Unforeseen Events: Day 14

Word Count: 84,014

Summary of Events: 

Sheldon and Emil worked on extracting the various electrical components before the town's RCMP officer arrived because Mrs. Walden had erroneously suspected Emil of being involved in a recent robbery in the area — not that the officer believed her, but he did have to do his due diligence. Emil and Sheldon sat down for lunch and discussed their summer so far, with Sheldon expressing a strong distaste to the idea of going home. With the engine back together, sandblasted, and freshened up with a coat of paint, it was mounted into a machine that allowed them to test the engine without needing to be in the car; it had made noise so far, but not successfully turned over . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"Grandpa turned the key again and the engine sounded more like it was going to actually go, but then it died.

Sheldon could feel his pulse, as if his heart were pounding on the bones of his ribcage in a desperate effort to escape its confines. He didn't want to spend two days doing this, he wanted the engine to start now!

Grandpa went over to the engine, checking some more things over carefully. Sheldon stepped over to the key, but he didn't touch it, as much as he wanted to just turn the key as hard as he could and get the engine to roar to life.

"Give her a try now," Grandpa said.

"Like, turn the key?" Sheldon asked, astonished.

"What else do you think I'd be asking you to do?" Grandpa asked.

Sheldon's fingers trembled as he reached for the key. Mom and Dad didn't even let him use the remote to autostart the car from the house, forget letting him actually slide into the driver's seat and put the key in the ignition to start the car.

Holding the key between his thumb and the side of his forefinger, Sheldon started to turn it clockwise just like Grandpa had done.

The engine uttered a wheezy throb that increased in intensity and life until suddenly, with a great roar, it turned over.

"Yes!" Sheldon shouted. He put his hands over his mouth as the engine throbbed, he could hardly believe it.

He almost wanted to cry. He couldn't believe it. He'd been able to be a part of getting something that had been completely dead restored back to life.

Sliding his gaze over to Grandpa, Sheldon saw that he actually had tears in his eyes; they'd completed the first step — and goodness knew probably one of the biggest — of bringing the car back to life that meant more to Grandpa than most cars meant to most people, and had that meaning for probably one of the most unexpected reasons.

Sheldon stepped over to Grandpa and gave him a hug. After a few moments Grandpa returned the embrace. Sheldon startled after a moment and released Grandpa. He didn't typically hug people, and the thought that he'd initiated the embrace made him feel a little uncomfortable.

"We did it Grandpa," Sheldon said.

"We most certainly did," Grandpa replied.

Grandpa hugged Sheldon, who let himself be hugged. It probably wasn't the sort of thing that would mean a lot to most people — Sheldon wasn't even sure his friends would get how cool this was — but Sheldon felt like he was the happiest he'd ever been in his life because he'd been able to be a part of bringing something back to life."