Don't Let Go: Day 12

Word Count: 72,134

Summary of Events:

To Tor's immense delight and relief, the Czech man — and his associates in Czechia, to whom he sent photos and videos of Tor on top of giving a verbal report — agreed to provide Tor with the remainder of the financial backing he needed to keep racing, with the man and Opa hammering out a deal at the track, which meant Tor could participate in the rest of the race weekend. Oma reminded him that his father might still disapprove when he found out, but Tor refused to be intimidated by the thought and posed with the Czech man for some photos to mark the occasion in the paddock…

Excerpt of the Day:

Turning his head mostly just to look around, Tor saw among the people walking around the paddock — which included not merely the Formula 4 drivers and team personnel, but also drivers and team personnel for the other series which were racing over the weekend, and whose series Formula 4 was there as a support race for — Vater and Mama.

Vater looked stern and unimpressed, while Mama looked like she might be dealing with some mixed feelings, as Tor wasn’t sure Mama had been in a racing paddock without Uncle Zikki, and he supposed Mama was probably remembering.

Mama gave Tor a much gentler hug than she had at the airport the day before, as well as kissing his jaw lightly.

“Ah,” Opa said. “Herr Černý, these are Tor’s parents, my daughter Alena, and her husband Sigwald Bergmann. Ane, Siggy, this is Arnošt Černý of Souček International, who have just agreed to become Tor’s main sponsor.”

Tor could see that there was some recognition between Vater and Herr Černý, as if they’d met one another before.

As for Mama, she was looking at Tor with pleading eyes and a dismayed look. Although he felt badly, Tor looked at Mama with resolve. He wasn’t going to quit racing, no matter what.

“I suspected there was a connection between the two of you,” Herr Černý said. “But I never would’ve guessed it was this close.”

Tor looked at Herr Černý, who was looking wary. He looked at Vater, whose face was rapidly reddening with rage.

“How dare you!” Vater shouted, his eyes blazing. “You have betrayed yourself!”

“How so?” Tor asked coolly.

“How so?” Vater demanded. “How so!?”

Tor nodded.

“You have sold yourself to a rival!” Vater shouted. “A direct rival!”

“So?” Tor asked, looking at Vater defiantly. “I’m not interested in the company whatsoever, and if what I’ve done doesn’t prove that to you, then I don’t know what I need to do to make it clear to you that I would rather race than anything else in the world.”

The rage which had been burning in Vater’s eyes changed as Tor spoke; he saw a flash of deep pain in them, but he couldn’t tell if it lingered because Vater immediately turned on his heel and started stalking away.

Tor looked at Mama, who looked as bemused as he felt. Once again, he’d expected Vater to shout at him so loudly that he’d make himself hoarse, but instead Vater had remained uncharacteristically silent.

Pronunciations:

Czechia: chehkeeah

Herr: hehr

Černý: chehrnee

Sigwald: sihgvahld

Ane: ahneh

Arnošt: ahrnohsht

Souček: soochehk