Unforeseen Events: Day 3

Word Count: 18,066

Summary of Events:

Sheldon was startled out of his sleep by a car engine and came down to find Emil driving an old hot rod car; Emil gave him toast for breakfast and they got into something of an argument that sent Sheldon to his room upset. Emil took the car for a bit of a drive before calling its owner to let him know his car was fixed, he then made lunch and took Sheldon with him to the family farm where he made an unexpected discovery amongst the cars. Sheldon, not understanding the fascination, watched Emil bemusedly . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

""I can't believe it," his grandfather said, his voice the barest of whispers.

Sheldon looked at the other guy. He looked bemused; so it wasn't worth asking him what his grandfather was talking about then.

He watched as his grandfather slowly walked around the car. When he came around to be heading back in their direction Sheldon noticed that tears were streaking his grandfather's cheeks.

"After all these years," his grandfather whispered. "After all these years."

"You wanna work on that one first?" the other guy asked.

His grandfather startled as if he'd forgotten they were there. "Do you want to keep this one?"

"Nah," the other guy replied. "Not really. I never saw it other than here. Don't know whose it was."

"I have to do this," his grandfather said.

"I'll go get the tractor to pull her out then," the other guy said.

"Why would Henry have it?" his grandfather asked as the other guy walked away. "Or had Mom asked to keep it?"

Sheldon didn't get it. It was just a car. What was his grandfather getting all sappy about? It didn't even look that nice, it was just an ancient car that had been sitting and rotting for years.

"I never thought I'd find it," his grandfather said.

It was lost? It sure didn't look lost. Sheldon was confused. He looked over his shoulder at the sound of an engine and watched as the other guy drove an old, cabless tractor that looked little better than a lot of the cars they'd seen.

Sheldon glanced back at his grandfather and watched as his grandfather tugged on the bumper before going around and peeking in the driver's side window. He then assessed the front tire.

"Go around back Sheldon, we'll need to push," his grandfather said.

Sheldon sighed and trudged around as the tractor pulled up. The other guy got off, carrying a couple nylon straps and some chains. His grandfather took them while the other guy manoeuvred the tractor so that its rear end was facing the front of the car.

The nylon straps and chains were fed together and apparently around and under the car before being attached to the tractor. The tractor was edged forward to hold them taut before his grandfather came around behind the car and set his hands on the trunk.

Sheldon followed suit and waited for when his grandfather's muscles strained as the tractor engine revved.

The car seemed stuck, as Sheldon pushed at it, but didn't feel like he was getting anywhere.

Suddenly the car shifted and then started to move. Sheldon stepped forward with the car until suddenly it moved really quickly and left him to face-plant in the grass.

Sheldon immediately scrambled to his feet and watched as the car moved in a hobbling sort of motion across the shorter grass the truck was parked on. All four tires on the car appeared to be flat and solid, as the flatness didn't stay at the bottom."