An Anthro's Tale

Tess

It didn't take ten minutes for me to get home. When i got home,James and Will were the only ones there. James was playing on the Xbox and Will was watching the Discovery Channel,it was Shark Week and something about a 100 foot long shark was playing.

"Where's Mom and Dad?" I asked throwing my pack into the closest.

"There at some play at Taylor's school",James replied,"where you been?"

"A friends house",I replied.

I opened the refrigerator,grabbed some leftover chicken and threw it into my mouth without bothering to reheat it. I quickly went up stairs and threw off my school clothes,showered and then changed into a black and white sleeveless shirt and blue shorts. Like all my other clothes,they holes in them for my wings and tail. I then grabbed my other backpack from beside my bed and walked to the shop. When I got there,the others were waiting for me.

"So they let you out of prison?" Tristan asked sarcastically.

I smiled,"They didn't even make me finish my term."

We walked into the shop,much to my surprise,the GTO was still there.

"They haven't come by for there car yet?"

"No",Jack replied,"I got a call a few minutes ago and they said they'll be a few days still."

I shifted my attention from the GTO to the Camaro.

"So what do we need to do to this?"I asked.

"Install restrictor plates",DJ said.

"Let's get to work then",I said.

We set to work on the Camaro. Josh cracked the hood and I began to tear down the engine. Restrictor plates fit between the intake manifold and the engine block as well the throttle body. Once they were installed,they would cut air flow by about twenty percent,which translates to about a ten percent decrease in horsepower. To get around such a major performance drop,DJ enlarged the restrctiors by about sixty percent. We also re-tuned the ignition and turbo chargers for more precise timing. Once this was done,I closed the hood with a loud thud.

"Well that's done,let's fire this bad boy up and see how it runs."

Tristan took the keys from the office and started the Camaro,revving it a few times. It sounded like it had the day we'd first run it.

"Sounds good,Tristan said getting out,"but how does it handle?"

"My thoughts exactly",I replied,"I say we take it to the track and see how it does."

The track was really an old industrial park about an hour from the shop. They had made glue and other stuff there for about twenty years and now it was a little more than a haven for graffiti artists. The thing that drew us to it was the 20 miles of paved road that had allowed us to replicate Road America. We went there once or twice a week to test our cars and work on a prototype we had stored in another shop.

Jack rubbed his hands together,"Objections?"

No one answered.

"Notion carried." Jack said,"let's get going."

"I'm driving the Camaro",Tristan said getting into the driver's side.

"I'm riding with him," Jack said entering the passenger's side."

I got into Dj's truck along with Josh and we backed out as Tristan drove the Camaro out of the shop and followed behind us to the track. When we arrived,it was nearly six o'clock and it was starting to get dark. As i stepped out of the truck,I was met with a blast of cool,moist wind. The large industrial towers all around us cast dark shadows in the moon and star lit night. The smell of gasoline and asphalt carried on the wind.