- acceleration, pt. 1 -

Everyone's back at work this morning, including Preston, fresh out of the hospital. We're not actually getting a lot done, because the weather is beautiful and the accident, in some twisted way, has brought us all together. There's like a five-minute montage of us having fun and barbecuing and playing competitive sports or something, which ends when Kailey and Tara dump a bucket of soapy water over Preston's head.
Everyone pauses tensely for a second, until he says, reassuringly, "Aww, you should NOT have done that!" From there, it's all water combat - wet rags, more buckets, and the Super Soaker Sparky apparently keeps in his locker. When the fear of getting wet is no longer a deterrent, everyone clusters in a fierce melee in the parking lot. So I remind them that they've forgotten about the hose. It starts inside, but extends out the main garage doors for washing cars, meaning I have the closest door covered while I blast everyone with the jet of water. They're helpless and laughing, covering their faces. It's funny for a minute, but the arms race has nowhere left to go, so this is always the point at which water fights necessarily come to an end.
But something else happens, too. A dark cloud moves in from across the highway at the same time that four brightly-painted, flame-shooting cars pull into the parking lot in formation. I'm standing there with the hose in my hand and a toothpick between my teeth, narrowing my eyes at the interloping vehicles. I tell Sparky nearby, "Get Ed."