Southern Comfort

by Anah Crow and Dianne Fox
18 pages / 8300 words
Available file types - html, lit, pdf, prc

When Sully gets a call from Denny while he's at work, he figures it has to be something serious. And when it turns out that Sully's mother has fallen ill, Sully tries hard not to panic. Through the fast trip to get to the hospital, all the waiting and all the tests, Denny is there for Sully, offering up the kind of comfort only Denny can give. Will it be enough to see them through?

Pit Road Reading Order:
"Support System" in Toy Box: Slings
"Home Team" in Toy Box: Kitchen Sink
Percussive Maintenance
Heating Up
Oil Change
Out to Lunch
Southern Comfort
Training Wheels

Sample

"Damn thing ain't shifting right no more."

Sully ducked his head to hide a grin. "That's 'cause you done burnt out the clutch." The driver was new to manual transmissions and had been struggling with just getting the damn car started for weeks. Sully wasn't even a little bit surprised that he'd already blown out his first clutch.

"Don't worry none. I'll get you fixed right up. Learnin' to drive stick ain't easy." Unless you'd grown up driving tractors like Sully had. There wasn't no such thing as an automatic transmission on one of them great big farm tractors his daddy used back home. "Next one'll last you a lot longer, now you're gettin' the hang of it."

Sully waved off the half-embarrassed little shuffle the guy did with his feet, and the thank-you that came after it. "Go on, now. Let me get to work, so's you can get back to drivin'." The driver shuffled off and Sully stuck his head back under the hood.

The garage phone rang, but Sully ignored it. Mack was working stock this afternoon; he could get the phone. Sully had to get under this damn car and see what was what.

Just as Sully'd settled himself down on a creeper, Mack's voice tore through the garage: "Sully! You got a phone call!"

Well, hell. Who'd be calling him here? Sully wrangled himself back up to his feet and headed for the phone. Mack handed it over, looking a little curious.

"Hey." Sully really didn't get calls from Denny at work. Ever. "Sorry for callin' the office, but you got your cell turned off."

Ah, hell. He'd turned it off when he'd been out on the track, talking to Jay Burgess and some of the other drivers. Sully dragged it out of his pocket; sure enough, there was the little screen that said he had two missed calls. "Sorry 'bout that. Everything okay?"

"Not really." Denny didn't sound jumpy like Sully expected, just tight. "Your dad called, Sully. Your mama took ill and they got her in the hospital. He says they don't know how bad she is. He was hopin' you might come out, so... it ain't good. I already got a line on some plane tickets, but we gotta leave soon if we're goin'. So you best come on."

Soon as he realized what Denny was saying, the fear hit Sully right in the gut. His mama. "Yeah," he managed. "I'll tell the guys I gotta go. Just... I'll be home soon as I can." Sully felt like the whole damn world was moving in slow motion. He forgot to say good-bye to Denny, just hung up the phone and turned to Mack. "I gotta take off. Red done blown out his clutch; 's gonna need fixin' afore he can drive it again."

"Sure thing, Sully." Mack frowned at him. "Now you wanna tell me what's wrong?"

Sully shook himself a little. "My mama's in the hospital. Don't know how bad, but my daddy wants me to come on up and see her. I gotta go."

Mack nodded and clapped Sully on the shoulder. "You go on and get goin'. I'll tell the boys what's up. Take care of your mama, now, y'hear?"

"I will." Sully mustered up a little smile. "Thanks, Mack."

About the Author - Anah Crow, Dianne Fox