The dream machine (standard:other, 1302 words)
Author: Drusie	Added: Nov 21 2001	Views/Reads: 3342/2151	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
A bright red Mercedes is the "dream machine" for everyone but the teenager who owns it. However, the little car helps her escape the dreams of other people in pursuit of her own.

The dream machine 

That shiny bright red 190SL Mercedes arrived at the cozy house, chugging
up the driveway with a handsome middle-aged man at the wheel.  His 
curly, b lack hair waved in the breeze around the small bald spot on 
the back of his head. 

Rufus Brown, the man driving the car was an automobile claims adjuster
for Travelers Insurance Company.  He liked to laugh and joke around, 
holding out his hands as if to ward off a blow, referring to himself as 
"a claims dodger." 

However, his wife, Vicarina Brown, was not amused.  Mrs. Brown told
their 16-year old daughter, Chimera, to write that her father was an 
"insurance executive" whenever she filled out forms for school. 

"Nothing succeeds like success," Vicarina always said.  "Executive"
sounded more successful than "adjuster." 

Rufus bought the expensive car for a song.   The insurance company where
he worked was happy to get a little of their money back.   They had 
paid the owner a handsome sum for the wrecked automobile. 

The ivory-colored steering wheel still had tiny cracks from the impact
of the crash.  When Rufus saw the car, he said out loud, "My daughter 
would look just great driving that racy Mercedes roadster."    He also 
fleetingly may have pictured himself behind the wheel. 

Tiny Vicarina Brown sighed as she recalled the similar yellow  roadster
that her own father had bought her in her youth.  The color nearly 
matched her blonde hair.  She always had it full of her young friends. 

Rufus' tall frame topped six feet by three inches.  His height required
him to put the seat of the Mercedes all the way back to accommodate his 
long legs. 

Chimera only had to put the seat up slightly since she, too, had grown
up to be six feet tall.   Her father teasingly called her a "moon 
greaser." 

Her excessive height didn't please her petite mother or her tiny
grandmother, Pansy.   Pansy had predicted  to Vicarina that "Chimera is 
going  to be a big woman."  Chimera, who overheard her grandmother's 
comment, could sense that it wasn't a good thing. 

Miss Nan, the muscular gym teacher at school, was the only person who
ever liked Chimera's tall  physique.  She tried to encourage the gawky 
girl to participate in team sports. 

However, Vicarina, told Miss Nan that she didn't  "want Chimera to
perform in a circus."  Vicarina had never liked gym herself.   There 
was no reason a daughter of hers should do well in gym. 

Rufus was truly excited about showing Chimera how to operate the little
Mercedes, first showing her how to use a throttle and the clutch, then 
helping her to fasten the seat belt.  He opened up the hood of the car 
and showed her the cylinders, the closed cooling system, and other 
features of the car. 

No one in Chimera's family was prepared for the fascination the boys in
Chimera's high school had with that two-seater automobile.   As soon as 
the teenaged girl drove it into the parking lot at the high school, 
little groups of boys began to form. 

They hardly seemed to notice Chimera still had the same long legs,
glasses, braces, and acne.  They had to get near that car. 

"Wow," said one boy, who was circling the car.  He asked Chimera, "How
many cylinders? 

"Um, four cylinders," she said importantly, remembering what her father
had told her. 

Pretty soon, a couple of them had to look under the hood to see the
cylinders. 


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