or he had one that he didn’t want to share.

"And you?" Dave asked instead.

"Hmm, I ... My dreams were changing. I used to want to become a racing driver, but then I wanted to work on racing cars as a mechanic. "

"You want this now too?"

"I don’t know," admitted Martin. "I dreamed about it and was lucky to be in a real racing stable for two months. It was great, really, but car work is the best for me, whether it’s a racing car or something else. This car, for example. It will never take part in any race, but it is very important to its owner. Without it, she won’t be able to work. So it really doesn’t matter what kind of cars I repair, as long as I get them fixed.

"You really think so?" Martin heard a familiar voice and immediately pulled out from under the car.

His younger colleagues stood in surprise, staring at Jack Lambert’s cheerful, sunny smile.

"Jack? What are you doing here?" Martin exclaimed in surprise, getting to his feet.

"I came to visit a friend," he announced, "and to spy out a little what you are doing. I see you work in a very young team. I’m Jack Lambert." Jack held out his hand to greet both boys.

Dave and Sid embraced it with such solemnity as if the pope himself was shaking hands. They introduced themselves shyly, still not believing their luck. Jack Lambert himself shook hands with them!

Jack seemed to be comfortable in this situation. He was not a proud man, but he was glad to meet young men who treated him as if he was at least a national hero.

Martin, too, could not help but smile happily. Jack was a real friend to him and he really enjoyed his visit.

"My boss will be delighted to meet you too," he told Lambert. "Now he’s making an appointment, but when he’s finished, he’ll be happy to meet you. But seriously, what are you doing here completely without notice? "

"I wanted to catch you farting."

"Ha, ha, ha, very funny."

Martin may not have been one of the smartest people in the world, but he figured Jack’s joking responses were evasive actions so that outsiders might not know the true purpose of his visit. Martin had to show something on his face because Jack laughed and ruffled his hair.