The phone rang at 3:00 AM and startled Kristie out of a deep sleep. She had been dreaming of swimming in a warm pool, naked and free…. “Kristie, I need help…” It was a drunken Rene’. “I’m at this party with a bunch of drunken NASCAR drivers and they’re getting ready to pull a train on me…. I’m the only female here, so I told them I’d call you to come join the party…. Please get me out of here!”
Kristie hurridly wrote down the address and began to dress. Jack rolled over sleepily and asked, “What’s up, Hon?”
“I have to go rescue Rene’ from a party of drunken NASCAR assholes gone bad. She’s drunk and they’re gonna pull a train on her!”
Jack popped out of bed and declared, “You are not going over there by yourself! In fact, I don’t think you should go over there at all.” He pulled on his boots, strapped a knife to his ankle, and grabbed the pistol he kept in a lock box – a snub nose revolver. “Hope I don’t have to use this, but at least I’ll have it if things get hairy. Don’t worry, I’ll talk nice to them, say I’m her brother, and bail her ass outta there. You’ll wait in the car like a good little girl.”
Kristie smiled to herself. She just couldn’t help it, she loved him when he took charge like this… her shining knight! Jack was no slouch at 6’3″ and 225, with a full beard, a broad chest, and biceps that could pack a punch. He made an imposing figure.
They drove fifteen minutes across town to the address Renee had given them. It was an OK neighborhood – working class people with nice yards kept up. Decent people lived here in this neighborhood, although she wouldn’t vouch for the guys in this house. They might be nice enough if they weren’t tanked up. One thing Rene’ didn’t need in her life was more abuse at the hands of men.
She waited dutifully in the car with the heater running, eyes focused expectantly on the front door. A few minutes later Jack emerged with a very drunk Rene’ under his arm. Kristie couldn’t see inside the darkened house as they made their exit – there was minimal light around the door frame. Jack looked serious, but determined. Rene’ was too out of it to do anything but put one foot in front of the other with a lot of support from Jack’s strong arms.
‘Thanks, guys,” Rene’ muttered right before passing out in the back seat. They said nothing on the way home.
When they got home and got her up the stairs, Jack went back to sleep while Kristie made a bed up on the couch. She poured Rene’ a big glass of water and gave her two Tylenol and 500 mg of vitamin C. She covered her friend up with a soft blue blanket and kissed her forehead. “Goodnight, Sweetie,” she said and crept back into bed with Jack. They would have to get ready for work in a couple of hours.
“Thanks, Honey,” she whispered. But Jack was already sound asleep. She’d have to find out the details tomorrow.
None of them wanted to discuss it the next day. Rene’ couldn’t understand how she came to be there in the first place… or she wouldn’t say. Jack made a few comments about testosterone, drugs, alcohol, and the egotistical mind set of the NASCAR male.
“These guys might be fine one on one, but get them in a group and they all think they have something to prove.”
One guy said, “It’s a good thing you came to get her, because I was planning to fuck her up the ass.” And then they all laughed and drank some more beer. It was all Jack could do to keep his cool.
When Kristie got to work the next day, the beer distributor was putting up NASCAR posters and a really cool sign that looked like a silver race car with flashing lights. As soon as one of her favorite regular customers came in for his “elevens,” she took the sign down and gave it to him. “My son is going to love this!” Red said thanking her.
“Oh good,” Kristie said. She was going to hate that sport for the rest of her life.
(First published 1/19/12)
