#who painted helmet lines on his face like a loon

[willow-salix]

Did someone ask for Tracy's racing golf carts? No? Oh well...

Day 70 of Isolation on Tracy Island.

We all slept in late this morning, well, those of us that actually got to bed did, when we finally got up around lunch time we found Gordon and Scott passed out on the couches and Brains asleep at the kitchen table with a cold cup of coffee still clutched in his hand like a teddy bear.

I sent John, Virg, Grandma, Kayo and Jeff out to the pool and sorted breakfast myself, being careful not to wake the sleeping beauties.

Once breakfast was done we quietly made our way down to the hangar to see what progress the boys had made over night and to check that no sabotage had happened to the girl golf while we were sleeping.

It looked like the boys had managed to finish it at some point, or as close to, but we still had no idea why Gordon had wanted them or what he was planning on doing with them. We all drifted off to our own activities. I had the sudden and undeniable urge to bake miniature cupcakes and since Brains had apparently awoken and wandered off at some point, I had free use of the kitchen. I left them on the side for anyone who wanted to eat them and tracked John down to indulge in my favorite pastime, sitting really close to him and just staring at him until he gives up trying to concentrate on whatever he's doing to pay attention to me.

We were chilling out in the reading nook upstairs, watching Virgil finish his painting while I read out funny isolation tweets when Gordon appeared in the lounge.

“Hey everyone, it’s ready!” he yelled at the top of his lungs, waking Scott who flailed and rolled off the couch in shock.

“What’s ready?” he grumbled, rubbing his elbow where it had whacked the floor.

“The race course!”

His meaning dawned on us all at the same second and we groaned.

***

Gordon had us all assemble outside Two’s cliff hangar entrance where he’d pushed the two golf carts out and had them lined up ready.

“Girls vs boys?” Kayo and I confirmed.

“Yep, one driver, one co-pilot, drag race down the runway, sharp left hand turn down that ramp , onto the beach for an anything goes, flat out race. First one around the island via the beach wins,” Gordon announced much to my horror.

“Hang on a second,”I interrupted him. “I don’t trust you guys, we didn't modify ours at all but we know you were all trying to ‘improve’ yours.”

Gordon and Brains looked a little shifty but it was Scott that finally admitted the truth.

“We gave up on any improvements and started again and followed the instructions.”

I bit my lip, trying not to laugh but Kayo wasn't as generous and laughed in their faces. It took her a few minutes to calm down enough to straighten up and agree to their terms.

“You can drive,” I told her. “I’m not good with new things.” I heard John snort because he remembered having to teach me to drive my car after Brains tricked it out. Never again.

“Yeah, I wouldn't have let you anyway,” she told me. At least we knew where we stood.

Gordon wanted to drive since it was his idea with Scott as his co-pilot since Virgil had been voted as too heavy that he might unbalance the cart. Poor chonky thing.

We suited up with helmets and elbow and knee pads, the only safety gear we needed apparently, I would have preferred a full armoured body suit but these lot are dare devils and care nothing for safety beyond the basics. I swear, I once heard Scott quote ‘protect your melon, anything else is fine’.

I sent up a prayer to anyone that might actually be dumb enough to listen that they spare me from a broken neck by idiot family and got in beside Kayo. Apparently golf carts do not come with seat belts because obviously YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO RACE THEM!

“Hold on tight,” she grinned like an idiot, clearly loving life at that moment.

“Five! Four! Three! Two! One!” Jeff counted down and then Grandma blew a whistle. We were off!

Kayo slammed her foot down on the accelerator and we shot forward at a whopping five mph, slowly climbing to ten.

We were quickly running out of runway but she showed no sign of slowing down for the turn that was coming up.

“Kay...maybe you should sl-”

“LEAN!” she yelled and I did as I was told, throwing my weight and upper body sideways with her. We lifted up on two wheels and slid onto the ramp. I screamed. Why must she terrify me like this? We had only just started! I gripped on to the frame for dear life and tried not to scream again as we rocketed down the ramp with the boys close to our bumper and clattered onto the sand.

Thankfully the sand slowled us down a little and I was able to catch my breath, hopefully not to fill my lungs so I could scream in terror again.

She had a careless way of driving, it was like she saw every bump, rock and patch of seaweed as a personal challenge, driving at them like she was in a video game and expecting me to grab coins along the way. Well I can tell you now, I wasn't letting go until this was all over.

I heard Gordon and Scott whooping like loons , almost level beside us. I risked a glance over and they were radiating pure crazy, but in a good way, clearly enjoying themselves and having a fabulous time. Weirdos. Only this lot could enjoy terrifying near death experiences as much. What happened to quiet days at home? What happened to sanity?

“Lockdown happened,” Kayo answered. Huh, guess I said that out loud.

She screeched us around another corner, taking one hand off the handle bars to grab my arm and haul me sideways when I didn't instinctively know to move.

“You could pay attention,” she huffed.

“I’m trying not to watch my life flashing before my eyes,” I snapped back, but that just made her laugh. That’s one thing I love about her, we can snipe at each other and get mouthy but we never take it seriously.

I did pay a little attention though, enough to see the boys hit what they thought was a sand dune and turned out to be a sand covered rock. Their cart came to a bone crunching halt and they both catapulted out.

“Wait, they might be hurt,” I yelled but she didn't even look back.

“Losers, they’ll be fine.”

She was right, they got straight back up, hauled the cart upright and got right back in, tearing off after us. They were zooming on the wonk as it looked like one of their front wheels was buckled and pointing the wrong way but at least they were moving. Now I didnt feel so bad about the fact that we were about to kick their butts.

We rounded another curve, managing three wheels this time which was a definite improvement. She was enjoying herself far too much, laughing like a Disney villain as she flung the poor cart around like she was in a race car.

We were rocking along at a speedy 12 mph when our wheel caught on some seaweed which wrapped around it and locked it up tight. We jumped out and were still yanking it free when the boys zoomed past us, yelling out taunting insults .

Kayo snatched up the last of the weed and threw it away, already back in the cart.

“Hurry up!” she hollered and I’d barely got one buttcheek on the seat before she was off. I flailed and managed to hang on to the frame and plant myself more firmly.

We sped after them and managed to catch up, hindered as they were by their buckled wheel and were neck and neck as we curved around the last bend, bumped over another sand dune and took an unscheduled dip in the sea, the water spraying up as we noooomed along but nothing was going to stop us now!

The boys were about a foot ahead of us and trying for that last burst of speed on the home stretch, the second ramp that would take us back onto the runway was in sight. We both bumped up on to it at the same time and felt it wobble. We had two choices, freeze or go faster, apparently freezing is not in the International Rescue vocabulary as both Gordon and Kayo slammed their feet down and squeezed another 2 mph out of the struggling engines.

We got up the ramp, crashing into each other as we tried to turn at the same time. There was a scuffle where Kayo yelled at me to kick them and stupidly I did actually try, all that did was give Scott a chance to lean over, grab my foot and wiggle it while I screamed.

We got straight and untangled and I hauled myself back into the seat for what felt like the hundredth time in ten minutes as we hit the home stretch, barrelling down the runway. Our audience dived out of the way as we screeched to a halt.

“Who won?” Gordon demanded to know.

“Oh, sorry, were we supposed to be judging this?” Jeff asked. “We weren’t paying attention.”

The boys and Kayo groaned, demanding a rematch. No way was I going through all that again so I gave up my seat to Virgil, I was done with the entire thing. All I wanted was a cup of coffee and a lie down. These guys would be the death of me.