{"id":402,"date":"2014-06-27T19:50:24","date_gmt":"2014-06-27T23:50:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mainlyprompts.com\/?p=402"},"modified":"2014-06-27T19:50:24","modified_gmt":"2014-06-27T23:50:24","slug":"blower-bentley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mainlyprompts.com\/?p=402","title":{"rendered":"Blower Bentley"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"1930<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The old geezer\u2019s garage looked like a train had hit it, but the inside was immaculate. He led the way past a pile of tires ten feet high, and a chrome radiator from an old Rolls Royce. The cap was still on it, with the Winged Victory still flying. He turned toward me and beckoned to the far corner.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere she is,\u201d he said. \u201cI haven\u2019t started her up in dogs\u2019 years, but you\u2019re welcome to try if that will help you make up your mind. I\u2019ll leave you to it. If there are any questions, I\u2019ll be on the porch.\u201d<\/p>\n

He looked old in that sort of way where he tottered when he walked, but you could imagine him still re-shingling his own roof, just \u2018cause that was what you did. I smiled and waved, and turned back to the reason I had come calling.<\/p>\n

I grabbed a corner of the old tan tarp and lifted. A dark green fender saw the light for the first time in over thirty years. A chrome headlamp followed, and I almost fainted when the front of the car was revealed. The bulge of the supercharger on the front was the secret to it all. I knew then that I would be in debt for a while and eating peanut butter sandwiches for lunch and dinner. I pulled further, and the second headlamp came into view, followed by the long bonnet and the windscreen. There was dust, a lot of dust, but what was under it was a 1929 Bentley 4 \u00bd Liter Blower, the legendary Blower Bentley from England. It was the supercharger that earned it that name, the \u2018blower\u2019 that had been developed way before turbo\u2019s had come into the common lexicon.<\/p>\n

I pulled the tarp off fully and stood back to study what had become my life\u2019s obsession. I first saw one in a book when I was a kid. I loved it then, and carried that vision throughout my life. When \u2018The Avengers\u2019 came on the TV, John Steed drove one, and it didn\u2019t take a whole lot of effort to stop looking at Emma Peel in her skin-tight leather. Oops, I lied there, just a bit. The Avengers was on when I was an adolescent in full overdrive, and even a Blower Bentley couldn\u2019t distract me from fantasies involving Emma Peel.<\/p>\n

The dark green, later known as \u201cBritish Racing Green,\u201d was the perfect color for the car. It was a huge beast that would force you to sit upright as you motored along the lanes of Surrey or the Cotswold\u2019s. A gentleman\u2019s car. I grabbed the door handle and twisted it around ninety degrees. There was not a bit of pitting in the chrome, and the door swung open with minimal squeaking. This was a car you climbed up into. I settled into the leather seat. Wheel on the right side, as is only proper. A spare tire just ahead of the door, nestled into an indent in the front fender and tied down with leather straps and buckles. I grabbed the wheel for a few minutes, and as I climbed down, my eyes were wet.<\/p>\n

Angus Meriwether was waiting for me on the porch. He had a pitcher of lemonade out, and a glass for me close to my chair.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome up and sit,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ll talk.\u201d<\/p>\n

And talk we did. I drank lemonade with Angus, and called him Mr. Meriwether. He admired my youth and enthusiasm, and we reminisced about our good old days, mine not as old as his. He told me about his dad bringing the car back from the War To End All Wars, and I told him about my reluctant service and the friends I had made and lost. I asked how the car had come to be covered up in the corner of the garage, and he told me a long rambling tale about his wife of fifty seven years and her passing. He talked of his love for the hills, and a reluctance to move down to a town. He told me of his trip to the old doc\u2019s house down the road a piece and his impending reunion with his one love. I got that wet feeling in my eyes again, and steered the conversation back to the car.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs there a price you have in mind?\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell,\u201d he said, \u201cthere was. I\u2019ve kind of changed my mind since you came up, though. I\u2019m sorry to say I can\u2019t sell the car.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was struck dumb. After all this, what had I done? Was it my fault?<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I can give it to you if you promise to love it and think of me and my wife now and again. I think I\u2019d like that, and I suspect that she would too.\u201d<\/p>\n

I wept. Openly, and without care. I thanked him, and promised to drive the Blower Bentley with him in mind.<\/p>\n

When I finally drove her down off the mountain, Angus and his wife were sitting proudly in the back seat, all dressed in their finery. And I sat upright, on the right side, because that was the proper way to do it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  The old geezer\u2019s garage looked like a train had hit it, but the inside was immaculate. He led the way past a pile of tires ten feet high, and a chrome radiator from an old Rolls Royce. The cap was still on it, with the Winged Victory still flying. He turned toward me and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-promptedwriting"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mainlyprompts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mainlyprompts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mainlyprompts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mainlyprompts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mainlyprompts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.mainlyprompts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mainlyprompts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mainlyprompts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mainlyprompts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}