I Guess I'm a Hero

Racetracks and Realizations

It's sort of weird – testing your limits when there doesn't seem to be any. I mean, I'm sure there has to be a point where we will be unable to do something – and I was waiting for it – but it just never came, at least with what we had to work with. We both ran around the track. Timmy was faster than I was, but only just. I had a feeling that was more of a physique thing rather than him actually being faster. The other weird thing was that as fast as I was running tonight, it didn't feel anywhere near as fast as I had run to the car accident. The strength...well, we only had the one car so it was difficult to test exactly how strong we were. We each lifted the car from the front and extended our arms so the back wheels were still on the ground and the car was tilted up at an angle. Then I stood at the front and Timmy stood at the back and we had the car completely lifted off the ground. It was actually pretty cool.

"Let's try something, Bill." Tim said as we held the car above our heads. "Make your way to the center of the car."

I knew what he was thinking, but what came out of my mouth next pretty much had to be said. "Why me?"

"Because you performed a feat of strength yesterday. You were first. Why not you?"

I couldn't argue with that kind of logic, so I inched my way to the center of the car while Timmy held up his end.

"Ready?"

I adjusted my stance and grip, looked at him and nodded. Tim let go. It was a little surprising, but the car didn't go down at all. I was standing there holding 1800 pounds of Detroit steel above my head as easily as I would a small child. After he saw that I had it, he backed away and went over to the girls. The amazement I saw on their faces probably didn't match the look I imagined I had on mine.

I stood there for about 5 minutes. "You getting tired yet?" Peg asked.

"No, not really," I answered. "I think I'll feel it in the morning, but I feel as if I could stand here for quite a while."

"Your turn," Jess said as she pushed Tim toward me.

He stood in front of me, positioned his hands under the car and told me to back away. I let go and did just that. As I watched him center himself under the car more, I couldn't help but be amazed again. Was this ever going to get old? I hoped not. I couldn't imagine being blasé about something as astounding as lifting and holding a car above my head or watching as my friend does the same thing. After about 5 minutes I went to the front of the car and held it as Timmy hand-walked to the rear and we set the car down easily.

"How do you feel," I asked, brushing the dirt off my hands.

"Same as you. I think I could have stood there for quite a while." Timmy shook his head. "But now what? We just have one car with us and each of our vehicles can't be more than 300 pounds apart from each other in weight. That isn't much of a test." Here he chuckled. "Unless you think we should play catch with it."

I joined the girls in laughing with him. "No, not just yet. Unless we find another means of strength testing, it may come to that. I did notice one thing, though – when we were running. It didn't seem to me that I was running as fast as I did when I ran to the car accident earlier today. I mean, I was running impossibly fast tonight but it still seemed slower than earlier, if 'slower' is a good word to use. It certainly didn't feel like I was running fast enough to make it from Bozeman to St. Paul in 10 minutes."

"Maybe it was the urgency of it," Peg said as we watched Timmy and Jess walk to the edge of the track. "Maybe because there was a life at stake, you knew you had to run faster, so you did. Your life wasn't in danger as you were running tonight, so you didn't run as fast. Same thing with the man on the news. There was a life on the line. He had to run faster so he did."