NEXT TIME AROUND

By John Thomas Tuft

Far down the back roads, deep into the short scrub pines

Sits the old broken trailer of Lil’ Scooter Shine

Behind it sits a now overgrown quarter mile track

Where the smells of oil and moonshine harken one back

To the night of the great Beaver Island Moonlight Race

When little Scooter Shine disappeared without a trace.

With a four-barrel carburetor in his ’69 LeMans

He could blow the doors off like a jailbird breaking bonds

And on that fateful night he challenged all newcomers

To put up or shut up in this last race of the summer.

A tall dark stranger said he would certainly give it a go

A murmur went through the crowd for this was the biggest show.

Before the race began the two men made a fateful wager

That whoever was the winner won the hand of Sally Prager.

Now Sally was the most beautiful girl in old Beaver Island town

And Scooter always figured he would put her in a wedding gown

But the stranger snapped his fingers and gave Sally a knowing smile

And said, “I’ll be back for you after I win the fastest mile.”

The race began with a gunshot, they dashed off in a cloud of dust

With Scooter’s heart in his throat, for win this race he must

For the first three laps the two cars were running very even

And Scooter knew the next time around he needed to believe in

That the desires of his heart could outrun the fastest comer

In this the last race of the Beaver Island Moonlight summer.

But, alas, at the last pole the dark stranger pulled ahead

And as he crossed the finish line, all Scooter’s dreams were dead

So, he took one last longing look at Sally’s beautiful face

As he fishtailed off the racetrack and blew right by his place

Driving off into forgotten with his fragile broken heart

Muttering to himself, “Next time around, I get a better start.”