INtakes : Anakin on NASCAR - Talladega
Part 1,
“Good! He’s almost as bad as Sebulba. At least racing doesn’t have any cheating. Sleemo stupa!” Anakin snarled over my elbow. He really despised Joey Lagano. Then again, half of the big names in NASCAR were on his “sleemo list”.
Anakin had been watching NASCAR for a long time. Longer then I had, in fact he had watched the ‘Intimidator’, Dale Earnhardt Sr in his prime. Of course Dale Jr was one of his favorites. Which had gotten interesting while my favorite driver, Jeff Gordon was still racing.
As soon as I flipped the switch for the tv, Anakin switch from ‘codex redux’ his defensive form ( aka Vader) to his ‘true self’ and was bouncing on the bed behind. Luke and Leia walked back in, coffee in hand and in Leia’s case, a obvious tension headache. I glanced at her as she spoke, “ Han’s off to be debriefed by the Star Knights.” “Pfft, please Leia. You mean he’s about to play 7 card stud with the 4 horsemen. That is unless he can convince Uncle Gary, Lazarus, Magneto, and Uncle Marne to play Sabaac. And yeah, snowball’s chance there!”I told her. I then turn to my grandson who was listening to his father about the upcoming race.
Right now both Luke and his sister cosmetically could pass for my parents and Anakin could pass as Luke’s grandson! What really gauled me was the fact that those infernal ‘Codders’ had interfered enough that the warning we had as far as the new visualizations, had been in vain. I liked the beard, not the fact that indicated that Luke’s world had been upended like his ‘uncle’ Obi-wan
Thinking quickly, I ‘reached out’ and snagged a pair of scissors. “ S’cuse me Ahni but before Luke gets comfortable.. Luke dear, do me a large favor. Get that beard of yours trimmed damnit! I know you haven’t had time before this but now you don’t have anymore excuse! And no, I like the beard, just not the ‘bum’ look!” Ahsoka choose this moment to sit down behind my head next to Anakin and it was all she could do to keep from laughing outright. Luke simply took the scissors without any comment but the strength of his “grab” with the Force, the amount of displaced air, and the blush on his face told me volumes. I reached behind me and punch Ahsoka in the shoulder. “Mean! Knock it off ‘So-kam!’ Your nephew’s been gone for a year Ground Standard.”
Any other time Anakin would be all over Ahsoka about Luke, but now?
“Hurry Luke, the race is on!” Anakin hollared.
Talladega is a restrictor plate race, one of two. The result is what I’d call ‘ultimate tail-gating’.
Bumper to bumper rush hour style traffic. At 200 miles a hour. Which usually ends in what’s known as ‘The Big One’.
Right now they were racing three wide or in three lanes. But I’d seen a couple of four wides already. “It’s gonna be Danica Patrick. She’s overdue to win!” Ahsoka spat at my son.
End stage 1:
“Watch it,” Anakin called. “Dillion and Stenhouse are shaky!” “Blast it Brad!” Luke called over his father, “you should have pitted!”
“Not good. Lap traffic,” Ahsoka called. “Hey! Keep it down you guys! Huh, Ahsoka, you may be on to something about Danica. If he didn’t blow his engine with the stage win Luke, then Brad will be okay.” I added my own two cents. Deciding to take a break for fresh air, I was soon joined by my son, his infamous ‘sour lemon’ glare on his face.
“They penalized Matt for pitting after pit road was closed! Kriffing haran! Vaped if you do or don’t.”
I patted his knee. “Don’t worry bout it Ahni. We’ve got 2 stages to go.”
He huffed at me in irritation. “You know the ‘Big One’ is most likely at restarts, Mom.”
